Summary

Veganism in nineteenth-century Britain has typically been ignored by scholarship, and when it has been mentioned, it has been as a footnote within vegetarian history. This is understandable, given veganism's relative obscurity until recent years. Moreover, as I found in my research, it can be difficult to distinguish between Victorian vegans and vegetarians due to the term vegan not existing and the many cases where the ideologies and practices of both groups overlap.

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Nevertheless, the evidence on this website clearly demonstrates that vegans were present in Victorian Britain and that they made their beliefs known. It is likely that veganism was far smaller than vegetarianism since vegetarians only occasionally referred to veganism, and outside groups failed to mention vegans at all.

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Veganism was regarded by vegetarians as part of vegetarianism, sometimes negatively as a fringe group whose extreme beliefs undermined the movement, and sometimes positively as the next step in a shared struggle. For example, on page 152 of Charles W. Forward's 'History of the Vegetarian Movement in England', he describes a certain vegan athlete, Gaston de Benet, as 'a Vegetarian of the straightest sect, using neither eggs nor milk'.

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Victorian vegans worked alongside vegetarians in their shared goals of eliminating meat consumption and advocating animal welfare, such as campaigning against vivisection. Nevertheless, there was still a degree of internal disagreement within this common cause. Lewis Gompertz devotes chapter 6 of 'Moral Inquries' to the hypocrisy of vegetarians abstaining from flesh whilst continuing to consume milk and eggs. Similarly, in 'A Plea for Vegetarianism', Henry S. Salt claims that 'They [vegetarians] are well aware that even dairy produce is quite unnecessary, and will doubtless be dispensed with altogether under a more natural system of diet. In the meantime, however, one step is sufficient.'. Salt's second sentence indicates that vegans were, for the most part, willing to set aside their differences with vegetarians.

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Veganism was present during the foundational years of vegetarianism. John Davis of the International Vegetarian Union claims that before the Vegetarian Society popularised the term vegetarian in 1847, the vegan community at Alcott House was using the word vegetarian to describe their own practices, which excluded the use of eggs, dairy, and animal labour. The wider vegetarian movement was associated with more than just veganism and vegetarianism, it included religious groups such as Swedenborgists and cultural and political factions including Chartists, Suffragettes, and Tee-totallers. James Gregory in 'Of Victorians and Vegetarians' argues that Victorians grouped these movements under the umbrella term 'Anti-everythingarianism'. Veganism was likely seen as a form of this abstinence ideology.

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However, by the end of the nineteenth century, the wider vegetarian movement began to fracture. Hsin-Yi Yeh in 'Boundaries, Entities, and Modern Vegetarianism' claims that the Vegetarian Society began excluding non-vegetarian elements in order to make their organisation more consistent. Friction between vegetarians and vegans continued to develop, eventually culminating in the 1944 foundation of the Vegan Society.

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I encourage readers to explore the sources on this website to find out more about specific elements of Victorian vegan beliefs. The evidence presented in this project demonstrates that Victorian vegans developed pioneering theories on the exploitation of animals, questions of land use, and active personal ethics. When debating these issues today, it is important to recognise their nineteenth-century vegan roots.