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Basil Tozer

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Basil Tozer
Tozer in 1908
Born
Basil John Joseph Tozer

March 1868 (1868-03)
Teignmouth, England
Died7 December 1949(1949-12-07) (aged 81)
Teignmouth, England
Occupation(s)Journalist, author, hunter
Notable workThe Horse in History (1908)
Spouse
Beatrice Langley
​
(m. 1896)​
[1]
Children2

Basil John Joseph Tozer (March 1868 – 7 December 1949) was an English journalist, author, and hunter. He was best known for his 1908 history of horsemanship, The Horse in History.

Early life and education

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Tozer was born in March 1868[2] in Teignmouth.[3] He was educated at Beaumont College.[4] Tozer was the son of J. H. Tozer, a solicitor. His brother E. J. Tozer was honorary secretary of the South Devon Hunt.[5]

Career

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As a young man, Tozer worked as a journalist and was editor of the Galignani's Messenger newspaper in Paris. He served in the Royal Army Service Corps in France during World War I.[5][6] After a world tour he joined the staff of the Daily Mail. He worked with Sir Arthur Pearson, 1st Baronet on several of his publications.[5]

Tozer authored articles for The English Illustrated Magazine. In August 1895 he authored a five-page article "The Dogs' Home, Battersea" which included photographs taken by Walter Brock of dogs being euthanised in the Battersea Lethal Chamber.[7]

Tozer's best known work was The Horse in History, an exploration of the role of the horse throughout civilisation. It was described as pleasantly written "sketch of the varying fortunes of the horse through the centuries".[8]

Hunting

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Tozer was an avid huntsman but was concerned about unnecessary cruel activities he had observed on hunts.[9][10] At first he wrote letters on the topic anonymously but later wrote an article under his own name with the title "The Abuse of Sport", published in the The Fortnightly Review in 1906.[9] Tozer recounted an act of cruelty involving the use of a gigantic corkscrew to kill a fox. He commented that one of the hunter's servants also carried a triple fish hook. In regard to game hunting, he noted that the beaters and game keepers themselves had thrown birds that were not quite dead into their pockets and game bags.[9] Tozer stated that the reason for calling attention to the abuses was because animal welfare organisations were planning to abolish certain field sports by an Act of Parliament and that if unnecessary cruelty was removed from such sports they would not be abolished.[9][11]

Between 1907 and 1935, Tozer authored many newspaper articles on hunting. In 1927, he was promoting drag hunting as a replacement for fox hunting.[12] He authored a pamphlet Drag Hunting and Its Possibilities, published by the National Society for the Abolition of Cruel Sports in 1935.[13]

Personal life and death

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Tozer married Beatrice Langley, a concert violinist.[14] Beatrice was involved with the women's suffrage movement.[1] They had two sons, Leonard and Philip.[1]

Tozer died on 7 December 1949.[15]

Selected publications

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Books

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Short stories

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Hunting articles

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  • Will Drag-Hunting Oust Fox-Hunting? (1907)[16]
  • The Practice of Digging Foxes (1909)[17]
  • Hunting-Field Problems: How to Make the Most of a Horse (1910)[18]
  • Threat to Kill Foxes (1910)[19]
  • Tact in the Hunting-Field (1910)[20]
  • Hunting on a Small Income (1928)[21]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Mrs Beatrice Tozer". Devon History Society. 2018. Archived from the original on 20 October 2024.
  2. ^ "Births Mar 1868". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  3. ^ "Summary Bibliography: Basil Tozer". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  4. ^ "Mr Basil Tozer". The Sketch. 23 September 1908. p. 341. (subscription required)
  5. ^ a b c "Late Mr. Tozer: Journalist from Old Teignmouth Family". Devon and Exeter Gazette. 16 December 1949. p. 5. (subscription required)
  6. ^ "Notes from Here and There". The Tatler. 16 May 1923. p. 24. (subscription required)
  7. ^ Mazzeno, Laurence W.; Morrison, Ronald D. (2017). Animals in Victorian Literature and Culture: Contexts for Criticism. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 89–91. ISBN 978-1137602190.
  8. ^ Polley, Martin (2004). The History of Sport in Britain, 1880-1914: Sport and Money. Routledge. p. 161. ISBN 978-0415231404.
  9. ^ a b c d "Cruelty to Foxes". The Standard. 26 September 1906. p. 8. (subscription required)
  10. ^ Salt, Henry S. (1906). ""The Abuse of Sport"". The Fortnightly Review. 80 (479): 959–962.
  11. ^ "Basil Tozer". The Review of Reviews. 34: 403. 1906.
  12. ^ "Cruel Sports: Many Protests at Taunton Gathering". Devon and Exeter Gazette. 5 March 1927. p. 5. (subscription required)
  13. ^ Tozer, Basil (1935). Drag Hunting and Its Possibilities. National Society for the Abolition of Cruel Sports.
  14. ^ Seddon, Laura (2016). British Women Composers and Instrumental Chamber Music in the Early Twentieth Century. Taylor & Francis. p. 164. ISBN 978-1317171348.
  15. ^ "Tozer, Basil, 1868-1949". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  16. ^ "Will Drag-Hunting Oust Fox-Hunting?". Pall Maul Gazette. 16 April 1907. p. 3. (subscription required)
  17. ^ "The Practice of Digging Foxes". The Graphic. 20 November 1909. p. 668. (subscription required)
  18. ^ "Hunting-Field Problems: How to Make the Most of a Horse". The Graphic. 22 January 1910. p. 120. (subscription required)
  19. ^ "Threat to Kill Foxes". Daily Express. 12 March 1910. p. 8. (subscription required)
  20. ^ "Tact in the Hunting-Field". The Graphic. 26 November 1910. p. 854. (subscription required)
  21. ^ "Hunting on a Small Income". The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. 7 January 1928. p. 24. (subscription required)
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