On this day in vegan history · June 7, 1924
The Farmer Who Turned Against Factory Farming
Peter Roberts spent the 1950s milking cows in Hampshire, then spent the rest of his life trying to get farm animals out of cages.
The facts
- Born
- 7 June 1924, Rugeley, Staffordshire, England
- Before activism
- Ran a dairy farm in Hampshire
- Founded Compassion in World Farming
- 1967
- Led the organization
- 1967 to 1991
Peter Holton Roberts was born on 7 June 1924 in Rugeley, Staffordshire, the son of a doctor. After serving in the Second World War he trained at agricultural college and set up a dairy farm in Hampshire. Through the 1950s he watched factory farming methods imported from the United States spread across British agriculture, and he began writing letters protesting the confinement of calves, sows and hens. When the established animal charities would not take up the fight, he and his wife Anna started their own organization instead. In 1967 he founded Compassion in World Farming and gave up dairy farming the same year, leading the group until 1991.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
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He was an advocate of reasoned debate and sought change through peaceful means.
Wikipedia, describing Peter Roberts
Source: Wikipedia -
Although Roberts was a vegetarian, he did not push for others to change their eating habits.
Wikipedia, describing Peter Roberts
Source: Wikipedia
Why it still matters
The organization Roberts started at his own kitchen table is now Compassion in World Farming, one of the largest farm-animal welfare groups in the world, still fighting the cages and crates he first wrote letters about.
Sources
This history is still being written.
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