 Vegetarian Federal Union stall at theWorld's Columbian Exposition, 1893 | |
| Abbreviation | VFU |
|---|---|
| Successor | International Vegetarian Union |
| Formation | 1 October 1889; 136 years ago (1889-10-01) |
| Dissolved | 1911; 115 years ago (1911) |
| Type | Umbrella organization |
| Purpose | Coordination ofvegetarian societies |
| Headquarters | Memorial Hall, London, England |
Region served | United Kingdom; international affiliates |
| Methods | Federation of local societies; congresses and meetings; publications and publicity |
Chairman | Arnold Hills |
Key people |
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Main organ |
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| Affiliations | |
TheVegetarian Federal Union (VFU) was a British umbrella organisation for vegetarian societies, founded in London in 1889 and active until 1911. It coordinated affiliated local and overseas societies, convened meetings and congresses, including the 1893 World Vegetarian Congress in Chicago, and published the quarterlyThe Vegetarian Review. From 1908 its international role was largely superseded by theInternational Vegetarian Union, and the VFU subsequently lapsed.
The Vegetarian Federal Union grew out of tensions between the Manchester-basedVegetarian Society and the newly independentLondon Vegetarian Society, which had broken away in 1888 under the prominent leadership ofArnold Hills.[1]
In June 1889 the London society proposed replacing loose local affiliations with a nationwide "Vegetarian Union" in which each society's votes were weighted by its membership.[1] The following month, individuals from the London society met and drafted plans to form what became the VFU.[2]
In September, following the firstInternational Vegetarian Congress inCologne, Germany, the organisers expanded their aim to create a global union of vegetarian societies.[1] Hills described the aim as follows
The union of our English Vegetarian Societies, for common work and counsel, is but the presage of that larger federation, whereof all nations are the units.[3]
The VFU was formally established at a meeting atMemorial Hall, London on 1 October 1889.[4]: 142 Hills was elected chairman,W. E. A. Axon served as vice-chairman,[3] andR. E. O'Callaghan was appointed secretary.[4]: 148
Early VFU business was conducted through closely spaced meetings in London and Manchester in October 1889, followed by further gatherings in provincial centres;[1] the union was headquartered atMemorial Hall.[5]
From late 1889,The Vegetarian, a weekly newspaper published in London by Hills, began carrying a regular VFU page for the secretary's reports and upcoming events, reinforcing the union's role as a coordinating clearing-house for affiliated societies.[1]
The VFU's meetings continued on a semi-annual cycle in the 1890s, sometimes styled autumn or annual congresses and combined with paper readings. In 1893 the union launched a quarterly journal,The Vegetarian Review, and in 1895 it instituted monthly Executive and Editorial Committee meetings in London to manage reports and notices forThe Vegetarian.[1]
In 1892 the American vegetarian activistFranklin P. Doremus succeededR. E. O'Callaghan as secretary and served until 1895. He had earlier been honorary secretary of theNational Food Reform Society (1879–1885) and the inaugural secretary of theLondon Vegetarian Society (1889–1890).[6] He was succeeded by Oldfield, who also editedThe Vegetarian until December 1896, when he was succeeded by John Ablett.[4]: 148, 178 In March 1895 the committee includedAdrienne Veigele,May Yates,Henry B. Amos, and O'Callaghan, then serving as an agent for the southern counties.[7]
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Membership and liaison were initially centred in Britain. Applications accepted at the September 1890 London meeting included three additional English groups as well as theAmerican Vegetarian Society and the Irish Vegetarian Union; two German societies sought affiliation during the 1890 London congress. Much routine activity consisted of the VFU secretary's lecture tours and visits to local societies reported inThe Vegetarian.[1]
The union coordinated joint activity among affiliated societies, culminating in its organisation of the World Vegetarian Congress in Chicago in 1893. Around forty papers from international contributors were presented, and the proceedings, nearly 250 pages, were published as a special issue of theHygienic Review. The VFU also mounted a stall at theWorld's Columbian Exposition, with English delegates attending andMay Yates andCarrica Le Favre serving as secretaries to the Congress.[4]: 142
In 1897 the VFU oversaw arrangements for the autumn International Vegetarian Congress in London, whichCharles W. Forward characterised as among the most successful and best attended congresses the union had held in the city.[4]: 148
Organisational complexity in London led to the creation in 1895 of theLondon Vegetarian Association as a local federation alongside the London Vegetarian Society, further blurring boundaries between the societies and the VFU; contemporary correspondence and meeting minutes indicate persistent uncertainty among members over their respective roles.[1]
Forward wrote that the Vegetarian Society regarded the VFU as a potential challenge to its position as a national body and to its long-standing practice of working and collecting subscriptions without geographic restriction.[4]: 148 He also recorded that in 1894 Hills urged that national coordination be undertaken by the VFU rather than the Society, proposing that the Society limit its remit; the proposal was declined.[4]: 170
Participation beyond Britain remained limited. Annual and semi-annual meetings were routinely held in London, and overseas representation was often by proxy rather than in person, a practice criticised by American counterparts. By the mid-1900s VFU international congresses had little non-British input and were sometimes paired with functions of London associations.[1]
In 1908 the Vegetarian Society spearheaded an initiative that led to the creation of theInternational Vegetarian Union at the first World Vegetarian Congress in Dresden; the VFU and London bodies sent letters of support but no delegates.[1]
The Vegetarian continued for a time as the organ of the VFU, yet by 1911 the union's congresses had become local London gatherings and it lapsed soon after.[1]
