Adrienne Veigele

Adrienne Veigele (French: Adrienne Veigelé;^[a] October 1862 – c. 31 May 1915) was a French-born teacher and activist for women's rights and vegetarianism who later became a naturalised British citizen. The daughter of campaigner Alexandrine Veigele, she moved with her family to London in childhood and taught French and music. Veigele contributed to the feminist periodical Shafts, held posts in the Women's Vegetarian Union, and served on the editorial and executive committees of the Vegetarian Federal Union. In 1896 she founded the Women's International Progressive Union, and later helped establish vegetarian organisations abroad, including the Société Belge pour l'étude de la réforme alimentaire in Brussels (1897) and the Dublin Society for the Study of Food Reform (1899). In her later years, she experienced ill health and financial hardship, and died by suicide in 1915.

Veigele was born in Paris around 1862 to John and Alexandrine Veigele.^[1] She moved with her family to London in 1866, at the age of five.^[2][3] Her mother adopted a vegetarian diet in 1888 and became active in the vegetarian movement and women's rights.^[4]

Veigele taught French and music to support herself and her mother financially.^[5]: 248 From February 1894 she advertised tuition in the feminist magazine Shafts, and in 1898 she contributed an article titled "Qualities admired by Men in Women and by Women in Men".^[5]: 250

The Women's Vegetarian Union (WVU) was founded in March 1895 in London by Veigele's mother, Alexandrine. Veigele served as honorary superintendent of an agency depot connected with the organisation, and later as assistant secretary, then honorary secretary.^[4][6][7] The WVU provided a forum for women engaged in food reform and moral education.^[4]

Veigele served as a member of the Vegetarian Federal Union's editorial and executive committees. Other committee members included Henry B. Amos, Josiah Oldfield, R. E. O'Callaghan, and May Yates.^[8]

In February 1896 Veigele founded the non-political and non-sectarian Women's International Progressive Union in London and served as its secretary. The organisation aimed to promote women's participation in educational and social initiatives through lectures and discussions, and held 21 meetings in its first year.^[9] Her mother was also involved in its administration.^[4]

Veigele attended the Congrès féministe international ("International Feminist Congress") in Brussels in 1897.^[4] While there, she established the Société Belge pour l'étude de la réforme alimentaire ("Belgian Society for the Study of Food Reform"), which aimed to bring together supporters of vegetarianism in Belgium. The society soon began publishing a bimonthly periodical, La Réforme alimentaire, edited by M. A. Maerschalck and devoted to promoting vegetarian principles.^[10]

In 1899 Veigele helped establish the Dublin Society for the Study of Food Reform, working with Mrs. E. King-Flewitt and Mrs. Sophia Gough, a fellow vegetarian and the wife of the proprietor of Gough's Temperance Hotel on Exchequer Street, Dublin.^[5]: 203

According to the 1901 United Kingdom census, Veigele and her mother were recorded as naturalised British subjects.^[11]

Veigele's later years were marked by ill health and financial hardship. Her mother died in 1913 after struggling with poverty and the effects of her daughter's illness while attempting to establish a boarding house at.^[4] After her mother's death, Veigele was reported to have moved to St John's Home in London and later entered the workhouse, before being admitted to an asylum.^[2]

Veigele died by suicide by hanging at her cottage in Crowthorne, where she had lived for about two months, between 29 May and 2 June 1915; she was 53. A newspaper report of the inquest gave the date as about 31 May 1915. The coroner read a letter found at the scene in which Veigele attributed her state of mind to prolonged illness, poverty and dependence and wrote that she no longer felt able to endure her circumstances; the jury returned a verdict of "Suicide while of unsound mind".^[2]

• List of vegetarians
• Vegetarianism in the Victorian era
• Women and vegetarianism and veganism advocacy