Howard Williams (humanitarian)

English activist, historian, and writer (1837–1931)

For other people named Howard Williams, see Howard Williams (disambiguation).

Howard Williams

Portrait from Fifty Years of Food Reform (1898)

Born| (1837-01-06)6 January 1837

Whatley, Mendip, England

Died| 21 September 1931(1931-09-21) (aged 94)

Aspley Guise, England

Education| St John's College, Cambridge (BA, 1860; MA, 1863)
Occupations|

* Activist
* historian
* writer

Notable work| The Ethics of Diet (1883)
Spouse|

Eliza Smith

(m. 1860; died 1906)​

Family| Henry John Williams (brother)

Howard Williams (6 January 1837 – 21 September 1931) was an English activist, historian, and writer. He advocated for humanitarianism and vegetarianism. Williams was noted for authoring The Ethics of Diet, a history of vegetarianism, which was influential on the Victorian vegetarian movement. He was also the inspiration and co-founder of the Humanitarian League and served as Vice-President of the London Vegetarian Society.

## Biography

[edit]

### Early life and education

[edit]

Williams was a born on 6 January 1837, in Whatley, Mendip, the fifth son of the Reverend Hamilton John Williams and Margaret Sophia.[1] His older brother was the priest and animal rights and vegetarianism activist Henry John Williams.[2][3]

Williams was home educated by private tutors,[4] before pursuing a degree in history at St John's College, Cambridge, where he earned a BA in 1860 and an MA in 1863.[1] During his time there, Williams developed a close friendship with Professor Newman. Through this relationship, he cultivated a profound interest in humanitarian causes, a passion that persisted throughout his life.[4]

### Career and activism

[edit]

Cover of The Ethics of Diet (1883)

Williams was initially destined for a career in the Church but ultimately chose not to enter Holy Orders. Instead, he embarked on a career as a private tutor, a profession he practiced for a number of years.[4]

Williams published his first book, The Superstitions of Witchcraft, in 1865.[1] It traces the evolution of witchcraft beliefs from ancient traditions to tools of persecution in medieval Europe, highlighting their decline with Enlightenment rationalism.[5]

In 1872, he adopted vegetarianism and became an anti-vivisectionist. Writing in 1874, Williams highlighted the "eating house" as a powerful tool for vegetarian propaganda, arguing that offering affordable, appealing dishes like pies and savouries was more effective than directly promoting a vegetarian diet.[6] He later authored The Ethics of Diet, a historical account of European vegetarianism, which was published in 1883; the book is considered to be a vegetarian classic, an authoritative text and went through multiple editions.[1]

In the 1880s, Williams expanded his academic endeavours to encompass a variety of topics. In 1885, he published a comprehensive study of the correspondence between Pope and Swift, followed in 1887 by his translation of selected dialogues by Lucian.[1]

Williams was the inspiration for and one of the founding members of the Humanitarian League, in 1891, which "opposed all avoidable suffering on any sentient being".[7][8] He remained on the board for several years and authored the "Pioneers of humanity" section for the league's journal, which was later published as a popular pamphlet.[1] He also served as the Vice-President of the London Vegetarian Society[4] and was a board member of the Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society.[7]

### Personal life and death

[edit]

Williams married Eliza Smith on 20 November 1860;[1] she died around 1906.[4]

In his later years, Williams chose a more secluded lifestyle, dedicating his time to gardening, tutoring, and canoeing from his home in Aspley Guise, near Woburn, Bedfordshire. He died there on 21 September 1931.[1]

## Publications

[edit]

* The Superstitions of Witchcraft (1865)
* The Ethics of Diet: A Catena of Authorities Deprecatory of the Practice of Flesh-eating (1883)
* English Letters and Letter Writers of the Eighteenth Century: Swift and Pope (with explanatory notes, 1886)
* Lucian's Dialogues, namely the Dialogues of the Gods, of the Sea-Gods, and of the Dead; Zeus the Tragedian, the Ferry-Boat etc. (translated with notes and a preliminary memoir, 1888)
* "Pioneers of Humanity" (The Humanitarian, 1907; later published as a pamphlet)[1]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Smith, Virginia (23 September 2004). "Williams, Howard". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/41000. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. ^ Grumett, David; Muers, Rachel, eds. (2011). Eating and Believing: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Vegetarianism and Theology. London: A & C Black. p. 126\. ISBN 978-0-567-57736-8.
3. ^ Gregory, James. (2007). Of Victorians and Vegetarians: The Vegetarian Movement in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Tauris Academic Studies. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-84511-379-7
4. ^ a b c d e "Mr. Howard Williams". Bedfordshire Times and Independent. 25 September 1931. Archived from the original on 10 December 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
5. ^ Williams, Howard (1865). The Superstitions of Witchcraft. Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green. ISBN 978-0-524-02561-1. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
6. ^ Richardson, Elsa (2021). "Cranks, Clerks, and Suffragettes: The Vegetarian Restaurant in British Culture and Fiction 1880–1914" (PDF). Literature and Medicine. 39 (1): 133–153\. doi:10.1353/lm.2021.0010. ISSN 1080-6571.
7. ^ a b Preece, Rod (2011). Animal Sensibility and Inclusive Justice in the Age of Bernard Shaw. Vancouver: UBC Press. pp. 167–168\. ISBN 9780774821124.
8. ^ "Humanitarian League". Henry S. Salt Society. Retrieved 28 February 2020.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Henry S. Salt, "The Late Mr Howard Williams: An Appreciation", The Vegetarian News, October 1931
* Jaime de Magalhães Lima, O Vegetarismo e a Moralidade das raças, 1912
* Jon Gregerson, Vegetarianism: A History, Jain Publishing Company, California, 1994, pp. 78, 89.
* Howard Williams and Carol J. Adams, The Ethics of Diet: A Catena of Authorities Deprecatory of the Practice of Flesh-Eating, University of Illinois Press, 2003. ISBN 0-252-07130-1

## External links

[edit]

Howard Williams (humanitarian) at Wikipedia's sister projects

* Media from Commons
* Quotations from Wikiquote
* Texts from Wikisource

* Works by Howard Williams at Project Gutenberg
* Works by or about Howard Williams at the Internet Archive
* Works by Howard Williams at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
* Howard Williams at the International Vegetarian Union

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Publications|

* The Dietetic Reformer and Vegetarian Messenger (1861–1897)
* A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays (1886)
* What is Vegetarianism? (1886)
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