Humanitarian League
인도주의 연맹
A British humanitarian organisation based in London from 1891 to 1919, founded by Henry S. Salt and others. Applying the principle that avoidable suffering must not be inflicted on any sentient being to humans and animals alike, it opposed capital and corporal punishment, blood sports, vivisection and compulsory vaccination and called for reform of the criminal law and prisons.
In depth
The Humanitarian League grew out of Henry Salt’s 1889 article in the Westminster Review calling for a consistent principle of humaneness applied to all sentient beings. Salt founded it in 1891 and served as general secretary, with Edward Maitland, Ernest Bell, Howard Williams, Kenneth Romanes and Alice Lewis among the founders; its manifesto held it iniquitous to inflict suffering, directly or indirectly, on any sentient being except in self-defence or absolute necessity.
The Humanitarian League published the journals Humanity (1895–1902), The Humanitarian (1902–1919) and The Humane Review (1900–1910) as well as books and pamphlets, and many members were vegetarians. George Ives, who led a secret homosexual society, was a member, and Edward Carpenter was close to the Salts. Its membership and activity declined during the First World War and it dissolved in 1919; former members later helped found the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports.