Charles W. Forward | |
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 Forward,c. 1897 | |
| Born | Charles Walter Forward (1863-08-19)19 August 1863 |
| Died | 9 June 1934(1934-06-09) (aged 70) Wimbledon, London, England |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | Animal rights andvegetarianism activism |
| Notable work | Fifty Years of Food Reform (1898) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
Charles Walter Forward (19 August 1863 – 9 June 1934) was an English activist foranimal rights andvegetarianism, writer, editor, and historian. Forward made significant contributions to the vegetarian movement and is best known for his 1898 work,Fifty Years of Food Reform, which was the first book to document its history.
Charles Walter Forward was born inIslington, Middlesex,[1] on 19 August 1863, to Charles John Forward and his wife Catherine.[2] He was his parents' only surviving child and had a frail youth, with his education often sacrificed for the sake of his health. Forward's health struggles led him to develop an interest inphysiology. He became avegetarian in 1878, inspired by a passage fromWilliam Cullen inRichard Phillips'sA Million of Facts.[note 1][4]: 42–43
Forward joined theVegetarian Society in 1881 while working as abookbinder at 6Blackfriars Road, London. As a leading London vegetarian, he had a close but critical association withA. F. Hills.[4]: 42–43 He later served as vice-president.[5]
Forward was heavily involved in vegetarian journalism, serving as the editor of theHerald of Health and founding theHygienic/Vegetarian Review.[4]: 42–43 He also published many works on vegetarianism[6] and has been described as a historian of the vegetarian movement.[7] Forward's first published work wasThe Manual of Vegetarianism: A Complete Guide to Food Reform, which he co-authored withR. E. O'Callaghan in 1890.[4]: 351 He authored a cookery book commissioned byJ. S. Virtue in 1891 and edited theVegetarian Yearbook,Birthday Book (1898), andJubilee Library.[4]: 42–43
In 1893, he published a satire through Nichols, titledConfessions of a Vegetarian, focusing on London vegetarian personalities. The same year, he collaborated with C. D. Steele on a musical sketch, "Only a Crossing Sweeper". By 1895, he was involved with the South London Food Reform Society and announced the production of a journal calledPure Food, the Journal of the Food Reform Movement, which was likely never produced.[4]: 42–43
In 1897, Forward advocated for the amalgamation of vegetarian journals.[4]: 42–43 That same year, he edited and published a new edition ofJohn Smith's vegetarian treatise,Fruits and Farinacea. The edition was heavily criticised byThe British Medical Journal, which dismissed the work as unscientific.[8]
Speaking at the National Vegetarian Congress in 1899, Forward argued that although the vegetarian movement was increasing, vegetarian restaurants in London had decreased in number.[9] He noted that affordable tinned meat had become widely available and how some of the purported vegetarian restaurants were not strictly vegetarian as they were serving meat dishes.[9]
In the early 20th century, he edited the short-livedLondon Vegetarian Association Quarterly.[4]: 42–43 In 1913, Forward contributed the chapter "Slaughter-House Cruelties" to the bookThe Under Dog, edited bySidney Trist. The book documented the wrongs suffered by animals at the hand of man.[10] He also editedThe Animals' Guardian, subtitled "A Humane Journal for the Better Protection of Animals". This monthly periodical was published by theLondon and Provincial Anti-Vivisection Society.[11]
DuringWorld War I, he was associated with theBlue Cross Mission and was a delegate at theInternational Vegetarian Union in Stockholm. He gave lectures for the London Vegetarian Society and the National Food Reform Demonstration Council and worked at theEbury Street Nature Cure Clinic.[4]: 42–43
His other journalistic ventures includedThe Bohemian (1887) and, in 1929, the quarterlyNew Life, announced in theDanielite Star, which focused on health and nature cure and was described as a "capital little magazine".[4]: 42–43
In 1897, Forward published a series of articles for theJubilee year of the Vegetarian Society, detailing thehistory of the vegetarian movement in theVegetarian Review. The following year, these formed his best known work,Fifty Years of Food Reform: A History of the Vegetarian Movement in England.[12]
The book was the first to document the history of the movement, from the classical period onward from writers includingPythagoras,Ovid,Seneca,Plutarch, along with eighteenth-century poets and writers.[12] It covered notable vegetarians such asWilliam Lambe,G. Nicholson,John Frank Newton,John Oswald,Richard Phillips,Joseph Ritson andPercy Bysshe Shelley.[13] It also contains over 200 illustrations,[14] including a map of London showing vegetarian restaurants of the time.[15]
Forward argued that most diseases including cancer are the result of modern-day unhealthy eating habits because people have shifted from their natural primitive vegetarian diet and are eating less fruit and vegetables.[16] In 1912, Forward was elected Chairman of theSociety for the Prevention and Relief of Cancer.[16] From 1914, he lectured on cancer and diet and gave a lecture atThe Polytechnic in Regent Street on cancer causes and prevention. Similar toRobert Bell andDouglas Macmillan he held the view thatmeat eating was a major cause of cancer.[16]
Forward married Florance Kate Cramp inWandsworth in 1888.[17] They had three children.[4]: 42–43
Forward died inWimbledon, on 9 June 1934.[18]
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