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Alice Drakoules

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The sentiment that spares the sheep and the deer will not sacrifice men.

Alice Marie Drakoules (née Lambe; other married name Lewis; c. 1850 – 15 January 1933) was a British social reformer, humanitarian, and writer. Active in campaigns for animal welfare, anti-vivisection, and vegetarianism, she helped found the Humanitarian League in 1891 and served as its honorary treasurer for nearly three decades. She also worked with the Vegetarian Society, the Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society, and later supported the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports.

Quotes

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"The French Congress: Paris"

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Full text online. The Women's Penny Paper. 1 (42). London: Women's Printing Society: 7. 10 August 1889

  • If, instead of being fed upon flesh food, a savage dog is given bread and vegetables, in a short space of time he becomes a changed being, gentle and docile.
  • There are in London at this time thirty Vegetarian Restaurants, all doing a very good business; this will give you an idea of the hold which food reform already has in our country.
  • Vegetable substances contain all the elements necessary for the nourishment of man, and for the production of force and caloric.
  • The immense work which is executed by oxen, horses, mules, elephants, and camels, is convincing proof of the strength-giving properties of vegetable food.
  • If we judge from the construction of the human body, the natural food of man is not flesh-meat, but fruits, roots, cereals, and vegetables; that, in a word, man is not carnivorous, but frugivorous.
  • Picturing to yourselves all that is meant by the slaughter-house… I ask you if it is possible to reconcile the idea of it… with the idea of progress, of refinement, and of gentleness (or humanity)? In my opinion they are irreconcileable.[sic]

"The Rights of the Non-Human Races"

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Full text online. The Women's Penny Paper. 2 (60). London: Women's Printing Society: 4. 14 December 1889

  • Man at present has no just claim to regard himself as the worthy Head of the animal world.
  • Strange as it is, in this age of so-called humanity and enlightenment, that society, when brought face to face with the grave accusation of indifference to life, to the terrible wrongs inflicted on the harmless non-human races, is yet content to go on as before; it does not trouble itself in the slightest degree to stop the barbarisms and frightful sufferings inflicted upon what it is pleased to term 'the brutes' and 'the beasts;' it does not concern itself to enquire into the unquestionable atrocities practised in the rearing, transport and slaughter of the countless thousands of harmless victims who are daily sacrificed for the pleasures of the palate.
  • Man by nature is not a carnivorous but a frugivorous animal, and … a diet composed of fruits, pulses, grains and nuts contains all that is necessary for the maintenance of Force and Caloric.
  • Only the worshippers of the old world creed based on the maxim that 'might is right' could attempt to justify their position.
  • As is the language, so is the idea.
  • The passion for 'sport,' the killing and wounding industries, is no other than a relic of the past struggle for existence, destined to be regarded with horror under higher and happier civilization.
  • The savage is not a sportsman, hunting is his business, not his amusement; his excuse is, that he acts from necessity.
  • The sentiment that spares the sheep and the deer will not sacrifice men.
  • The emancipation of woman should be accompanied by hostility towards deeds of violence, and by the spread of the instinct of pity and mercy. Let women discountenance every act of cruelty under whatever disguise, or upon whatever pretence, and it will become impossible, or at all events much rarer than now.

Quote about Drakoules

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  • Through her behind the scenes work and steady influence Alice Drakoules was seen as a 'spiritual mother' of the humanitarian movement
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