Lewis Gompertz

Life & Legacy

Lewis Gompertz (1783/4 – 2 December 1861) was an English philosopher, writer, inventor, and social reformer associated with early animal protection in Britain. Born into a Jewish family of London diamond merchants, he argued that killing or using animals for human purposes was morally wrong. He avoided animal products and other goods derived from animals, a practice later described as an early form of veganism.
Gompertz was a founding member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (later the RSPCA), served as its honorary secretary from 1828, and resigned in 1833 after the society adopted an explicitly Christian constitution. He then co-founded the Animals' Friend Society with T. Forster, ran it with his wife Ann, and edited its periodical Animals' Friend, or, The Progress of Humanity from 1833 to 1841. Gompertz set out his views in Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes (1824), which also discussed capitalism, the position of women, and Owenite social reform. He later published Fragments in Defence of Animals, and Essays on Morals, Soul, and Future State (1852). His mechanical inventions included designs intended to reduce reliance on animal labour for transport.