On this day in vegan history · June 16, 1824
The World's First Animal Charity Is Founded Over Coffee
A clergyman, an abolitionist, and the MP who'd already outlawed cruelty to cattle sat down in a London coffee house and started an organization with no legal teeth and no money, and it outlived every one of them.
The facts
- Date
- Wednesday, 16 June 1824
- Location
- Old Slaughter's Coffee House, London
- First honorary secretary
- Rev. Arthur Broome
- Meeting chaired by
- Thomas Fowell Buxton MP
On Wednesday, 16 June 1824, the Reverend Arthur Broome brought together a group of parliamentarians, clergy, and lawyers at Old Slaughter's Coffee House in London to found the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Richard Martin, who had already pushed the world's first animal protection statute through Parliament two years earlier, was there, as was William Wilberforce, still riding the fight to end the slave trade. Thomas Fowell Buxton chaired the meeting, and Broome was appointed the new society's first honorary secretary. It had no government backing and would run into debt within a few years, but it was the first organization of its kind anywhere in the world.
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.
-
The meeting was held on Wednesday 16 June 1824 in Old Slaughter's Coffee House, London.
Wikipedia, "RSPCA" article, describing the founding meeting
Source: Wikipedia -
The society was the first animal welfare charity to be founded in the world.
Wikipedia, "RSPCA" article
Source: Wikipedia
Why it still matters
Every animal welfare charity that exists now, from local shelters to international campaign groups, descends from this template: ordinary people organizing formally, without waiting for the law to catch up. The society got royal patronage in 1835 and became the RSPCA in 1840.
Sources
This history is still being written.
Every morning the brief covers what moved veganism forward, and every day one more verified piece of that story joins this almanac. Free, and tomorrow’s lands in your inbox.
Free, every morning. No guilt. No preaching.