John Davie (activist)

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For other people named John Davie, see John Davie (disambiguation).

John Davie
Portrait of Davie by John MacLaren Barclay
Born(1800-03-13)13 March 1800
Stirling, Scotland
Died4 March 1891(1891-03-04) (aged 90)
Dunfermline, Scotland
Occupation(s)Draper, activist
SpouseMary Livingston

John Davie (13 March 1800 – 4 March 1891) was a Scottish draper and activist for vegetarianism, temperance and several other causes.

Biography[edit]

John Davie was born at Butterflat, a small farm near Stirling, on 13 March 1800. He showed no interest in an agricultural career and was instead apprenticed to a draper in Stirling. The fifth year of his apprenticeship was spent in Dunfermline, after briefly working as a journeyman in Kircaldy and Edinburgh. There he formed a business partnership with Mr David Reid, which was prosperous enough that Davie was able to retire from business life 14 years later.[1]

Davie served as a United Presbyterian elder.[2] He became a vegetarian at the age of 46 and for some time was secretary of the Vegetarian Society,[3]: 35  and vice-president of the London Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination.[4] He was opposed to alcohol, tobacco, vaccination and vivisection;[3]: 62  he was a supporter of Chartism, peace, women's suffrage,[5] and hydrotherapy.[6] In 1830, Davie and other members of the Dunfermline Temperance Society formed the first Total Abstinence Society in Scotland.[7] He was later managing director and one of the originators of the Waverly Hydrotherapy Institution at Melrose.[6]

In 1874, Davie, W. Gibson Ward, Isaac Pitman, and Francis William Newman were described as "four leading vegetarians" in England.[6]

The Vegetarian Society presented an address to Davie in March 1890, to celebrate him reaching his 90th year. In September of the same year, Davie attended the 2nd International Vegetarian Congress in London.[8]

Davie married three times;[1] his third wife was Mary Livingston.[9] Davie died at his home, Newlandshill House, Dunfermline, on 4 March 1891. He was buried in Kirkcaldy Churchyard.[1] His wife died the following year.[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Death of Mr John Davie, Dumferline". Dunfermline Journal. 7 March 1891. p. 2. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  2. ^ Durie, Alastair J. (2017). Scotland and Tourism: The Long View, 1700–2015. Taylor & Francis. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-317-52069-6.
  3. ^ a b Forward, Charles W. (1898). Fifty Years of Food Reform. London: The Ideal Publishing Union.
  4. ^ Taylor, P. A. (1881). Vaccination. A letter to Dr. W. B. Carpenter, C.B., &c., &c., &c. London: E.W. Allen. p. 1.
  5. ^ Durie, Alastair J. (2006). "Hydrotherapy in Scotland, 1840–1900". In Warwick, Alex; Clifford, David; Wadge, Elisabeth; Willis, Martin (eds.). Repositioning Victorian Sciences: Shifting Centres in Nineteenth-century Scientific Thinking. Anthem Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-84331-212-3.
  6. ^ a b c "Four Leading Vegetarians". The Graphic. Vol. 10. July–December 1874. pp. 19–21.
  7. ^ Stewart, Alexander (1889). Reminiscences of Dunfermline and Neighbourhood (2nd ed.). Edinburgh: Scott & Ferguson, and J. Menzies & Co. p. 272.
  8. ^ "The International Vegetarian Congress". The Vegetarian. London. 20 September 1890.
  9. ^ a b "Estates of the Deceased Mrs. Mary Livingston or Davie" (PDF). The New York Herald. 12 January 1920. Retrieved 21 November 2023.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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