# Howard Williams (humanitarian)

Howard Williams (6 January 1837 – 21 September 1931) was an English activist, historian, and writer. He advocated for humanitarianism and vegetarianism. Williams was noted for authoring The Ethics of Diet, a history of vegetarianism, which was influential on the Victorian vegetarian movement. He was also the inspiration and co-founder of the Humanitarian League and served as Vice-President of the London Vegetarian Society.

## Biography
### Early life and education

Williams was a born on 6 January 1837, in Whatley, Mendip, the fifth son of the Reverend Hamilton John Williams and Margaret Sophia. His older brother was the priest and animal rights and vegetarianism activist Henry John Williams.
Williams was home educated by private tutors, before pursuing a degree in history at St John's College, Cambridge, where he earned a BA in 1860 and an MA in 1863. During his time there, Williams developed a close friendship with Professor Newman. Through this relationship, he cultivated a profound interest in humanitarian causes, a passion that persisted throughout his life.

### Career and activism

Williams was initially destined for a career in the Church but ultimately chose not to enter Holy Orders. Instead, he embarked on a career as a private tutor, a profession he practiced for a number of years.
Williams published his first book, The Superstitions of Witchcraft, in 1865. It traces the evolution of witchcraft beliefs from ancient traditions to tools of persecution in medieval Europe, highlighting their decline with Enlightenment rationalism.
In 1872, he adopted vegetarianism and became an anti-vivisectionist. Writing in 1874, Williams highlighted the "eating house" as a powerful tool for vegetarian propaganda, arguing that offering affordable, appealing dishes like pies and savouries was more effective than directly promoting a vegetarian diet. He later authored The Ethics of Diet, a historical account of European vegetarianism, which was published in 1883; the book is considered to be a vegetarian classic, an authoritative text and went through multiple editions.
In the 1880s, Williams expanded his academic endeavours to encompass a variety of topics. In 1885, he published a comprehensive study of the correspondence between Pope and Swift, followed in 1887 by his translation of selected dialogues by Lucian.
Williams was the inspiration for and one of the founding members of the Humanitarian League, in 1891, which "opposed all avoidable suffering on any sentient being". He remained on the board for several years and authored the "Pioneers of humanity" section for the league's journal, which was later published as a popular pamphlet. He also served as the Vice-President of the London Vegetarian Society and was a board member of the Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society.

### Personal life and death

Williams married Eliza Smith on 20 November 1860; she died around 1906.
In his later years, Williams chose a more secluded lifestyle, dedicating his time to gardening, tutoring, and canoeing from his home in Aspley Guise, near Woburn, Bedfordshire. He died there on 21 September 1931.

## Publications

* The Superstitions of Witchcraft (1865)
* The Ethics of Diet: A Catena of Authorities Deprecatory of the Practice of Flesh-eating (1883)
* English Letters and Letter Writers of the Eighteenth Century: Swift and Pope (with explanatory notes, 1886)
* Lucian's Dialogues, namely the Dialogues of the Gods, of the Sea-Gods, and of the Dead; Zeus the Tragedian, the Ferry-Boat etc. (translated with notes and a preliminary memoir, 1888)
* "Pioneers of Humanity" (The Humanitarian, 1907; later published as a pamphlet)