Anna Kingsford (; 16 September 1846 – 22 February 1888) was an English anti-vivisectionist, Theosophist, a proponent of

vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

and a

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

campaigner. She was one of the first English women to obtain a degree in medicine, after Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, and the only medical student at the time to graduate without having experimented on a single animal. She pursued her degree in Paris, graduating in 1880 after six years of study, so that she could continue her animal advocacy from a position of authority. Her final thesis, ''L'Alimentation Végétale de l'Homme'', was on the benefits of vegetarianism, published in English as ''The Perfect Way in Diet'' (1881). She founded the Food Reform Society that year, travelling within the UK to talk about vegetarianism, and to Paris, Geneva, and Lausanne to speak out against animal experimentation. Kingsford was interested in

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and

Gnosticism Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek: , Romanization of Ancient Greek, romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: Help:IPA/Greek, �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced ...

, and became active in the Theosophical movement in England, becoming president of the London Lodge of the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society is the organizational body of Theosophy, an esoteric new religious movement. It was founded in New York City, U.S.A. in 1875. Among its founders were Helena Blavatsky, a Russian mystic and the principal thinker of the ...

in 1883. In 1884 she founded the Hermetic Society, which lasted until 1887 when her health declined. She said she received insights in trance-like states and in her sleep; these were collected from her manuscripts and pamphlets by her lifelong collaborator Edward Maitland, and published posthumously in the book, ''Clothed with the Sun'' (1889). Subject to ill-health all her life, she died of lung disease at the age of 41, brought on by a bout of pneumonia. Her writing was virtually unknown for over 100 years after Maitland published her biography, ''The Life of Anna Kingsford'' (1896), though Helen Rappaport wrote in 2001 that her life and work are once again being studied.Rappaport, Helen
"Kingsford, Anna
" ''Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers'', 2001. *For Maitland's biography, see Maitland, Edward
''The Life of Anna Kingsford''
Kessinger Publishing, 2003 irst published 1896 also availabl
here
.

Early life

Kingsford was born in Maryland Point, Stratford, now part of east London but then in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, to John Bonus, a wealthy merchant, and his wife, Elizabeth Ann Schröder. Her brother John Bonus (1828–1909) was a physician and vegetarian.Pert, Alan. (2007). ''Red Cactus: The Life of Anna Kingsford''. Books & Writers. p. 6, p. 114. Her brothers Henry (1830–1903) and Albert (1831–1884) worked for their father's shipping business. Her brother Edward (1834–1908) became rector of Hulcott in Buckinghamshire and her brother Joseph (1836–1926) was a major general. Her brother Charles William Bonus (18/05/1839 – 21/11/1883) was an underwriter. By all accounts a precocious child, she wrote her first poem when she was nine, and ''Beatrice: a Tale of the Early Christians'' when she was thirteen years old. Deborah Rudacille writes that Kingsford enjoyed foxhunting, until one day she reportedly had a vision of herself as the fox. Rudacille, pp. 33–34 According to Maitland she was a "born seer," with a gift "for seeing apparitions and divining the characters and fortunes of people", something she reportedly learned to keep silent about. She married her cousin, Algernon Godfrey Kingsford in 1867 when she was 21, giving birth to a daughter, Eadith, a year later. Though her husband was an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest, she converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in 1872. In her 1868 Essay calling for female equality she uses the pen name ‘Ninon’ and in that article references Ninon de l'Enclos (1620–1705) a French woman known for her wit, beauty, intelligence and independence. The name however may be a nod to her new status as ‘Mrs Algernon’. In a letter to Maitland in August 1873, also, signed as ‘Ninon’ she says, "much, you know is permitted to men which to women is forbidden. For this reason I usually write under some assumed name." Kingsford contributed articles to the magazine '' Penny Post'' from 1868 to 1873. Having been left £700 a year by her father, she bought in 1872 ''The Lady's Own Paper'', and took up work as its editor, which brought her into contact with some prominent women of the day, including the writer, feminist, and anti-vivisectionist Frances Power Cobbe. It was an article by Cobbe on vivisection in ''The Lady's Own Paper'' that sparked Kingsford's interest in the subject.

Studies and research

In 1873, Kingsford met the writer Edward Maitland, a widower, who shared her rejection of

materialism Materialism is a form of monism, philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental Substance theory, substance in nature, and all things, including mind, mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. Acco ...

. With the blessing of Kingsford's husband, the two began to collaborate, Maitland accompanying her to Paris when she decided to study medicine. Paris was at that time the center of a revolution in the study of physiology, much of it as a result of experiments on animals, particularly dogs, and mostly conducted without

anaesthetic An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia ⁠— ⁠in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into t ...

Claude Bernard Claude Bernard (; 12 July 1813 – 10 February 1878) was a French physiologist. I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science". He originated the term ''milieu intérieur'' and the associated c ...

(1813–1878), described as the "father of physiology", was working there, and famously said that "the physiologist is not an ordinary man: he is a scientist, possessed and absorbed by the scientific idea he pursues. He does not hear the cries of the animals, he does not see their flowing blood, he sees nothing but his idea ..." Walter Gratzer, professor emeritus of biochemistry at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

, writes that significant opposition to vivisection emerged in Victorian England, in part in revulsion at the research being conducted in France.Gratzer, Walter. ''Eurekas and Euphorias: The Oxford Book of Scientific Anecdotes''. Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 224. Bernard and other well-known physiologists, such as

Charles Richet Charles Robert Richet (; 25 August 1850 – 4 December 1935) was a French physiologist at the Collège de France and immunology pioneer. In 1913, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of his work on anaphylaxis". Riche ...

in France and Michael Foster in England, were strongly criticized for their work. British anti-vivisectionists infiltrated the lectures in Paris of

François Magendie __NOTOC__ François Magendie (6 October 1783 – 7 October 1855) was a French physiologist, considered a pioneer of experimental physiology. He is known for describing the foramen of Magendie. There is also a ''Magendie sign'', a downward ...

, Bernard's teacher, who dissected dogs without anaesthesia, allegedly shouting at them—"Tais-toi, pauvre bête!" (''Shut up, you poor beast!'') — while he worked. Bernard's wife, Marie-Francoise Bernard, was violently opposed to his research, though she was financing it through her

dowry A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...

. Rudacille, p. 19. In the end, she divorced him and set up an anti-vivisection society. This was the atmosphere in the faculty of medicine and the teaching hospitals in Paris when Kingsford arrived, shouldering the additional burden of being a woman. Although women were allowed to study medicine in France, Rudacille writes that they were not welcomed. Kingsford wrote to her husband in 1874: Kingsford was distraught over the sights and sounds of the animal experiments she saw. She wrote on 20 August 1879: Kingsford adopted a vegetarian diet on the advice of her brother John Bonus. She was a vice-president of the

Vegetarian Society The Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom (VSUK) is a British Registered charity in England, registered charity. It campaigns for dietary changes, licenses Vegetarian Society Approved trademarks for Vegetarianism, vegetarian and Veganism, v ...

Death

Alan Pert, one of her biographers, wrote that Kingsford was caught in torrential rain in Paris in November 1886 on her way to the laboratory of

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist, pharmacist, and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, Fermentation, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization, the la ...

, one of the most prominent vivisectionists of the period. She reportedly spent hours in wet clothing and developed pneumonia, then

pulmonary tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

.Pert, Alan
"Last Years"
''Red Cactus: The Life of Anna Kingsford'', accessed 30 April 2011. *Pert, Alan. ''The Life of Anna Kingsford'', 2006, pp. 156–169. She travelled to the Riviera and Italy, sometimes with Maitland, at other times with her husband, hoping in vain that a different climate would help her recover. In July 1887, she settled in London in a house she and her husband rented at 15 Wynnstay Gardens,

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, and waited to die, although she remained mentally active. She died on 22 February 1888, aged 41, and was buried in the churchyard of Saint Eata's, an 11th-century church in

Atcham Atcham is a village, ecclesiastical parish and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Shropshire, England. It lies on the B4380 (once the A5 road (Great Britain), A5), 5 miles south-east of Shrewsbury. The River Severn flows round the villag ...

by the

River Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...

, her husband's church. Her name at death is recorded as Annie Kingsford. On her marriage in Sussex in 1867, her name was given as Annie Bonus.

Works

Books

*Beatrice; A Tale of the Early Christians, Joseph Masters &Son, 1863 *An essay on the admission of women to the parliamentary franchise. Ninon Kingsford, Trubner &Co 1868 *
River Reeds
' (volume of verse), 1866.
''Rosamunda the princess, and other tales''
James Parker & Co., 1875. *Kingsford, A. & Maitland, E.
The Key of the Creeds
'. Trubner, 1875. *

', 1886. *
Health, Beauty and the Toilet: Letters to Ladies from a Lady Doctor
'. F. Warne, 1886. *
Dreams and Dream Stories
'. 1888. *
Clothed with the Sun
'. J. M. Watkins, 1912. *

''. 1916. *'' ttps://archive.org/details/perfectwayorfind00king The Perfect Way, or the Finding of Christ'. Watkins, 1909. *
The Perfect Way in Diet
'. Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1881. *Kingsford, A. & Maitland, E.

'. John M Watkins, 1912.

Chapters

in Colville, W. J. ''Spiritual Therapeutics Or Divine Science''. 1890, pp. 292–308.

" 1882, in Hamilton, Susan. (ed.) ''Animal Welfare & Anti-vivisection 1870–1910: Nineteenth Century Woman's Mission''. Taylor & Francis, 2004.
"The City of Blood"
in Forward, Stephanie. (ed.) ''Dreams, Visions and Realities''. Continuum International, 2003. Article "A cast for a fortune - The holiday adventures of a Lady Doctor’" December 1877 Temple Bar magazine

References

Bibliography

* Archbold, William Arthur Jobson (1900). “ Kingsford, Anna,” ''Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900'', vol. 31, pp. 174-175. * Williamson, Lori (23 September 2004). “ Kingsford ée Bonus Anna [Annie(1846–1888)">nnie.html" ;"title="ée Bonus Anna [Annie">ée Bonus Anna [Annie(1846–1888),” ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,'' (Subscription o
UK public library membership
required.) *

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kingsford, Anna 1846 births 1888 deaths 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century English medical doctors 19th-century English novelists 19th-century English poets 19th-century English women writers 19th-century mystics 19th-century English women medical doctors Animal testing in the United Kingdom English vegetarianism activists Converts to Roman Catholicism Ecofeminists English animal rights activists English anti-vivisectionists English feminists English mountain climbers English occult writers English occultists English spiritual writers English Theosophists English women novelists English women poets Founders of new religious movements People associated with the Vegetarian Society People from Kensington People from Stratford, London Tuberculosis deaths in England Female religious leaders