Women's Vegetarian Union

The Women's Vegetarian Union^[a] (WVU) was an international women's vegetarian organisation founded in London in 1895 by Alexandrine Veigelé.^[b] Its presidents included Veigelé, May Yates and Charlotte Despard. The WVU promoted vegetarianism among women through meetings, lectures, cookery demonstrations and other outreach, and supported related health and temperance work. It recruited both members and associates, was affiliated with the Vegetarian Federal Union, and reported about 350 members and associates in 1900, with representatives in several European countries and the Seychelles. The WVU also operated a Vegetarian Depot and a General Agency Department, and had branches in Lambeth and Brussels; the Brussels branch maintained a vegetarian library and published the bimonthly periodical La Reforme Alimentaire. The WVU organised the first International Conference of Vegetarian Women in 1905, and its activities were still being reported in 1906.

The WVU was formed on 5 March 1895 at Granville House, Arundel Street, Strand, London, with about fifty women in attendance; the society was proposed by Alexandrine Veigelé, who was elected its president.^[5]

The WVU was headquartered at 96 Crawford Street, London, later moving to 87 Praed Street and then to 37 Hereford Road, Bayswater.^[6]

It recruited women internationally as members or associates, while vegetarian men could join as honorary members; members abstained from eating animal flesh, and associates supported the promotion of health and the advantages of a vegetarian diet.^[3][1]

The WVU was affiliated with the Vegetarian Federal Union (VFU). In 1897 the WVU was recorded in the VFU's annual report as having around 300 members and associates, as well as honorary members, and as having representatives in several European countries and the Seychelles.^[2]

The report listed Veigelé as president-founder, Mrs T. R. Allinson as honorary treasurer, Alice Pinches as honorary reporter, Adrienne Veigelé (Veigelé's daughter) honorary secretary, and Elisa Righetti as assistant secretary.^[2]

The report also stated that the WVU had branches at Lambeth and Brussels, and that a further branch was being formed in the United States.^[3][2] The Brussels branch, known as the Société belge pour l'étude de la réforme alimentaire ("Belgian Society for the Study of Dietary Reform"), maintained a vegetarian library and published the bimonthly periodical La Reforme alimentaire, described in the report as the first vegetarian periodical to appear in Belgium.^[2][7]

In October 1900, The Vegetarian Magazine reported that the WVU consisted of 350 members and associates.^[8]

In June 1905, The Queen and The Daily News reported that the WVU would hold the first International Conference of Vegetarian Women on 21 June at Memorial Hall, with representatives from the United States, Italy, Belgium and France, and papers by Lady Henry Somerset, Lady Paget, Mlle Truchard, Mme de Looy and Adelaide Johnston. The annual meeting was to be presided over by May Yates, and C. L. H. Wallace would chair the conference; the programme included a discussion on educational methods of helping the unemployed.^[9][10]

On 22 June 1906, the WVU held its annual meeting at Memorial Hall. Charlotte Despard, the union's president, chaired the meeting. Lizzy Lind af Hageby spoke about the health benefits she said she had experienced after six years as a vegetarian, and J. Stenson Hooker spoke about saving money as a result of a vegetarian diet.^[11]

The WVU organised cookery demonstrations, lectures and social receptions, and held events that combined activism with music and recitations. It also organised public demonstrations and cookery classes, provided penny dinners for poor people, and gave lectures on health. The organisation sometimes worked alongside temperance groups, including the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.^[3]

In December 1904, the Hampshire Post and Southsea Observer reported that May Yates outlined a WVU campaign to promote "reformed cooking", including house-to-house visits, instruction on nutrition and food preparation, and efforts to improve the availability of vegetable foods through ordinary trade channels.^[12]

By 1897, the WVU also established a Vegetarian Depot to supply vegetarian goods, and a General Agency Department intended to match vegetarian employers and employees and provide information related to vegetarianism and hygiene. For the period March 1896 to March 1897, the WVU reported income of £34.40 and expenditure of £30.75; over the same period, its General Agency Department reported receipts of £5.10 and expenses of £3.60.^[2]

In 1897, an American newspaper reported that members were advocating "vegetarian dress", arguing against the use of animal products in clothing and related goods.^[13]

The organisation was reported in feminist periodicals including Shafts and The Woman's Signal. It was also mocked in some mainstream press coverage.^[3] The North China Herald, while reporting the union's plans for animal-free clothing and household goods, described its aims as "manifold and curious" and argued that excluding "animal assistance" from one's surroundings was unnecessary.^[14] In January 1905, Pearson's Weekly referred to the union's house-to-house canvassing campaign in a brief item headed "Will Roast Beef Disappear?", stating that it aimed to persuade working men to give up roast beef.^[15]

The WVU published the following reports:^[7]

• First Annual Report (1895–96)
• Second Annual Report (1896–97)
• Third Annual Report (1897–98)
• Fifth Annual Report (1899–1900; international)
• Sixth Annual Report (1900–1901; international)

• Women and vegetarianism and veganism advocacy
• Vegetarianism in the Victorian era