# T. Anderson Hanson

Thomas Anderson Hanson (20 June 1819 – 21 April 1912) was an English merchant and activist. He initially worked for his father's stuff merchant firm, George Hanson and Sons, before establishing his own company, T. A. Hanson and Co., which ultimately declared bankruptcy in 1850. He was later a proprietor of the Abbotsbury Railway Company.
Hanson was an advocate for temperance and vegetarianism, serving as president of the Northern Section of the New Church Temperance Society, vice president of the Vegetarian Society, and honorary secretary of the Vegetarian Federal Union. He was also an extensive traveler, covering nearly 10,000 miles in 1881 alone as a vegetarian, visiting countries across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, including Spain, Egypt, the Holy Land, and Constantinople.

## Biography
### Early life and education

Thomas Anderson Hanson was born in Wilsden, Yorkshire on 20 June 1819 and baptised on 1 July. His parents were George and Elizabeth Hanson. He was educated both at home and at a boarding school. At the age of 14, Hanson attended school in Hamburg, Germany.

### Career

Hanson worked for his father's company George Hanson and Sons, a firm of stuff merchants. He represented his merchant father in North Germany where he became fluent in French and German. His father's company was dissolved on 26 April 1845, splitting into two companies: George Hanson and Sons, run by his father and brothers John and George (the younger), which continued the worsted manufacturing business in Wilsden; and T. A. Hanson and Co., run by Thomas, which took over the stuff merchant operations in Bradford. In 1850, Hanson declared bankruptcy.
In the 1860s, Hanson worked as a stuff merchant in Manchester. By 1877, he was named among the key proprietors of the newly incorporated Abbotsbury Railway Company under the Abbotsbury Railway Act, which granted him and others the authority to construct, maintain, and manage the railway, as well as acquire and dispose of property for its development.

### Activism

Hanson took a teetotal pledge around 1842. He was an active participant in the temperance movement, serving as president of the Northern Section of the New Church (Swedenborgian) Temperance Society and the Band of Hope.
Following a railway accident in March 1853, he suffered from sciatica. After attending a lecture by James Simpson on vegetarianism, he adopted the diet and returned to full health after six months. He started eating meat again due to social pressure and suffered from a number of liver problems for 25 years. After reading Sylvester Graham's Science of Human Life, he was drawn to vegetarianism again and his liver issues resolved.
Hanson represented the Vegetarian Society in London in 1885 for a year. He also served as vice-president of the Society and edited its periodical, The Dietetic Reformer and Vegetarian Messenger. He later became honorary secretary of the Vegetarian Federal Union. In 1893, Hanson attended the Chicago Vegetarian Congress as a delegate to the World's Fair in Chicago. He later served as treasurer of the Union and, along with May Yates, as a representative of the Vegetarian Society of America in the councils of the Union.
In his later years, Hanson delivered a number of lectures on vegetarianism in London. In October 1905, a meeting was held at Congregational Memorial Hall, London, for octogenarian vegetarians. Speakers in attendance included Hanson (then aged 86), Joseph Wallace, C. P. Newcombe, John E. B. Mayor, Samuel Saunders, and Samuel Pitman, brother of Isaac Pitman.

### Travels

Hanson traveled extensively, visiting nearly every kingdom and empire in Europe except Württemberg, Bavaria, and Serbia. He was present in Hamburg during the Great Fire of 1842. In Carthage, he assisted archaeologist Nathan Davis with packing artefacts and, in 1874, he visited the World's Fair. In 1881, as a vegetarian, he undertook a journey through Spain, Portugal, Algeria, and Egypt, with stops in Tunis and Malta, followed by visits to the Holy Land, Syria, Athens, Constantinople, and Odessa. His route continued through Bessarabia, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Bohemia, and Saxony, covering nearly 10,000 miles while maintaining excellent health throughout. On his way to Chicago in 1893, he visited New York, Philadelphia, and Washington; and, on his return, Niagara, Albany, Saratoga, and Boston.

### Personal life and death

Hanson lived in Bradford, Chorlton-on-Medlock, and London. On 11 June 1844, he married Sarah Ann Beaumont at Eastbrook Chapel, Bradford. They had two daughters, Louisa Mary (1847–1916) and Catherine (b. 1850).
Hanson died at Brondesbury, London on 21 April 1912, aged 92.

## Selected publications

* "Dr. Mussey's Visit to England", Food, Home and Garden (1889), pp. 117–118.
* "Life Assurance", The Dietetic Reformer (1885), pp. 186–188
* "To Chicago !", The Vegetarian (1893)