Jump to content
 







Main menu
   


Navigation  



Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
 




Contribute  



Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
 








Search  



























Create account

Log in
 









Create account
 Log in
 




Pages for logged out editors learn more  



Contributions
Talk
 



















Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 Biography  





2 Vegetarianism  





3 Manslaughter trial  





4 Selected publications  





5 See also  





6 References  





7 Further reading  














Walter Hadwen







Add links
 









Article
Talk
 

















Read
Edit
View history
 








Tools
   


Actions  



Read
Edit
View history
 




General  



What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Cite this page
Get shortened URL
Download QR code
Wikidata item
 




Print/export  



Download as PDF
Printable version
 




In other projects  



Wikimedia Commons
Wikisource
 


















From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 


Walter Hadwen
Born

Walter Robert Hadwen


3 August 1854
Woolwich, England
Died27 December 1932 (1932-12-28) (aged 78)
Gloucester, England
Alma materBristol University
Occupations
  • General practitioner
  • pharmaceutical chemist
  • writer
  • anti-vivisection and anti-vaccination activist
  • Spouse

    Alice Harral

    (m. 1878)
    Children3

    Walter Robert Hadwen MRCS MRCP (3 August 1854 – 27 December 1932) was an English general practitioner, pharmaceutical chemist and writer. He was president of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) and an anti-vaccination campaigner, known for his denial of the germ theory of disease.

    Biography[edit]

    Walter Robert Hadwen was born in Woolwich on 3 August 1854.[1] He began his career as a pharmacist in Highbridge, Somerset, then subsequently trained as a doctor at Bristol University. After qualifying, he moved to Gloucester in 1896. Hadwen was recruited as a member of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection by its founder and then president Frances Power Cobbe who hired a private investigator to assess his credentials (he was a vegetarian and total abstainer, had a reputation as a "firebrand" orator and was held in "high local esteem"). She subsequently selected him as her successor.[2]

    He later became a member of the Plymouth Brethren and married Alice Harral in 1878; they had three children.[3] Hadwen was a frequent speaker for the National Anti-Vaccination League. He was also a member of the London Association for the Prevention of Premature Burial (founded in 1896). Hadwen stated that the "modern germ theory is all bosh".[4]

    Hadwen was active in general practice until he died from a severe heart attack in 1932, age 78.[5] In his honour the Dr Hadwen Trust was founded in 1970 to fund exclusive non-animal techniques to replace animal experiments.[5]

    Vegetarianism[edit]

    Hadwen became a vegetarian in his early twenties when taking a bet from a fellow student that he could live six months without eating meat. His bet was successful and he stated that "For my part I am quite satisfied with my trial of vegetarianism, and it would take more than mortal power to persuade me once again to make my stomach a graveyard for the purpose of burying dead bodies in."[5]

    Manslaughter trial[edit]

    In 1924, having applied his rejection of the germ theory of disease, and his refusal to use diphtheria anti-serum produced by inoculation of animals to the treatment of Nellie Burnham, a young girl, she died and he was tried for manslaughter by criminal medical negligence.[6] He was acquitted of all charges.[7][8]

    Selected publications[edit]

    See also[edit]

    References[edit]

    1. ^ Alternatives to Laboratory Animals: ATLA. Vol. 37. Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments. 2009. p. 43.
  • ^ Mitchell, Sally. (2004). Frances Power Cobbe: Victorian Feminist, Journalist, Reformer. University of Virginia Press. p. 360. ISBN 0-8139-2271-2
  • ^ "Dr Walter Robert Hadwen". brethrenarchive.org. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  • ^ "Verdict of Manslaughter Against Dr. Hadwen by Coroner's Jury". Journal of the American Medical Association. 83 (14): 1090. 1924.
  • ^ a b c Mills, Daniel S. (2010). The Encyclopedia of Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare. CABI. pp. 188-189. ISBN 9780851997247
  • ^ The Times up to and including 30 October 1924.
  • ^ "Acquittal of Dr. Hadwen". Journal of the American Medical Association. 83 (20): 1601. 1924.
  • ^ "Topics of the Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  • Further reading[edit]


    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Walter_Hadwen&oldid=1210209211"

    Categories: 
    1854 births
    1932 deaths
    19th-century English male writers
    20th-century English male writers
    19th-century English medical doctors
    20th-century English medical doctors
    19th-century evangelicals
    20th-century evangelicals
    Alumni of the University of Bristol
    Anti-vivisectionists
    British anti-vaccination activists
    British Plymouth Brethren
    British vegetarianism activists
    English male non-fiction writers
    English medical writers
    Germ theory denialists
    People acquitted of manslaughter
    People from Woolwich
    Public orators
    Hidden categories: 
    Articles with short description
    Short description is different from Wikidata
    Use dmy dates from August 2021
    Use British English from June 2012
    Articles with hCards
    Articles with FAST identifiers
    Articles with ISNI identifiers
    Articles with VIAF identifiers
    Articles with GND identifiers
    Articles with LCCN identifiers
    Articles with NLA identifiers
    Articles with NTA identifiers
    Articles with Trove identifiers
    Articles with SNAC-ID identifiers
    Articles with SUDOC identifiers
     



    This page was last edited on 25 February 2024, at 14:17 (UTC).

    Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.



    Privacy policy

    About Wikipedia

    Disclaimers

    Contact Wikipedia

    Code of Conduct

    Developers

    Statistics

    Cookie statement

    Mobile view



    Wikimedia Foundation
    Powered by MediaWiki