Charles W. Forward

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For the English cricketer, see Charles Forward.
Charles W. Forward
Portrait of Forward c. 1897
Born
Charles Walter Forward

(1863-08-19)19 August 1863
London, England
Died9 June 1934(1934-06-09) (aged 70)
Wimbledon, London, England
Occupation(s)Activist, writer, editor, historian
Notable workFifty Years of Food Reform (1898)
Spouse
Florance Kate Cramp
​
(m. 1888)​

Charles Walter Forward (19 August 1863 – 9 June 1934) was an English activist, writer, and editor, notable for his advocacy of animal rights and vegetarianism. Forward made significant contributions as a historian of the vegetarian movement, and is best known for his 1898 work, Fifty Years of Food Reform, which was the first book to document the history of the vegetarian movement.

Early and personal life

Charles Walter Forward was born in London on 19 August 1863 to Charles John Forward and his wife Catherine.[1] He married Florance Kate Cramp in Wandsworth in 1888.[2]

Career

Fifty Years of Food Reform

Forward's best known work Fifty Years of Food Reform: A History of the Vegetarian Movement in England, was published in 1898. It was the first book to document the history of the vegetarian movement and covered vegetarians such as William Lambe, G. Nicholson, John Frank Newton, John Oswald, Richard Phillips, Joseph Ritson and Percy Bysshe Shelley.[3] The book also mentions historical vegetarian ideals expressed from the classical period onward from writers such as Plutarch and Pythagoras.[4] It also contains a map of London showing vegetarian restaurants.[5]

Other publications and editorial work

Forward authored many publications on vegetarianism and was editor of the Vegetarian Jubilee Library.[6] He has been described as a historian of the vegetarian movement.[7]

Forward's first published work was The Manual of Vegetarianism: A Complete Guide to Food Reform, which he co-authored with R. E. O'Callaghan in 1890.[8]: 351 

In 1897, Forward edited John Smith's vegetarian book Fruits and Farinacea. The book was heavily criticised by the English Medical Journal as non-scientific.[9]

Speaking at the National Vegetarian Congress in 1899, Forward argued that although the vegetarian movement was increasing, vegetarian restaurants in London had decreased in number.[10] He noted that affordable tinned meat had become widely available and how some of the purported vegetarian restaurants were not strictly vegetarian as they were serving meat dishes.[10]

In 1913, Forward contributed the chapter "Slaughter-House Cruelties" to the book The Under Dog, edited by Sidney Trist. The book documented the wrongs suffered by animals at the hand of man.[11] He also edited The Animals' Guardian, subtitled "A Humane Journal for the Better Protection of Animals". This monthly periodical was published by the London and Provincial Anti-Vivisection Society.[12]

Diet theories

Forward argued that most diseases including cancer are the result of modern-day unhealthy eating habits because people have shifted from their natural primitive vegetarian diet and are eating less fruit and vegetables.[13] In 1912, Forward was elected Chairman of the Society for the Prevention and Relief of Cancer.[13] From 1914, he lectured on cancer and diet and gave a lecture at The Polytechnic in Regent Street on cancer causes and prevention. Similar to Robert Bell and Douglas Macmillan he held the view that meat eating was a major cause of cancer.[13]

Death

Forward died in Wimbledon, on 9 June 1934.[14]

Selected publications

References

  1. ^ Ancestry.com. England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
  2. ^ London Metropolitan Archives; London, England, UK; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P95/TRI2/009
  3. ^ Magel, Charles R. (1989). Keyguide to Information Sources in Animal Rights. McFarland. p. 65. ISBN 0-89950-405-1
  4. ^ Li, Chien-hui (2006). "Mobilizing Literature in the Animal Defense Movement in Britain, 1870-1918" (PDF). Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies. 32 (1): 27–55.
  5. ^ Richardson, Elsa (2021). "Cranks, Clerks, and Suffragettes: The Vegetarian Restaurant in English Culture and Fiction 1880-1914" (PDF). Literature and Medicine. 39 (1): 133–153. doi:10.1353/lm.2021.0010. PMID 34176815. S2CID 235659826.
  6. ^ Crossley, Ceri. (2005). Consumable Metaphors: Attitudes Towards Animals and Vegetarianism in Nineteenth-Century France. Peter Lang. p. 61. ISBN 978-3039101900
  7. ^ Richardson, Elsa (2019). "Man Is Not a Meat-Eating Animal: Vegetarians and Evolution in Late-Victorian Britain". Victorian Review. 45 (1): 117–134. doi:10.1353/vcr.2019.0034. S2CID 166975219.
  8. ^ Gregory, James Richard Thomas Elliott (2002). "Biographical Index of English 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. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  9. ^ "Reviewed Work: Fruits And Farinacea The Proper Food Of Man. Vol. IV by John Smith, C. W. Forward". The English Medical Journal. 2 (1911): 405. 1897. JSTOR 20250967.
  10. ^ a b Assael, Brenda. (2018). The London Restaurant, 1840-1914. Oxford University Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-19-881760-4
  11. ^ Animal Rights and Wrongs. Chambers's Journal, 1913.
  12. ^ "Magazine Data". www.philsp.com. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  13. ^ a b c Rossi, Paul N. (2009). Fighting Cancer with More than Medicine: A History of Macmillan Cancer Support. The History Press. pp. 36-45. ISBN 978-0-7524-4844-2
  14. ^ Ancestry.com. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Further reading

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