Kevin Dixon: Torquay's famous animal rights activist

In Babbacombe there’s a small statue of a lady that often has flowers being placed in her hand. 

It’s of Georgina Baroness Mount-Temple, a pioneer in animal welfare.

During the early nineteenth century, there was a growing sympathy with animals.

This reassessment of the natural world can be seen in the exaltation of nature found in Romanticism. Shelley’s 1812 poem Queen Mab, for instance, condemned the abuse of animals. Shelley visited Torquay in 1815. 

Liberal and Christian concern led to a growing rejection of the idea that animals were just things to be exploited, and a movement for reform began to gather. 

In 1822 the first animal welfare legislation prohibited the cruel and improper treatment of cattle, and in 1835 The Protection of Animals Act outlawed bull, bear and badger baiting as well as cock fighting and dog fighting; though  this legislation applied only to domestic and captive animals and not wild animals such as deer or foxes. 

It would take another 180 years for wild animals to be protected in the same way.

The early decades of the  century then saw a proliferation of welfare organisations, the foremost being the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, made Royal by Victoria in 1840. 

There were also religious societies including The Friends’ Anti Vivisection Society, The Catholic Study Circle for Animal Welfare and The Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals.

The Victoria Street Society, which became the National Anti-Vivisection Society in 1897, was the world’s first anti-vivisection organisation. Founded in 1875, the Society was supported by many of the social reformers of the day who were also working for the rights of women, children and workers.

Public opposition to vivisection caused the Government to appoint the First Royal Commission on Vivisection in 1875. This led to the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1876.

Torquay had a very active animal welfare movement. One of the local leaders was Georgina Baroness Mount-Temple, the step-daughter-in-law of Lord Palmerston and a friend of John Ruskin and Dante Gabriele Rossetti.

A great humanitarian, her interests included the Torquay Anti-Vivisection Society, the Band of Mercy, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Temperance Movement. 

She was a founder member of the Plumage League which campaigned against the excessive use of birds' feathers in ladies’ fashions. This  later became the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

Georgina lived at Babbacombe Cliff, later the Babbacombe Cliff Hotel and now apartments, and fed birds from the veranda at the front of the house. 

Georgina died in 1901 and her obituaries recorded a woman who campaigned with “passionate indignation against cruelty and injustice…” 

However, the Manchester Guardian felt it necessary to comment on her commitment to “lost causes and impossible beliefs”. These principles are now generally accepted by society.

In 1903 a bronze statue was erected by her friends in her memory. Even today a few picked flowers can often be seen in its hands alongside a bird as it is eternally fed by Georgina.

There’s also a horse trough dedicated to Georgina at the Torre Station end of Avenue Road.

Practical provision was often made by those campaigning for the welfare of animals. 

In Dartmouth’s Charles Street, there’s another horse trough with a drinking fountain. Dated 1898, the trough is set with lead letters which record that it was erected “in memory of Henrietta Loraine, a founder member of the SE Devon branch of the RSPCA and, for 10 years, secretary of the Torquay Anti-Vivisection Society”.

Notably, many of the activists in the Victorian animal welfare movement were women.

Links between animal abuse and the treatment of women in the Victorian era can indeed be made. 

Both animals and women were seen as property; submission to a ‘higher’ authority was expected; and there were parallels between the restraining and surgical implements used on animals and in the medical treatment of women, such as in childbirth and gynaecological examinations.

It is interesting, therefore, that most women’s medical colleges were actively anti-vivisectionist, while men were not.

Other animal welfare causes also found a great deal of support in Torquay.

In 1911 the Council of Justice to Animals (CJA) was formed by a small group of people who were concerned about the methods being used to slaughter animals and the ways that cats and dogs were being destroyed.

They also wanted to improve the welfare of animals by introducing reforms to livestock markets and animal transport. 

Initially, the society set up a number of dispensaries for the animals of the poor and then they established branches around the country.

The inaugural meeting of the Torquay Council of Justice to Animals, titled Justice for Animals, was held in early 1912. Significantly, this meeting was attended by those at the centre of Torquay society and was held at Torre Abbey by invitation of Colonel and Mrs Cary.

This was a “large and representative gathering” presided over by Admiral Sir William Acland who stated that he was “extremely fond of animals and tried at all times to show them every kindness”. He thought they “deserved to be treated well and he was sure they would be if it was realised how acutely they felt pain and suffering”. 

Notably, Sir William was also very much involved with the ongoing campaign for women’s suffrage in the Bay.

The main speech was by Dr Reinhardt of London, the chairman of the Council of Justice to Animals, who said he was there to “challenge the right of humanity to make use of the lower animals or to eat animal flesh… Animals were akin to human beings in that they had a capacity for feeling pain, they had all the machinery and all the nerves and all the capacity for experiencing suffering that were possessed by the human being. There was still in very many parts of the country a callous disregard of this important fact.

“It was a century ago that Darwin had shocked man by making the discovery that the descent of man was not entirely unattached from an animal that travelled by other means than on its two legs. 

But since then an even greater discovery had been made – that the lower animals were able to feel an intensity of suffering to as great an extent as it seemed possible to get. 

They could see for themselves examples of the devotion, love, even unselfishness, which many animals possessed.”

A local branch of the CJA was then set up. In the resort it dedicated itself to “the abolition of private slaughterhouses which were not open to public inspection and where many cruelties were practiced. The workers were frequently inexpert, made use of unsuitable instruments and often showed callous disregard for the suffering of the animals. Dwelling houses existed side-by-side with slaughterhouses. The slaughter was in public view and used by children as public entertainment. 

The CJA’s first objective was to replace the traditional method of slaughter, the poleaxe, with a mechanically operated humane stunner. Demonstrations were given to slaughter men and humane stunners were supplied to local tradesmen at low prices.

As an indication of the meeting’s political influence, the President of the Torquay Master Butchers Association was in attendance and gave his support for the introduction of this more humane method of slaughter.  To progress the adoption of the stun gun, the CJA advocated a consumer boycott whereby the public would be encouraged to only buy meat from animals that had been humanely killed.

The long campaign for animal welfare continues.

The Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare is a proposed inter-governmental agreement to recognise that animals are sentient, to prevent cruelty and reduce suffering, and to promote standards on the welfare of animals.