Maria Elisabeth Dickin

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(nickname, Mia; 22 September 1870 – 1 March 1951) was a social reformer and an

animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human 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 such as longevit ...

pioneer who founded the

People's Dispensary for Sick Animals The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) is a veterinary charity in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1917 by Maria Dickin to provide care for sick and injured animals of the poor. It is the UK's leading veterinary charity, carryi ...

(PDSA) in 1917. The

Dickin Medal The PDSA Dickin Medal was instituted in 1943 in the United Kingdom by Maria Dickin to honour the work of animals in World War II. It is a bronze medallion, bearing the words "For Gallantry" and "We Also Serve" within a laurel wreath, carried ...

is named for her.

Early life

Maria Dickin was born in 1870 in South Hackney,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbourin ...

, the oldest of eight children born to William George Dickin, a

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminianism, Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a Christian theology, theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the Christian ministry, ministry of the 18th-century eva ...

minister, and Ellen Maria Exell Dickin.Brian Harrison, ‘Dickin, Maria Elisabeth (1870–1951)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 201
accessed 2 Aug 2011
/ref>

Career

Dickin taught singing as a young woman, and in 1905 compiled and published ''Suggestive Thoughts from the Temple'' (1905), a collection of sayings by London minister Reginald John Campbell. She founded the

(PDSA) in 1917, in a cellar in

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed a c ...

. The sign on the door reflected Dickin's intent, to provide humane veterinary care to pets whose owners could not otherwise afford it: "Bring your sick animals/Do not let them suffer/All animals treated/All treatment free". In 1921, she added a horse-drawn mobile unit, to treat more animals and bring public health education to other neighborhoods; this was the first of a fleet of travelling veterinary clinics. She opened a rest home for horses and donkeys in 1928, and in 1929, she began Busy Bees, a children's club focused on animal welfare. Dickin was awarded an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1929, and raised to a

in 1948. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, she launched the PDSA medal, for animal heroism in the war effort. In 1950, she published a memoir, ''The Cry of the Animal.'' Dickin, whose efforts depended more on the work of amateur volunteers than trained veterinarians, was opposed by the

Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) is the regulatory body for veterinary surgeons in the United Kingdom, established in 1844 by royal charter. It is responsible for monitoring the educational, ethical and clinical standards of the ...

as "dangerous". "If you are so concerned about the proper treatment of Sick Animals of the Poor," she responded to the professional association's criticisms, "Do the same work we are doing. Instead of spending your energy and time in hindering us, spend it in dealing with this mass of misery."

Personal life and legacy

Dickin married her first cousin, Arnold Francis Dickin, an accountant, in 1899; they had no children. Dickin died in London in 1951 of influenzal broncho-pneumonia, aged 80 years. The PDSA medal is now known as the

, and is considered the animal equivalent of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

. A commemorative

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

was erected by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

at Dickin's birthplace, 41 Cassland Road (formerly 1 Farringdon Terrace) in Hackney in October 2015.

References

External links

PDSA page
*Maria Dickin
"Animals in Tangier"
(7 November 1935), a letter to the editors of the ''Guardian'', about the PDSA's clinic in Tangier. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickin, Maria 1870 births 1951 deaths British animal welfare workers British social reformers British women in World War II Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Respiratory disease deaths in England English humanitarians Founders of charities Philanthropists from London Women philanthropists