National Anti-Vaccination League

The National Anti-Vaccination League was founded in 1866 in Britain, growing from earlier smaller organizations in London, originally under the title Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League. The organisation opposed compulsory vaccination, particularly against smallpox. It was part of a wider anti-vaccinationist movement, arguing that vaccination did more harm than good.

Early history and formation of the league

In June 1867, the publication "Human Nature" campaigned against "The Vaccination Humbug".[1] It reported that many petitions had been presented to Parliament against Compulsory Vaccination, and many from parents who alleged that their children had died through the operation, and complained that these petitions had not been made public. The journal reported the formation of an Anti- Compulsory Vaccination League "To overthrow this huge piece of physiological absurdity and medical tyranny, and quoted Richard Gibbs, who ran the Free Hospital at the same address as stating "I believe we have hundreds of cases here, from being poisoned with vaccination, I deem incurable. One member of a family dating syphilitic symptoms from the time of vaccination, when all the other members of the family have been clear. We strongly advise parents to go to prison, rather than submit to have their helpless offspring inoculated with scrofula, syphilis, and mania."[1]

After the death of Richard B. Gibbs in 1871, the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League underwent various changes until 1876 when it was revived under the leadership of Mary Hume-Rothery and the Rev. W. Hume-Rothery.[2] In 1880 the movement was enlarged and reorganised by the formation of "The London Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination," and an office was opened in Victoria Street, Westminster, with William Young as secretary. The "Vaccination Inquirer", established by William Tebb in 1879, was adopted as the organ of the Society. A series of fourteen "Vaccination Tracts" was begun by Young in 1877 and completed by Garth Wilkinson in 1879.

The movement grew, and as the influence of the London Society overshadowed the Hume-Rotherys and it took the national lead,[2] it was decided in February 1896 to re-form the Society as "The National Anti-Vaccination League." In 1898 the league took on a school leaver named Lily Loat. By 1909 she was elected as the league's Secretary.[3]

The 1900 Labour Party General Election Manifesto contained a commitment to "No Compulsory Vaccination".[4]

Lily Loat devoted her life to the cause and died still working for the league in 1958. The league's journal ceased to create new issues in 1972.[3]

Publications of The National Anti-Vaccination League
  • 1957, Is Mass Vaccination with B.C.G. always warranted in the Scandinavian Countries? (booklet)
  • 1952, B.C.G. Vaccination, Maurice Beddow Bayly
  • 1947, Smallpox and Vaccination., Trolridge, Arthur.
  • 1939, The Schick Inoculation Against Diphtheria, Maurice Beddow Bayly
  • 1936, The Case Against Vaccination, Maurice Beddow Bayly
  • 1952, The Vaccination Inquirer and Health Review, no 817
  • 1929, National Anti-Vaccination League (London) Thirty-third [etc.] Annual Report, etc.
  • 1921, Vaccination and the State, Arnold Lupton MP.
  • 1912, Leicester: Sanitation versus Vaccination, J.T. Biggs, JP. Book.
  • 1911, Smallpox and vaccination in British India
  • 1910, For and Against Vaccination A statement by the Royal College of Physicians, Ireland; (with correspondence thereon, between A. Phelps and T. Percy C. Kirkpatrick)
  • 1904, The Story of the Vaccination Crusade in Hackney & Stoke Newington, 1902–1904, and what came of it. The cases of John Polley, William Pitt, and others, with an account of the action-at-law Polley v. Fordham., Burton, John Francis. Hackney Union Branch of the National Anti-Vaccination League: London.
  • 1902, What about Vaccination, Milnes, Alfred. With other contributions. (When Doctors Disagree. The Wreck of the Preussen. Vaccination an Error.) National Anti-Vaccination League: Westminster.
  • 1902, Smallpox at Middlesbrough. A reply to Dr. Dingle's Reports ... 2nd edition, rev. by Biggs, John Thomas pp. 24.
  • 1902, Smallpox at Gloucester. A reply to Dr. Coupland's Report by Walter Hadwen. Reprinted from “The Reformer,” National Anti-Vaccination League: Gloucester
  • 1901, Vaccination a Delusion, Alfred Russel Wallace. Chapter 28 of The Wonderful Century
  • 1901, An Italian Indictment of Vaccination., Carlo Ruata. Public address given at the opening of the session of the University of Perugia, November, 1898. Translated from the Italian. National Anti-Vaccination League: London

Publications of Lily Loat

References
  1. "Philip Hoare: When you play virtual war games, spare a thought for the". The Independent. 2003-04-20. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  2. "Rothery, Mary Catherine Hume- (1824–1885), campaigner for medical reform and author". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49483. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  3. "Loat, Lily (1879/80–1958), anti-vaccination activist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50749. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  4. "1900 Labour Party General Election Manifesto". Labour Party Manifestos. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
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