The Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom (VSUK) is a British registered charity that promotes vegetarian diets. It licenses Vegetarian Society Approved trademarks for vegetarian and vegan products, runs a cookery school and lottery, and organises National Vegetarian Week in the United Kingdom.
The Society was founded in 1847 at Ramsgate, Kent, after earlier activity by British groups that promoted meat-free diets. It later split into the Manchester and London Vegetarian Societies in 1888, before the two organisations reunited in 1969 as the Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom.
Focus areas and activities
The Vegetarian Society campaigns to encourage dietary changes, reduce meat consumption, and assist policymakers in developing a more compassionate food system.
In 1969, the Society introduced the Vegetarian Society Approved trademark. It launched a Vegetarian Society Approved vegan trademark in 2017. The trademarks are licensed to companies for products that contain only vegetarian or vegan ingredients, and for which no non-vegetarian or non-vegan substances were used during production. They are used on products sold in shops and supermarkets, and on restaurant dishes. In 2022, McDonald's launched the McPlant burger across the United Kingdom, accredited with the Vegetarian Society Approved vegan trademark.
National Vegetarian Week is the charity's main annual event. It started in 1992 as a single day and was later expanded into a full week.
The Vegetarian Society Cookery School runs leisure classes in vegetarian and vegan cooking. It works with charities and community groups to provide cookery courses, and offers training for professional chefs and people seeking work in the food sector through its Professional Chef's Diploma programme.
History 19th century
In the 19th century, several groups in Britain promoted and followed meat-free diets. Groups involved in the formation of the Vegetarian Society included members of the Bible Christian Church, supporters of the Concordium, and readers of the Truth-Tester journal.
Bible Christian Church The Bible Christian Church was founded in 1809 in Salford by Reverend William Cowherd after a split from the Swedenborgians. One feature of the Bible Christians was a belief in a meat-free diet, or ovo-lacto vegetarianism, as a form of temperance.
Concordium (Alcott House) The Concordium was a boarding school near London on Ham Common, Richmond, Surrey, which opened in 1838. Pupils at the school followed a diet without animal products, now described as a vegan diet. The Concordium was also called Alcott House, after the American education and food reform advocate Amos Bronson Alcott. In 1843, members of Alcott House created the British and Foreign Society for the Promotion of Humanity and Abstinence from Animal Food, led by Sophia Chichester, a benefactor of Alcott House.
Truth-Tester and Physiological Conference, 1847 The Truth-Tester was a journal that published material supporting the temperance movement. In 1846, the editorship was taken over by William Horsell, operator of the Northwood Villa Hydropathic Institute in Ramsgate. Horsell gradually moved the Truth-Tester towards promotion of a "Vegetable Diet". In early 1847, a letter to the Truth-Tester proposed the formation of a Vegetarian Society. In response, William Oldham held what he called a "physiological conference" in July 1847 at the Concordium. Up to 130 people attended, including the Bible Christian James Simpson, who presented a speech. The conference passed several resolutions, including one to reconvene at the end of September.
Ramsgate Conference, 1847
On 30 September 1847, the meeting planned at the Physiological Conference took place at Northwood Villa Hydropathic Institute in Ramsgate. Joseph Brotherton, MP for Salford, and a Bible Christian, chaired. James Simpson was elected president of the society, the Concordist William Oldham was elected treasurer, and Truth-Tester editor William Horsell was elected secretary. The name "Vegetarian Society" was chosen for the new organisation by a unanimous vote.
After Ramsgate The Vegetarian Society's first full public meeting was held in Manchester the following year. It attracted 265 members aged 14 to 76, and 232 attended the dinner after the meeting. By 1853, it had 889 members.
In 1849, members in London met and resolved to promote vegetarianism in the capital. In September, they launched The Vegetarian Messenger, priced at one penny, with a monthly circulation of almost 5,000 copies. The society made publications available on the subject, sometimes with lectures.
Following the deaths of Simpson, Brotherton, and their American colleague Alcott, the vegetarian movement declined. Membership numbers fell during the 1860s and 1870s, with 125 members remaining by 1870.
London Food Reform Society
The London Food Reform Society (LFRS) was founded in 1875 with the support of Martin Nunn, an advocate of cooperation and industrial reform. It held free bi-monthly lectures and debates at Franklin Hall. John E. B. Mayor served as its president and was succeeded by W. J. Monk, when Mayor became president of the Vegetarian Society.
The LFRS's Food Reform Magazine criticised the Vegetarian Society in Manchester for what it saw as insufficient support. Manchester members regarded the existing organisation as adequate, while London vegetarians disagreed and considered moving the national offices to London.
Debates in 1882 and 1883 about broadening the society's scope met criticism over likely opposition and funding problems. The LFRS briefly renamed itself the National Food Reform Society until October 1885, when the Vegetarian Society paid its debts and made it an auxiliary in London. This led to the loss of the LFRS's subscription list interest, the closure of its office, and the creation of an independent auxiliary. In 1888, the auxiliary regained its independence as the London Vegetarian Society.
Dietary policy debates and growth
From its beginning, the Vegetarian Society was influenced by members of the Bible Christian Church in Salford, who supported the inclusion of eggs, dairy products, and honey in the vegetarian diet on biblical grounds. The Church did not argue for the reduction or elimination of these foods.
In the early 1850s, the London Vegetarian Association (LVA) was established as a local branch of the Vegetarian Society and became associated with a form of vegetarianism that excluded animal products such as eggs and dairy. Led by William Horsell, a former secretary of the national Society, the LVA was influenced by the Alcott House community, which had promoted a plant-based diet. This differed from the ovo-lacto vegetarianism supported by many Society members in Manchester, including those connected with the Bible Christian Church. In 1856, Horsell was replaced by a secretary closer to the national leadership, and the LVA appears to have declined shortly afterwards. The group has been described as an early example of disagreement within the British vegetarian movement over animal-derived foods.
Henry Stephens Salt argued in his 1886 work A Plea for Vegetarianism that the main aim of vegetarians should be the abolition of flesh-meat, while acknowledging that dairy products and eggs were unnecessary and could be given up in the future. Salt argued for avoiding unhealthy, expensive, and unwholesome foods, rather than only eliminating animal products.
Francis William Newman served as president of the Vegetarian Society from 1873 to 1883. He made associate membership possible for people who were not completely vegetarian, including people who ate chicken or fish. Newman rejected raw food vegetarianism as fanatical. He believed that abstinence from meat, fish and fowl should be the only position advocated by the Society, and that it should not be associated with other reform ideas. He was also against the abandonment of salt and seasonings.
Under Newman's presidency, the Society's income and membership increased. From 1875 to 1896, membership rose to 2,159, with 1,785 associate members. Around 1897, its membership was about 5,000. On associate membership, Newman wrote:
Daisy Society In 1883, the Society established the Daisy Society, the first children's vegetarian organisation in Britain. Open to vegetarians under the age of 14, the branch was intended to introduce children to vegetarianism and encourage them to understand its principles. The name "Daisy Society" was suggested by Society member W. M. Wright in 1884 and formally adopted the following year. In January 1893, the Society began publishing The Daisy Basket, a quarterly magazine for the branch edited by Joseph Knight. Eight issues appeared between January 1893 and October 1894. The magazine was then discontinued after its readership proved lower than expected, despite financial support from a bequest by Matilda Cooper.
Manchester and London Vegetarian Societies
Relations between the Society in Manchester and the London branch were strained by disagreements over the definition of vegetarianism and over required approval of "advanced" literature by the Society. In 1888, the London branch split and formed the London Vegetarian Society (LVS), also known as the London Vegetarian Association. After this, the Vegetarian Society was often called the Manchester Vegetarian Society (MVS).
The first president of the LVS was the raw food advocate Arnold Hills. Other members included Thomas Allinson and Mahatma Gandhi. Members of the LVS were considered more radical than the MVS.
The newly independent society set out its aims in its journal, The Vegetarian, funded by Arnold Hills. It planned a Charing Cross Vegetarian Hotel and Restaurant. It also had branches in Oxford, Nottingham, Brighton, Guildford, and Reading. In 1889, the LVS and Vegetarian offices moved to the Congregational Memorial Hall, which became a meeting place for reform groups. Specialist societies were formed for children, athletes, and other groups, and vegetarian restaurants were used as meeting places. In 1889, the LVS created a national Vegetarian Federal Union, despite opposition from the MVS. By 1901, 21 societies had been established, coordinated from 1895 by the LVS.
20th century
In 1907, James Christopher Street, J. Stenson Hooker, Ernest Nyssens and Eustace Miles were speakers at the 60th anniversary of the Vegetarian Society in Manchester. In 1920, the MVS hosted a summer school at Arnold House, Llanddulas, with around 70 attendees each week. Both societies organised holidays and outings for vegetarians, and the MVS's May meetings remained annual events after World War II.
World War I was a difficult period for vegetarians; no allowance was made for vegetarians in the armed forces.
During World War II, the Committee of Vegetarian Interests was established, with members from the two Vegetarian Societies, health food manufacturers, and retailers, to negotiate with the Ministry of Food. During the war, the blockade of the United Kingdom led to food shortages, and the government became closely involved in the diet of civilians. Food was rationed, with ration coupons required to buy rationed goods. Vegetarians who registered with their local Food Office received special ration books. These had no meat ration, but included more ration coupons for cheese, eggs, and nuts. About 100,000 people were officially registered as vegetarians in the United Kingdom during the war.
Meat rations during the war were small, to increase the food supply. Many meals were vegetarian, and the government promoted vegetarian recipes. The population ate more cereals and vegetables, and less meat. Many people retained wartime eating habits after the war. There was also public interest in nutrition and diet, and the effects of eating less meat.