Thomas Richard Allinson (29 March 1858 – 29 November 1918) was an English
physician, dietetic reformer, businessman, journalist and
vegetarianism
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter.
Vegetarianism m ...
activist. He was a proponent of wholemeal (
whole grain) bread consumption. His name is still used today for a bread popular in Europe,
Allinson
Allinson is a brand of bread and of flour made by Allied Bakeries being owned by Associated British Foods
History
Dr Thomas Allinson was born in the Hulme district of Manchester in 1858. He trained as a medical doctor in Edinburgh, graduating i ...
bread.
Biography
Allinson was born in the
Hulme
Hulme () is an inner city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England, immediately south of Manchester city centre. It has a significant industrial heritage.
Historically in Lancashire, the name Hulme is derived from the Old Norse word f ...
district of
Manchester on 29 March 1858.
He went to school in Lancaster and Manchester and at fifteen began work as a chemist's assistant. With money he saved and financial help from his stepfather, he was able to attend the
extramural medical school in Edinburgh, which was less expensive than the University medical school. He graduated as a Licenciate of the
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...
(LRCP, LRCS) in 1879.
After assistantships in Hull and the East End of London he established his own practice in Marylebone in 1885.
During the 1880s Allinson developed his theory of medicine, which he called Hygienic Medicine. In place of orthodox medicine, he promoted health through diet, exercise, fresh air and bathing. He advocated a vegetarian diet and the avoidance of alcohol, tobacco, coffee and tea. He especially promoted the benefits of stone-ground wholemeal breads. He opposed the use of drugs by doctors, many of which at that time were ineffective and toxic and was a lifelong opponent of compulsory
vaccination against
smallpox. This approach became known as Allinsonian Medicine. He became medical editor of the ''Weekly Times and Echo'' in 1885, for which he wrote over 1000 articles during his life,
as well as answering readers' medical queries.
He wrote a number of books and pamphlets directed at a general rather than medical readership, including ''A System of Hygienic Medicine'' (1886), ''How to avoid Vaccination'' (1888), ''The Advantage of Wholemeal Bread'', ''Medical Essays'' and ''A Book for Married Women'' (1894) and books on stomach diseases, consumption (tuberculosis), rheumatism, vegetarian cooking and healthy diet. He gave frequent public lectures throughout the country propounding his ideas. In one of his books, ''The Advantages of Wholemeal Bread'' (1889), he proposed that wholemeal bread was healthier than
white (or refined) bread. He believed that smoking was a cause of
cancer, which was a radical idea at the time. Allinson regularly sought publicity for his theories and practices in the press and directed his energies not just towards his colleagues but directly to the public. To demonstrate the suitability of a vegetarian diet for strenuous exercise, he undertook a walk from Edinburgh to London in 1891. He walked for 15 consecutive days, averaging a day, arriving in London on Saturday, September 12.
In 1888, Allinson married Anna Pulvermacher, an artist who exhibited at the
Royal Academy; they had one daughter and three sons, including
Bertrand P. Allinson and
Adrian Allinson
Adrian Allinson (9 January 1890 – 20 February 1959) was a British painter, potter and engraver known for his landscapes of Southern Europe and North Africa, and for a series of notable posters he made for London Transport.
Life and caree ...
.
His views often brought him into conflict with the
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the
General Medical Council, particularly his opposition to doctors' frequent use of toxic drugs, his opposition to vaccination and his self-promotion in the press.
In 1892 he was struck off the Medical Register. Despite this he continued to practise and indeed maintained he had the largest medical practice in England. Also at this time he was expelled from the
Vegetarian Society because of his views on birth control.
Gandhi, who was studying law in Britain at the time and was also a member of the Vegetarian Society, spoke in favour of Allinson's right to support contraception, despite being opposed to it.
In 1892 he founded the Natural Food Company with the intention of producing and selling healthy foods; he bought a stone grinding flour mill in Bethnal Green, and a bakery was established shortly afterwards.
His ''Book for Married Women'' advocated equality of women and men, the right of a woman to choose the size of her family, and birth control. For this he was prosecuted and convicted under the
Obscene Publications Act
Since 1857, a series of obscenity laws known as the Obscene Publications Acts have governed what can be published in England and Wales. The classic definition of criminal obscenity is if it "tends to deprave and corrupt," stated in 1868 by Lord ...
in 1901.
In 1911, Allinson bought the failing magazine ''
Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Literature
* Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan
* ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray
* ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...
'' from
Frank Harris
Frank Harris (14 February 1855 – 26 August 1931) was an Irish-American editor, novelist, short story writer, journalist and publisher, who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day.
Born in Ireland, he emigrated to the United State ...
. He failed to revive its fortunes and, in 1914, ''Vanity Fair'' merged with ''Hearth and Home''.
During
World War I, the food value of wholemeal bread was recognised. Although it has been claimed that Allinson was offered the right to re-register during WW1, the General Medical Council has no record of this and by that time he had no registrable qualifications. His company flourished from the increased demand for whole-grain bread and meal. After his death, the company grew: two more stone-grinding mills were purchased in
Newport, Monmouthshire and in 1921
Castleford, Yorkshire. The mills stand to this day.
Allinson died from
tuberculosis, at his home in
Marylebone, on 29 November 1918.
Legacy
Allinson's original bread recipe (100% whole grain flour, no fat, less yeast, more water) is still used today, though some lovers of Allinson bread report that it's not as hearty nowadays as it used to be.
Flour Power – A Scottish Perspective
at www.uni-ulm.de The advertising slogan for the brand since the 1980s is "Bread wi' nowt 'with nothing''taken out".
Selected publications
''Medical Essays''
(5 volumes, 1892)
''Dr. Allinson's Vegetarian Cookery''
(1910)
References
Further reading
*P. S. Brown. (1991)
''Medically Qualified Naturopaths and the General Medical Council''
''Medical History'' 35: 50-77.
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Allinson, Thomas
1858 births
1918 deaths
19th-century English medical doctors
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
British anti-vaccination activists
British nutritionists
British vegetarianism activists
People associated with the Vegetarian Society
People in alternative medicine
People from Hulme
Tuberculosis deaths in England
Vanity Fair (British magazine) people
Vegetarian cookbook writers