1. Henry Salt 1851-1939 The Creed of Kinship
Leo R. Sandy

2. Henry Salt Believed to be the first advocate for animal rights
He redefined “humanitarian” to mean someone who has compassion for both humans and animals
His opposition to “blood sport”, has led a movement to end a 700 year old royal tradition of hunting tame dear
Salt was born in India, and when he was a year old his parents separated. His father, a colonel in the Royal Bengal Artillery, stayed in India while he and his mother went back to England
He enjoyed a privileged and carefree childhood, and his high intelligence led to his being accepted at Eton College

3. Salt cont’d
He developed the habit of doubting, and this included social norms
Salt was only 15 when he entered Eton as a King’s Scholar. After this, he attended Cambridge University where he explored the topic of social ethics
He graduated with honors and went back to Eton as an assitant master but soon found out that new ideas were not welcome
While at Eton, Salt met and married Catherine Leigh Joynes
After reading Howard Williams’ book, The ethics of diet, Salt became a vegetarian (for me it was Peter Singer’s Animal liberation) thereby making him viewed as a lunatic at Eton
At 33 he left Eton and began to broaden his view on social ethics

4. Salt cont’d
Inspired by his reading of Henry David Thoreau, Salt began to simplify his life, dispensing with his servants and moving to a small college in Surry where he and his wife did gardening and writing, hosted friends, and promoted humane causes
He cut up his master’s degree gown to support vines and used his top hat to shade young vegetables in his garden thus transforming himself from wealthy and upstanding master at Eton to a humble and controversial scholar
Salt became concerned about violence in society to both humans and animals, and he saw a link between the two: “By condoning cruelty to animals, we perpetuate the very spirit which condones cruelty to men”
Salt wrote about his concerns in almost 40 books. Gandhi read Salt’s first book, A plea for vegetarianism, that deeply reinforced Gandhi’s decision to also become a vegetarian

5. Salt cont’d
In his book, Animal rights: Considered in relation to social progress, Salt made the case that animals are sentient beings able to experience feelings, and that they should be allowed to live free of suffering
He believed that in a society motivated by profit, both humans and animals are sacrificed for this goal
Salt went on to cofound the Humanitarian League that campaigned against war, corporal punishment, the death penalty, the slaughter of animals for food, and the abuse of animals in cruel sports (England has since banned fox hunting, and Catalonia, Spain has banned bull fighting)
The League also had an education component, teaching children about being thoughtful toward humans and animals
For Salt, the strongest motive for being kind to animals is that humans are also animals

6. Salt cont’d
Salt countered the argument that harming nature provides jobs by saying that it doesn’t mean that it is truly beneficial to society in the long run
He found the phrase, “If you want peace, prepare for war” totally ridiculous, saying that evil cannot be suppressed by evil, and militarism of one kind cannot eliminate another kind of militarism
Salt insisted that all needless bloodshed be ended because as long as people kill animals for food and sport, it’s a small leap to kill humans
WWI caused the League to disband because of meager resources and Salt’s wife of 40 years died – two major setbacks in his life
After 10 years of mourning he remarried. Another positive in his life is when Gandhi visited England and asked to visit him

7. Salt cont’d
In Salt’s last book, The creed of kinship, he shared “a belief that in years to come there will be a recognition of the brotherhood between man and man, nation and nation, human and sub-human which will transform a state of semi-savagery, as we have it, into one of civilization, when there will be no such barbarity as warfare, or the robbery of the poor by the rich, or the ill-usage of the lower animals by mankind”
His humor continued through old age as exemplified when he said that is was taking him so long to die that the police might arrest him for loitering
He left a message to be read at his funeral service that said, “I shall die, as I have lived, rationalist, socialist, pacifist, and humanitarian”

8. Salt Quotes
A recognition of the rights of animals implies no sort of disparagement of human rights
I cannot see how there can be any real and full recognition of Kinship as long as men continue to cheat or to eat their fellow beings
…in the long run, as we treat our fellow human beings, ‘the animals’, so shall we treat our fellow men
The emancipation of men from cruelty and injustice will bring with it in due course the emancipation of animals also. The two reforms are inseparably connected, and neither can be fully realized alone
The cause of each and all of the evils that afflict the world is the same – the general lack of humanity, the lack of knowledge that all sentient life is akin, and that he who injures a fellow being is in fact doing injury to himself

9. Videos
Peter Singer: The why and how of effective altruism Jeremy Rifkin on The empathic civilization

10. References
Beller, K., & Chase, H. (2008). Great peacemakers: True stories from around the world. Sedona, AZ: LTS Press TED Talk Peter Singer. Retrieved from The empathic civilization. Retrieved from