Annie Cropper Bradshaw (born Annie Cropper; 1859 – 23 May 1938), who wrote under the names Anne M. Tree and Mrs. Albert S. Bradshaw, was an English novelist, elocutionist and

animal welfare Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...

activist. She was active in

Our Dumb Friends' League Blue Cross is a registered animal welfare charity in the United Kingdom, founded in 1897. The charity provides veterinary care, offers expert behavioural help, and finds homes for pets in need. Their pet bereavement service supports those who ...

for many years and co-founded the Performing Animals' Defence League.

Life

Annie Cropper was born in 1859 and was raised in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

. Her father was John Cropper a literacy man. She married Albert Septimus Bradshaw in 1881 and their son Vernon was born in 1883. Albert was the proprietor of the ''

Nottingham Journal The ''Nottingham Journal'' was a newspaper published in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, in the East Midlands in England. During that time, the paper went through several title changes through mergers, take-overs, acquisitions and ownership changes. ...

'' which his father had founded a century before. He died in 1914. Bradshaw's poem "Good-bye, Old Man" written during WW1 with a musical setting by Frederic Dale for the Blue Cross Fund sold well. All profits from the publisher Reynolds of Berners Street were given to the fund. Bradshaw used the pseudonym Anne M. Tree. She authored many novels. She died on 23 May 1938.

Animal welfare

Bradshaw was known for her work on promoting the cause of animal protection. In 1909, she was a speaker at the International Congress of the World League for the Protection of Animals. She stated that horrible atrocities were perpetrated on performing animals and it is a fallacy to assume they are trained with kindness. She co-founded the Performing Animals' Defence League with Ernest Bell in 1914. She gave evidence in the House of Commons and supported the passing of a Bill dealing with the prohibition of performing animals. Bradshaw argued that performing animals were abused by their trainers by being forced to do more clever and difficult tricks each year to satisfy public demand and that the animals were starved, beaten or whipped. Bradshaw sat on the executive committee of the Performing Animals' Defence League. She was highly critical of

Lord Lonsdale Earl of Lonsdale is a title that has been created twice in British history, firstly in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1784 (becoming extinct in 1802), and then in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1807, both times for members of the Lowth ...

a patron of the Performing Animals Defence League but also a supporter of the circus. In 1923, Bradshaw and others called for his resignation. In 1923, she commented that "supporters of the League could not understand why Lord Lonsdale should be a patron of a society to put down performances which he upheld. The League is against performing animals of any kind". In the late 1920s, the League changed name to the Performing and Captive Animals Defence League. Bradshaw was an

anti-vivisectionist Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experiment ...

and

vegetarian 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 ...

. She was a vegetarian for ethical reasons and spoke out against animal suffering in

slaughterhouse In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a mea ...

s. She was a vice-president of the

London Vegetarian Society The Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom (VSUK) is a British registered charity. It campaigns for dietary changes, licenses Vegetarian Society Approved trademarks for vegetarian and vegan products, runs a cookery school and lottery, and or ...

. In 1911, she was a speaker at the Croydon Vegetarian Society's annual dinner. In 1912 Bradshaw,

Alexandra Avierino Alexandra Avierino (November 1872 – 1937) was an English-Lebanese writer. Biography She was born Alexandra Constantine Khuri in Beirut into a Greek Christian Orthodox family. She was educated at convent schools in Lebanon and then Alexandr ...

and E. Douglas Hume attended the London Vegetarian Society's bazaar and "Humane Dress Fair" at the Memorial Hall on

Farringdon Street Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, London. Route Farringdon Road is part of the A201 route connecting King's Cross to Elephant and Castle. It goes southeast from King's Cross, crossing Rosebery Avenue, then turns south, crossing C ...

. They all wore "humane furs and feathers" which did not involve the death or pain of any creature. Non-leather boots were shown at the fair and a special vegetarian Christmas dinner was served. Bradshaw was an activist for

for many years. She was described in the ''

Westminster Gazette ''The Westminster Gazette'' was an influential Liberal newspaper based in London. It was known for publishing sketches and short stories, including early works by Raymond Chandler, Anthony Hope, D. H. Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, Margaret ...

'' as "perhaps the best known and most whole-hearted supporter of our dumb friends in the country". In 1905, she authored a pamphlet for the League titled ''Performing Animals and Their Treatment''. In 1910, she received a gold medal from the League for six years of her work. In 1923, Bradshaw and several other members accused the League's Ground Council of animal neglect as their North London Dog's Home was in an "insanitary and disgraceful condition". A public protest was held at the Mortimer Hall off

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George IV of the United Kingdom, George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash (architect), J ...

in which the Grand Council were asked to reply to the allegations. Bradshaw aimed to reform the League and was a leading member of its Reform Committee. In 1925, Bradshaw and other members accused the League of mismanaging funds. The allegation was that funds had been extravagantly administered and improperly spent. They called into question an item of £188 for the funeral of the late secretary Arthur Coke, as the expense was paid without authority from the League. The late secretary was on a salary of £600 with bonuses. The then current secretary F. Russell Roberts was also on an annual salary of £600. Lord Lonsdale president of the League denied all allegations. The case went to court. The legal outcome was a report from the Committee of Inquiry into the management of the League. The report found that "several irregularities of procedure under the regulations of the Grand Council of Our Dumb Friends' League were proved to have occurred". The payments made for the late secretary's funeral were found to be excessive but the evidence given "did not prove any extravagance in the administration of the general fund of the League". The report concluded that there had been no misapplication of funds. The report also noted that the North London Dog's Home was now in a "sanitary and satisfactory condition". It was suggested that an executive committee not exceeding 12 in number should be formed and annually elected by the Grand Council. Bradshaw remained active with the League in the 1930s.

Selected publications

Bradshaw authored many novels; a list was compiled in ''Who Was Who in Literature, 1906-1934''. *''A Crimson Stain'' (1885) *''False Gods: A Novel'' (1887)
''Wife or Slave?''
(1890) *''The Gates of Temptation: A Natural Novel'' (Minerva Publishing, 1892) *''Ashes Tell No Tales'' (1906) *''The Rags of Morality'' (1911) *''Murder at the Boarding House'' (1936)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradshaw, Annie 1859 births 1938 deaths 19th-century English novelists 19th-century English women writers 19th-century pseudonymous writers 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers Blue Cross workers British charity and campaign group workers Elocutionists English animal welfare workers English anti-vivisectionists English women novelists English vegetarianism activists People from Notting Hill Pseudonymous women writers Women of the Victorian era Writers from Nottingham English women activists