Frances L. Boult
Frances L. Boult | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Frances Sarah Louisa Morton 1856 |
| Died | April 29, 1905 |
| Occupation | Activist |
Frances L. Boult (1856 – April 29, 1905) was an English vegetarianism activist and cookery instructor. She was the founder of the Ivy Leaf Society and was the editor of its magazine The Children's Garden.
Career
[edit]Boult was born in 1857 and as a young women was involved with the women's temperance movement. She became a vegetarian to treat paralysis but converted to its ethics.[1] She was the founder and honorary secretary of the Ivy Leaf Society. The Ivy Leaf Society was a vegetarian organization that encouraged humanitarian principles to young people under the age of 17.[2][3] The Society advocated compassion to both human and non-human animals with a motto "I will not kill nor hurt any living creature needlessly, nor destroy any beautiful thing, but will strive to comfort and protect all gentle life upon the earth".[3] Children from the Society went to Boult's house for meetings at Hilldrop Crescent, Camden Road where they delivered songs and played games.[3]
The Society lectured at schools and offered prizes to children for vegetarian essays.[4] Boult was a speaker at the Vegetarian Federal Union's 4th International Congress in 1897.[5] She was active in the London Vegetarian Society (LVS) which cooperated with the Ivy Leaf Society. In 1900, the Ivy Leaf Society published The Children’s Garden magazine which was edited by Boult.[3] After its first year, 32,000 copies of the magazine had circulated. It was published monthly until December 1905. The magazine featured fictional stories, poetry as well as non-fiction articles on moral guidance and vegetarianism.[3]
Boult was the founder and a vice-president of the Northern Heights Vegetarian Society.[6][7][8] In 1904, she lectured on "Substitutes: How the vegetable kingdom replaces the animal" and demonstrated the substitutes to her audience. Fats from nuts were used to replace lard and suet, there were vegetable substitutes for candles and soaps, boots without leather and imitation furs.[9] She created a vegetarian plum pudding recipe.[10]
Boult served on the General Council of the Order of the Golden Age.[11]
She died at Malvern in 1905.[2] Sidney H. Beard commented that humanity had lost "one of its bravest and most devoted apostles".[3]
Family
[edit]Boult was married to Alfred Julius Boult, the founder of Boult Wade Tennant. Their daughter Winifred Louisa Boult worked on her magazine The Children's Garden in 1900.[1]
Legacy
[edit]After Boult's death, the Ivy Leaf Society and its magazine disbanded in December 1905. The Vegetarian Federal Union published a new magazine that debuted in January 1906 under the title Children's Realm in honour of Boult.[3] The magazine was managed by Arnold Hills who promised to continue Boult's work.[3]
Selected publications
[edit]- Christmas, the Festival of Slaughter (Order of the Golden Age, 1901)[11]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Gregory, James Richard Thomas Elliott (2002). "Biographical Index of British 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. p. 17.
- ^ a b "Mrs Frances L. Boult". The Daily Telegraph. May 1, 1905. p. 7. (subscription required)
- ^ a b c d e f g h Kubisz, Marzena (2024). "Vegetarian Children's Press in the Early Twentieth Century: The Children's Garden and The Children's Realm". Children’s Vegetarian Culture in the Victorian Era: The Juvenile Food Reformers Press and Literary Change. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1040160039.
- ^ "They Don't Eat Meat". The Morning Leader. November 5, 1897. p. 5. (subscription required)
- ^ "4th International Congress 1897". International Vegetarian Union.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Gregory, James (2007). Of Victorians and Vegetarians: The Vegetarian Movement in Nineteenth-century Britain. Tauris Academic Studies. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-4356-1584-7.
- ^ Morris, Emily; Scholl, Lesa (2022). The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Victorian Women’s Writing. Springer. p. 57. ISBN 978-3030783181.
- ^ "Vegetarian Federal Union 1889-1911". International Vegetarian Union. 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Vegetarian Society". Norwood News & Penge and Anerley Chronicle. October 22, 1904. p. 7. (subscription required)
- ^ Hawksley, Lucinda Dickens (2024). "Vegetarian Plum Pudding". Victorian Christmas: Traditional Recipes, Decorations, Activities, and Carols. Countryman Press. ISBN 978-1682688649.
- ^ a b "The Order of the Golden Age" (PDF). The Herald of the Golden Age. 6 (3). 1901.