C. P. Newcombe | |
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 Newcombe in 1905 | |
| Born | Cornelius Prout Newcombe (1825-09-05)5 September 1825 Shoreditch,Middlesex, England |
| Died | 30 July 1913(1913-07-30) (aged 87) Rusthall, Kent, England |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | c. 1850–1913 |
| Known for | Advocacy ofvegetarianism, earlyveganism, andtemperance |
| Notable work |
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| Spouses | |
| Children | 4 |
| Family |
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Cornelius Prout Newcombe (5 September 1825 – 30 July 1913) was an English educator and social reformer who advocated forvegetarianism, earlyveganism, andtemperance. After an early career in shipbuilding and insurance, he became aschoolmaster and around 1859 operated avegetarian boarding school before founding Alexandra Park College inHornsey in 1868. He later worked as a head teacher in New Zealand and retired to England in his later years. From the late nineteenth century, Newcombe was active in the British vegetarian movement, editing theThe Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review, publishingThe Manifesto of Vegetarianism (1911), and arguing that humans were naturally adapted to a plant-based diet. He also claimed that strict vegetarianism could cure cancer and sought funding for a Fruitarian Cancer Hospital. A supporter of theBritish temperance movement, Newcombe edited theTemperance Gazette and worked with temperance organisations. Following his death in 1913, theVegetarian Society established a memorial essay competition in his honour.
Cornelius Prout Newcombe was born on 5 September 1825 inShoreditch, Middlesex.[1][2] He was the second son of Frederick Newcombe, a butcher, and Hannah Prout.[3] Newcombe was related to several notable figures, including his uncle, the painterSamuel Prout; his cousin, the musical theoristEbenezer Prout; and his niece, the artist andsuffragistBertha Newcombe.[4]
In the early 1850s, Newcombe entered business as a partner in Griffiths, Newcombe & Co., an insurance brokerage and shipbuilding firm. The partnership collapsed in 1854, after which Newcombe became aschoolmaster.[4] Around 1859, he ran avegetarian boarding school.[5] In 1865, Newcombe was elected a member of theRoyal Society of Arts.[6] In 1868, he founded Alexandra Park College inHornsey.[7] Later in his career, Newcombe worked as a head teacher in New Zealand before returning to England around 1895,[4] where he retired toTorquay.[5]
Newcombe adopted a vegetarian diet around 1850.[5] In 1895, he attended the autumn congress of theVegetarian Federal Union in Birmingham.[8]
In 1905, at the age of 80, he organised and presided over a meeting of vegetarian octogenarians in London.[9] Speakers included Newcombe,Joseph Wallace (84),T. A. Hanson (86),John E. B. Mayor (80),Samuel Saunders (91), and Samuel Pitman (82), brother ofIsaac Pitman.[10]: 75
Newcombe asserted that a strict vegetarian diet could cure cancer[11] and published the pamphletThe Diet Cure of Cancer, which reached a third edition in 1905.[10]: 78 In it, he argued that the adoption of vegetarianism would not only cure disease but also transform humanity morally and spiritually, writing that
not cancer alone, but the foul brood of diseases that fill the world with suffering and sorrow will rapidly decrease in number. Humanity will gain its right place among the religions of the world, the causes of war will cease, and cruelty will be known only as a crime.[10]: 78
In 1906, he sought funding for a Fruitarian Cancer Hospital.[12]
In 1911, Newcombe publishedThe Manifesto of Vegetarianism, dedicated to Mayor, Wallace, andAlbert Broadbent.[13] In the work, he argued that humans are naturally adapted to a vegetarian diet, citing the absence of claws or sharp teeth and the structure of the digestive system, which he believed was unsuited to the digestion of meat.[14]
In 1900, Newcombe contributed a story titled "What the Animals Think of the Children's Garden" to the vegetarian periodical for childrenThe Children's Garden. The story depicted an animal gathering in which animals protested human cruelty and the use of their bodies for clothing and fashion, including the killing of seals for fur and the plucking of ostrich feathers.[15]
Newcombe also editedThe Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review, the journal of theVegetarian Society.[16] In 1912, he invited correspondence on the differences within the vegetarian movement between those who consumedanimal products and those who did not. The resulting 24 letters were published in the journal. Newcombe was critical of the arguments defending the use of eggs and milk, and promoted a diet consisting solely of cereals, pulses, fruit, nuts, and vegetables.[16]
Newcombe edited the temperance periodicalThe Temperance Gazette, which was published byWilliam Horsell. He was active in thetemperance movement as a member of the National Temperance Association and worked as an agent for Temperance Emigration Shipping.[5]
In 1848 Newcombe married Caroline Tunnicliff inCoventry.[4] The couple had four children,[4] including Alfred Cornelius Newcombe (1850–1944),[3][4] who in 1921 publishedVegetarianism Vindicated, a collection of his articles on vegetarianism that had originally appeared in theMiddlesex County Times andThe Epoch.[17] Alfred worked as a civil engineer inBritish India and wrote further works, includingVillage, Town and Jungle Life in India (1905) andRational Food (1909), and continued as an officer of the Vegetarian Society into the 1930s while editing his reform journalHumane Life at Bournemouth.[3] Caroline died in 1857.[18] The following year Newcombe married Mary Kirk inKensington.[4] She died in 1882.[19]
Newcombe died on 30 July 1913 inRusthall, Kent, aged 87. He was cremated atGolders Green Crematorium.[9] In his honour theVegetarian Society established the C. P. Newcombe Memorial Prize Essay Competition.[20]
Name: Cornelious Prout Newcombe … Birth Date: 5 Sep 1826; Birth Place: Shoreditch, London, England … Father: Frederick Newcombe; Mother: Hannah Newcombe.
Name: Cornelious Prout Newcombe … Birth Date: 5 Sep 1826; Birth Place: Shoreditch, Middlesex, England … Father: Frederick Newcombe; Mother: Hannah Prout.
The C. P. Newcombe Prize Essay Competition, read at the Annual Meeting, October 16th, 1916, at Manchester.
Media related toC. P. Newcombe at Wikimedia Commons