Henry John Williams

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The Reverend
Henry John Williams
Born(1838-02-01)1 February 1838
Whatley, Mendip, England
Died1 April 1919(1919-04-01) (aged 81)
Aspley Guise, England
Occupation(s)Priest, activist
Known forFounding the Order of the Golden Age
RelativesHoward Williams (brother)
ReligionAnglicanism
ChurchChurch of England
Offices held
Rector of Kinross

Henry John Williams (8 February 1838 – 1 April 1919) was an English Anglican priest and activist for humanitarianism, animal rights and vegetarianism. He was the founder of the Order of the Golden Age; an international animal rights society.

Biography[edit]

Henry John Williams was born on 8 February 1838 in Whatley, Mendip.[1] He was the son of Margaret Sophia and Hamilton John Williams,[1] an Anglican priest.[2] Williams had six brothers, including Howard Williams, the author of The Ethics of Diet and a vegetarian and fellow humanitarian.[3][4]

Williams was married twice, first to Cecelia Frances D'Arblay Croft and then to a person, in July 1871, in Newport Pagnell, whose name has not been recorded.[1]

At the age of 40, Williams was inspired by his brother Howard to become a vegetarian.[5] He later published the pamphlet A Plea for a Broken Law, which made a case for vegetarianism from a theological point of view.[6] In 1881, he founded the animal rights society, the Order of the Golden Age; it was constituted in 1882. Due to a lack of funds, the organisation was inactive until 1895, when Williams, Sidney H. Beard and others met and discussed how to remedy its dormancy.[7] Williams wrote for the order's journal, The Herald of the Golden Age.[8][9]

Williams was rector of Kinross,[10] honorary president of the Scottish Vegetarian Society[11] and a member of the Humanitarian League's Humane Diet department.[3]

Williams died on 1 April 1919 in Aspley Guise, at the age of 81;[1] Howard authored an obituary, which was published in the May 1919 edition of The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review.[5]

Selected publications[edit]

  • A Plea for a Broken Law

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "Descendants of Sydenham Williams of Herringstone". Heraldry Online. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  2. ^ Preece, Rod (2011). Animal Sensibility and Inclusive Justice in the Age of Bernard Shaw. Vancouver: UBC Press. pp. 167–168. ISBN 9780774821124.
  3. ^ a b Grumett, David; Muers, Rachel, eds. (2011). Eating and Believing: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Vegetarianism and Theology. London: A&C Black. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-567-57736-8.
  4. ^ Gregory, James. (2007). Of Victorians and Vegetarians: The Vegetarian Movement in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Tauris Academic Studies. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-84511-379-7
  5. ^ a b Williams, Howard (May 1919). "Rev. Henry John Williams (1838-1919)". The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review.
  6. ^ Williams, Howard (2003). The Ethics of Diet: A Catena of Authorities Deprecatory of the Practice of Flesh-eating. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-252-07130-0.
  7. ^ Calvert, Samantha Jane (June 2012). Eden's Diet: Christianity and Vegetarianism 1809–2009 (PDF) (Thesis). University of Birmingham. pp. 203–204.
  8. ^ Williams, H. J. (January 1897). "Dark Ages, Past & Present". The Herald of the Golden Age.
  9. ^ Williams, H. J. (15 December 1900). "A Call to the Christian Church" (PDF). The Herald of the Golden Age. 5 (12): 143–144.
  10. ^ "Introduction – The Order of the Golden Age". The Vegetarian Messenger. October 1897. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  11. ^ "Vegetarian Federal Union 1889-1911". International Vegetarian Union. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
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