Muriel Dowding, Baroness Dowding

Muriel Dowding, Baroness Dowding
Muriel Dowding, in 1953, in her fake fur robes for the coronation of Elizabeth II
Born
Muriel Albino

(1908-03-22)22 March 1908
London, England
Died20 November 1993(1993-11-20) (aged 85)
Hove, England
OccupationAnimal rights activist
Spouses
Jack Maxwell Whiting
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(m. 1935; died 1944)​
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(m. 1951; died 1970)​
Children1

Muriel Dowding, Baroness Dowding (née Albino; other married name Whiting; 22 March 1908 – 20 November 1993) was an English humanitarian and animal rights activist known for championing anti-vivisection, vegetarianism and the improvement of animal welfare.[1][2] Like her second husband Lord Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding[3] she was a vegetarian,[4] an anti-vivisectionist, spiritualist and theosophist.[5][6] She coined the term cruelty-free and was a pioneer of the cruelty-free movement.[7][8][9]

In 1959, Dowding founded the charity Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC)[4] and Beauty Without Cruelty Cosmetics (BWC Ltd) in 1963, to highlight the suffering of animals in the fur and cosmetic trade and led the way in the commercial production of synthetic alternatives to fur and cruelty-free cosmetics.[1][4] She was a president of the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS)[1] and vice-president of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).[4] In 1969, she cofounded the International Association against Painful Experiments on Animals (IAAPEA).[1]

  1. ^ a b c d Bekoff, Marc. (1998). Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare. Greenwood Press. p. 139. ISBN 0-313-299-77-3
  2. ^ "Muriel Dowding's Work for Animal Rights". livingcrueltyfree.gr. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Lord Dowding (1882-1970) Lady Dowding (1908-1993)". International Vegetarian Union. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d Piccioni, Joseph (2 December 1993). "Obituary: Muriel Dowding". The Independent. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  5. ^ "Lady Dowding & the History of BWC". Vegetarian Women Online Magazine. Archived from the original on 21 April 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  6. ^ Kean, Hilda (1998). Animal Rights: Political and Social Change in Britain Since 1800. London: Reaktion Books. p. 198. ISBN 978-1-86189-014-6.
  7. ^ Stepaniak, Joanne (2000). "The Body Beautiful. Beauty at what cost?". The Vegan Source Book (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill. pp. 123–125. ISBN 978-0737305067.
  8. ^ Moran, Victoria (2012). "Beautiful Products". Main Street Vegan: Everything You Need to Know to Eat Healthfully and Live Compassionately in the Real World. TarcherPerigee. p. 241. ISBN 978-1585429332.
  9. ^ Bennett, Beverley; Sammartano, Ray (2012). "Compassion in Fashion". The Complete Idiots Guide to Vegan Living. Alpha Books. p. 333. ISBN 978-1615642021.