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Samuel Saunders (vegetarian)

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Samuel Saunders
Born(1814-08-12)12 August 1814
Russel Mill, Market Lavington, England
Died2 March 1908(1908-03-02) (aged 93)
Market Lavington, England
Occupations
  • Social reformer
  • activist
  • entrepreneur
Spouses
Amelia Goulding Grimes
​
​
(m. 1844; died 1888)​
Children3
Relatives
FamilySaunders family

Samuel Saunders (12 August 1814 – 2 March 1908) was an English social reformer, activist, and entrepreneur. He was deeply involved in several 19th-century reform movements, including the anti-slavery campaign, the Anti–Corn Law League, and municipal reform. Saunders also advocated for temperance, vegetarianism, peace, hydrotherapy, homeopathy, and against vaccination. He worked as a master miller, farmer, manufacturing chemist, and operated a fruit preservation business.

Biography

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Early Life and family

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Samuel Saunders born on 12 August 1814, at Russel Mill, Market Lavington.[1] He was the son of Amran Edward Saunders (1779–1849), a grain merchant and miller, and his wife Mary Ann (née Box; 1788–1874), who had four sons and six daughters.[2] His siblings included Mary Bayly (1816–1899), temperance activist and writer;[3] Alfred Saunders (1820–1905), farmer, social reformer, and activist;[4] and William Saunders (1823–1895), newspaper proprietor and Member of Parliament for Hull and Walworth.[5] His nephew was Samuel Saunders (1857–1943), journalist and newspaper editor,[6] and his niece was Sarah Page, teacher, feminist, reformer, and politician.[7]

Reform work and activism

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Saunders began his reform work and activism at a young age. By 20, he was involved in the Anti-Slavery Society, the Anti-Corn Law League, and advocacy for the Municipal Reform Bill.[5] Saunders became a teetotaler in 1830[5] and became a member of the British and Foreign Temperance Society in the same year.[8] He successfully enlisted his mother, two sisters and three brothers to the cause.[8][9] In 1832, during the Bristol riots, he was sworn in as a special constable.[1]

Saunders adopted vegetarianism in 1837 after meeting Isaac Pitman and reading works by Sylvester Graham.[5] He worked in the vegetarian cause with Pitman in Bath around 1847.[5]

Saunders was also active in the peace movement, joining the Peace Society in 1832. Additionally, he was involved in the anti-vaccination movement and promoted hydrotherapy and homeopathy, claiming to have achieved cures through these methods.[5]

Business career

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Saunders worked as a master miller and farmer.[10] In 1848, Saunders' father divided the family grain merchant business into two: one branch in Bath, which he ran alongside his brother Edward, and a new business in Market Lavington, operated by Samuel.[11] Samuel's business operated from 1848 to 1852.[12] While living in Bath, he transitioned into manufacturing chemistry.[10] Saunders later turned to fruit farming and, in 1868, founded a fruit preservation business in Market Lavington that eschewed the use of artificial colourings and chemicals. His efforts were said to have influenced the "tone of the village".[5]

Contributions to publishing

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Saunders assisted his brother, William, in establishing several publications, including the Western Morning News in Plymouth, the Eastern Morning News in Hull, and the Central Press in London. He also contributed to the Central News following the government’s takeover of the telegraph service.[13]

Later years

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Saunders in his later years

Saunders established a Working Men's Hall in Market Lavington and built his own home with a focus on ventilation and hygiene.[5]

In 1897, he attended the Vegetarian Society jubilee meeting in Ramsgate and was recognised for his lifelong contributions to vegetarianism and social reform.[5] In 1903 he stated:[14]

I am now an old man. I have been a total abstainer from alcoholic drinks for 72 years. I have never touched tobacco and have never spent a penny on either. I have abstained from flesh, fish, and fowl for 62 years, and have followed other health rules. I have never had a headache, never been in bed a whole day from illness, or suffered pain except from trivial accidents. I have had a very happy, and I hope somewhat useful, life. Now, in my 88th year, I am as light and nimble, and capable of receiving a new idea, as I was 20 years ago.

In October 1905, a meeting was held at Congregational Memorial Hall, London, for octogenarian vegetarians. Speakers in attendance included Saunders (then aged 86), Joseph Wallace, T. A. Hanson, C. P. Newcombe, John E. B. Mayor, and Samuel Pitman, brother of Isaac Pitman.[15]

Personal life and death

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Saunders was married three times.[13] He married Amelia Goulding Grimes on 4 September 1844 at Abbey Church, Romsey;[16] she died in 1848.[17] on 17 October 1855, he married Frances "Fanny" Maria Cotterell;[18] she died in 1888.[19] On 4 September 1896, he married Constance Wilkinson, widow of Perceval Wilkinson.[20] He had three daughters: Alice, Edith, and Annette.[21]

Saunders died at Market Lavington on 2 March 1908 at the age of 93.[22]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Market Lavington". Western Daily Press. 6 March 1908. p. 4. Retrieved 28 January 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Cale, Michelle (23 September 2004). "Bayly [née Saunders], Mary (1816–1899), temperance activist and writer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50730. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 19 May 2023. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ Cale, Michelle (23 September 2004). "Bayly [née Saunders], Mary (1816–1899), temperance activist and writer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50730. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 19 May 2023. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ Mennell, Philip (1892). "Saunders, Alfred" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gregory, James Richard Thomas Elliott (2002). "Biographical Index of British Vegetarians and Food reformers of the Victorian Era". The Vegetarian Movement in Britain c.1840–1901: A Study of Its Development, Personnel and Wider Connections (PDF). Vol. 2. University of Southampton. p. 101.
  6. ^ "Mr. Samuel Saunders". NZETC. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  7. ^ Bohan, Edmund. "Sarah Page". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  8. ^ a b Winskill, Peter Turner (1898). "Saunders, Samuel". Temperance Standard Bearers of the Nineteenth Century: A Biographical and Statistical Temperance Dictionary. p. 405.
  9. ^ Hudson, Thomas (1887). Temperance Pioneers of the West: Personal and Incidental Experiences. Published for the author at the National Temperance Publication Depot. pp. 167–169.
  10. ^ a b "The Cotterells of Bath" (PDF). Proceedings of the History of Bath Research Group (2): 9. 2013–14.
  11. ^ The London Gazette. T. Neuman. 1848. p. 93.
  12. ^ "S & Samuel SAUNDERS". The Mills Archive. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
  13. ^ a b "The Late Mr Samuel Saunders". Western Daily Press. 18 March 1908. p. 7. Retrieved 28 January 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "An Octogenarian's Experience" (PDF). The Herald of the Golden Age. 8 (10). October 1903.
  15. ^ "Diet and Longevity" (PDF). Herald of the Golden Age. 10 (4): 75. October 1905.
  16. ^ "Marriages". The Bristol Mirror. 7 September 1844. p. 8. Retrieved 29 January 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Deaths Sep 1848". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  18. ^ "Marriages". The Wells Journal. 20 October 1855. p. 8. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  19. ^ "Deaths Jun 1888". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  20. ^ "Marriages". Ealing and Acton Gazette. 12 September 1896. p. 5. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  21. ^ "General Register Office: 1861 Census Returns database". FreeCEN. Free UK Genealogy. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
  22. ^ "Bath Temperance Association". The Bath Chronicle. 26 March 1908. p. 6. Retrieved 28 January 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
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