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Walter Hadwen
MRCS MRCP
Walter Hadwen MRCS MRCP
Born	Walter Robert Hadwen; 3 August 1854; Woolwich, England
Died	27 December 1932 (aged 78); Gloucester, England
Alma mater	Bristol University
Occupations	General practitioner; pharmaceutical chemist; writer; anti-vivisection and anti-vaccination activist;
Spouse	Alice Harral (m. 1878)
Children	3

Walter Robert Hadwen MRCS MRCP (3 August 1854 – 27 December 1932) was an English general practitioner, pharmaceutical chemist and writer. He was president of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) and an anti-vaccination campaigner, known for his denial of the germ theory of disease.

Biography

Walter Robert Hadwen was born in Woolwich on 3 August 1854.^[1] He began his career as a pharmacist in Highbridge, Somerset, then subsequently trained as a doctor at Bristol University. After qualifying, he moved to Gloucester in 1896. Hadwen was recruited as a member of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection by its founder and then president Frances Power Cobbe who hired a private investigator to assess his credentials (he was a vegetarian and total abstainer, had a reputation as a "firebrand" orator and was held in "high local esteem"). She subsequently selected him as her successor.^[2]

He later became a member of the Plymouth Brethren and married Alice Harral in 1878; they had three children.^[3] Hadwen was a frequent speaker for the National Anti-Vaccination League. He was also a member of the London Association for the Prevention of Premature Burial (founded in 1896). Hadwen stated that the "modern germ theory is all bosh".^[4]

Hadwen was active in general practice until he died from a severe heart attack in 1932, age 78.^[5] In his honour the Dr Hadwen Trust was founded in 1970 to fund exclusive non-animal techniques to replace animal experiments.^[5]

Hadwen's pamphlets on anti-vivisection are archived at the Special Collections Research Center in NC State University Libraries.^[6]

Vegetarianism

Hadwen became a vegetarian in his early twenties when taking a bet from a fellow student that he could live six months without eating meat. His bet was successful and he stated that "For my part I am quite satisfied with my trial of vegetarianism, and it would take more than mortal power to persuade me once again to make my stomach a graveyard for the purpose of burying dead bodies in."^[5]

Manslaughter trial

In 1924, having applied his rejection of the germ theory of disease, and his refusal to use diphtheria anti-serum produced by inoculation of animals to the treatment of Nellie Burnham, a young girl, she died and he was tried for manslaughter by criminal medical negligence.^[7] He was acquitted of all charges.^[8]^[9]

Selected publications

Is Flesh-Eating Harmful?, 1895
The Case Against Vaccination, 1896
Smallpox at Gloucester: A Reply to Dr. Coupland’s Report, 1902. Reprinted from "The Reformer," National Anti-Vaccination League: Gloucester.
Vivisection: Its Follies and Cruelties, 1905
A Debate on Should Vivisection be Abolished?, 1907
A Correspondence in "The Daily mail" Between Sir Victor Horsley and Walter R. Hadwen, on Vivisection (1908)
A Debate on Is Vivisection Immoral, Cruel, Useless and Unscientific? (1908)
Dr. Walter Robert Hadwen's Works, 1908
A Vivisection Controversy, 1911
Jennerism and Pasteurism, 1914
Experiments on Living Animals, Useless and Cruel, 1914
The Difficulties of Dr. Deguerre, 1926 (illustrated by Arthur Moreland)

References

^ Alternatives to Laboratory Animals: ATLA. Vol. 37. Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments. 2009. p. 43.
^ Mitchell, Sally. (2004). Frances Power Cobbe: Victorian Feminist, Journalist, Reformer. University of Virginia Press. p. 360. ISBN 0-8139-2271-2
^ "Dr Walter Robert Hadwen". brethrenarchive.org. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
^ "Verdict of Manslaughter Against Dr. Hadwen by Coroner's Jury". Journal of the American Medical Association. 83 (14): 1090. 1924.
^ ^a ^b ^c Mills, Daniel S. (2010). The Encyclopedia of Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare. CABI. pp. 188-189. ISBN 9780851997247
^ "Walter Hadwen". NC State University Libraries. 2024. Archived from the original on 2 September 2024.
^ The Times up to and including 30 October 1924.
^ "Acquittal of Dr. Hadwen". Journal of the American Medical Association. 83 (20): 1601. 1924.
^ "Topics of the Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 December 2020.