On retiring from his career as a records manager in the Civil Service, Martin Tucker joined the Humanist Heritage project as a research volunteer. He says he has found it fascinating to explore the British Humanist Association archive and that he was delighted to have the opportunity to continue working with historical records in this way. Read his full article here.
It has often been assumed – because of its name and the emphasis it places on rationality – that humanism concerns itself only with humans, and not with animals. However, the records of the Ethical Union and the British Humanist Association (BHA; known since 2017 as Humanists UK) show the deep concern that many humanists have had for animal welfare and how it has often been regarded as an integral part of humanism.
There has always been a wide spectrum of views among humanists on specific animal welfare issues, such as vegetarianism and veganism. Reflecting this diversity of opinion, historical records show that the BHA and the Ethical Union largely (but not exclusively) regarded the specifics of animal welfare as a matter for individual humanists rather than a matter of corporate policy. Additionally, and as today, campaigning priorities were guided by which campaigns were already well covered by other organisations, and where the Ethical Union/BHA felt it could have the most impact. It was, however, felt that the humanist principle of compassion, aligned with a sense of affinity with animals arising out of an evolutionary perspective, would tend to lead humanists towards a concern for animal welfare. The BHA produced a number of briefing papers on animal welfare (such as their 1992 briefing for schools) which show how they regarded the potential for animals to experience pain and suffering as the prime consideration, rather than any characteristics that distinguish humans from animals.
There has been longstanding opposition to the hunting of animals for sport in the humanist movement and this opposition can be seen in Council and Committee minutes, in conference motions, and in published correspondence from individual humanists. The Council of the Union of Ethical Societies expressed its opposition to the ‘hunting of tame animals’ as early as 1912, expressing its hope that ‘ethicists the world over will unite in condemning practices of this kind, which, we hope, will soon be prohibited.’ A later example can be seen in the lobbying (jointly by the BHA and the National Secular Society) of humanist parliamentarians to introduce a bill to abolish ‘cruel sports’ in the late 1960s.
Some individual humanists have been influential in raising the profile of animal welfare within the Ethical Union and the BHA. The most notable is Henry James Adams, a Local Government Board clerk who was active in the Rationalist Press Association and who submitted a number of motions to the Ethical Union’s annual congress in the 1920s and 1930s as a ‘subscribing member’ (rather than as a member of a local group). Adams’ overarching motion on animal welfare – that ‘Ethical Societies should give more attention to the question of the duties which human beings owe to animals’ – was passed by unanimous vote, as was his motion opposing ‘blood sports’. Adams seems to have played a role in persuading the Ethical Union to join the League Against Cruel Sports, which it supported as a subscribing member for over 20 years. There are also examples of support for motions on animal welfare submitted to the BHA’s Annual General Meeting (on cosmetics testing in 1979, and ritual slaughter in 1981).
There have been several exchanges of correspondence on animal welfare in the humanist press, including in the Ethical Union and BHA’s own publications. Geoffrey Bennett (b. 1925), was a prominent contributor, who wrote many articles to the press on animal rights and politics. He would have spoken for many humanists in setting out his view in a 1949 letter on the role of animal welfare in the Ethical movement: ‘I should like very much to see us taking a positive and purposeful stand in a matter so morally vital and inescapable’.
If you are interested in learning more about the history of animal welfare and humanism, an in-depth analysis of the records in the BHA archive has been carried out as part of the Humanist Heritage project: Humanism and animal welfare.
Animal welfare | Humanists UK
Main image: A man in a top hat is leading the hunting party waving his hat. Chromolithograph after G. F. Mason. Wellcome Collection. Source: Wellcome Collection.