Early Life and Career:
– Born in British India in 1851
– Educated at Eton College and Kings College, Cambridge
– Married Catherine Leigh Joynes in 1879
– Taught classics at Eton and later in Surrey
– Founded the Humanitarian League in 1891
Activism and Philosophy:
– Authored nearly 40 books advocating for vegetarianism and animal rights
– Influenced by philosophers like Thoreau and Gandhi
– Emphasized nature conservation in his writings
– Criticized cruelty in slaughterhouses
– Promoted social progress through individual freedoms
Writing and Influence:
– Authored ‘A Plea for Vegetarianism’ in 1886
– Published a biography of Henry David Thoreau in 1890
– Advocated for nature conservation in ‘On Cambrian and Cumbrian Hills’
– Associated with prominent literary and political figures
– Contributed to the contemporary animal rights debate
Humanitarian League and Activism:
– Founded the Humanitarian League in 1891 to end hunting as a sport
– Published essays on ‘Killing for Sport’ in 1914
– Addressed issues related to animal welfare and rights
– Received support from George Bernard Shaw
Legacy and Recognition:
– Remembered as a humanitarian reformer
– Works continue to influence animal rights activists
– The Henry S. Salt Society preserves his memory
– Acknowledged for contributions to ethical vegetarianism
– Recognized for efforts in promoting animal welfare
Henry Shakespear Stephens Salt (/sɔːlt, sɒlt/; 20 September 1851 – 19 April 1939) was an English writer and campaigner for social reform in the fields of prisons, schools, economic institutions, and the treatment of animals. He was a noted ethical vegetarian, anti-vivisectionist, socialist, and pacifist, and was well known as a literary critic, biographer, classical scholar and naturalist. It was Salt who first introduced Mohandas Gandhi to the influential works of Henry David Thoreau, and influenced Gandhi's study of vegetarianism. Salt is considered, by some, to be the "father of animal rights," having been one of the first writers to argue explicitly in favour of animal rights, rather than just improvements to animal welfare, in his Animals' Rights: Considered in Relation to Social Progress (1892).
Henry Stephens Salt | |
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| Born | Henry Shakespear Stephens Salt 20 September 1851 |
| Died | 19 April 1939 (aged 87) Brighton, England |
| Nationality | British |
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| Notable work | Animals' Rights: Considered in Relation to Social Progress (1892) |
| Spouses | Catherine (Kate) Leigh Joynes
(m. 1879; died 1919)Catherine Mandeville
(m. 1927) |
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