Editing Veganism (section)

=== Formation of the Vegetarian Society ===
{{further|Vegetarian Society#History}}
[[File:Northwood_Villa,_Ramsgate.png|thumb|Northwood Villa; the site of the 1847 Ramsgate conference where the Vegetarian Society was founded.]]In 1843, members of [[Alcott House]] created the [[British and Foreign Society for the Promotion of Humanity and Abstinence from Animal Food]],<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Axon|first=William E. A.|author-link=William Axon|date=December 1893|title=A Forerunner of the Vegetarian Society|url=https://ivu.org/history/societies/britfor.html|url-status=live|magazine=Vegetarian Messenger|location=Manchester, England|publisher=[[Vegetarian Society]]|publication-date=December 1893|pages=453–55|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224100639/https://ivu.org/history/societies/britfor.html|archive-date=24 February 2018|access-date=24 February 2018|via=International Vegetarian Union}}</ref> led by [[Sophia Chichester]], a wealthy benefactor of Alcott House.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Latham |first1=Jackie |title=The political and the personal: the radicalism of Sophia Chichester and Georgiana Fletcher Welch |journal=Women's History Review |date=September 1999 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=469–487 |doi=10.1080/09612029900200216 |pmid=22619793 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Alcott House also helped to establish the British [[Vegetarian Society]], which held its first meeting in 1847 in [[Ramsgate, Kent]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grumett |first1=David |last2=Muers |first2=Rachel |title=Theology on the Menu: Asceticism, Meat and Christian Diet |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-18832-0 |page=64 }}</ref> ''[[The Medical Times and Gazette]]'' in London reported in 1884:

{{blockquote|There are two kinds of Vegetarians—one an extreme form, the members of which eat no animal food products what-so-ever; and a less extreme sect, who do not object to eggs, milk, or fish. The Vegetarian Society&nbsp;... belongs to the latter more moderate division.<ref name=MedicalTimes>"International Health Exhibition", ''The Medical Times and Gazette'', 24 May 1884, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2rdXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA712 712].</ref>}}

An article in the Society's magazine, the ''Vegetarian Messenger'', in 1851 discussed alternatives to shoe leather, which suggests the presence of vegans within the membership who rejected animal use entirely, not only in diet.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080630114643/http://www.ivu.org/history/renaissance/words.html "History of Vegetarianism: The Origin of Some Words"], International Vegetarian Union, 6 April 2010.</ref> [[Henry S. Salt]]'s 1886 ''A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays'' asserts, "It is quite true that most—not all—Food Reformers admit into their diet such animal food as milk, butter, cheese, and eggs..."<ref name="salt">{{Cite book|title=A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays |last=Stephens |first=Henry Salt |author-link=Henry S. Salt |date=1886 |page=57 |chapter=5: Sir Henry Thompson on "Diet."|title-link=s:A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays }}</ref> Salt also argued that the primary objective of the vegetarian movement should be to eliminate meat, while contending that dairy and eggs are also unnecessary and could be phased out over time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Vegetarianism - Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) |url=https://ivu.org/history/salt/dairy.html |access-date=2024-07-22 |publisher=[[International Vegetarian Union]]}}</ref>