The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity operating in England and Wales which promotes animal activism. The RSPCA is funded primarily by voluntary donations. Founded in 1824, it is the oldest and largest animal welfare organisation in the world, and is one of the largest charities in the UK. The organisation also does international outreach work across Europe, Africa and Asia."Our international work", RSPCA. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
The charity's work has inspired the creation of similar groups in other jurisdictions, starting with the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (founded in 1836), and including the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (1839), the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (1840), the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (1866), the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (1882), the Singapore Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (1959) and various groups which eventually came together as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Australia (1981), the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Hong Kong) (1997) – formerly known as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Hong Kong) (1903–1997).
Despite common belief, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is not considered to operate in a similar manner or having been inspired by RSPCA as the former is a politically driven - often considered radical - group aiming to change legislation where as RSPCA operates as a reactive, responsive rescue and protection organisation while still establishing campaigns for improvements for animal welfare in relation to laws existing laws and common practices. Despite this the two entities have been known to work in tandem on some of the publicized campaigns.
History
Changing political climate The emergence of the RSPCA has its roots in the intellectual climate of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Britain where opposing views were exchanged in print concerning the use of animals. The harsh use and maltreatment of animals in hauling carriages, scientific experiments (including vivisection), and cultural amusements of fox-hunting, bull-baiting and cock fighting were among some of the matters that were debated by social reformers, clergy, and parliamentarians.Rob Boddice, A History of Attitudes and Behaviours Toward Animals in Eighteenth- And Nineteenth-Century Britain: Anthropocentrism and the Emergence of Animals (Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2008). At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there was an unsuccessful attempt by Sir William Pulteney on 18 April 1800 to pass legislation through the British parliament to ban the practice of bull-baiting.Kathryn Shevelow, For The Love of Animals: The Rise of the Animal Protection Movement (New York: Henry Holt, 2008), pp 201-222 In 1809, Lord Erskine (1750–1823) introduced an anti-cruelty bill which was passed in the House of Lords but was defeated in a vote in the House of Commons.John Hostettler, Thomas Erskine and Trial By Jury (Hook, Hampshire: Waterside Press, 2010), 197–199. Erskine in his parliamentary speech combined the vocabulary of animal rights and trusteeship with a theological appeal to biblical passages opposing cruelty.Cruelty to Animals: The Speech of Lord Erskine in the House of Peers (London: Richard Phillips, 1809) A later attempt to pass anti-cruelty legislation was spearheaded by the Irish parliamentarian Richard Martin and in 1822 an anti-cruelty to cattle bill (sometimes called Martin's Act) became law.
Formation of the SPCA and royal patronage Martin's Act was supported by various social reformers who were not parliamentarians, and the efforts of the Reverend Arthur Broome (1779–1837) to create a voluntary organisation to promote kindness toward animals resulted in the founding of an informal network. Broome canvassed opinions in letters that were published or summarised in various periodicals in 1821."To Correspondents" The Kaleidoscope, 6 March 1821 p 288. Also see The Monthly Magazine Vol. 51 April 1, 1821 p 3 Broome organised a meeting and extended invitations to various reformers that included parliamentarians, clergy and lawyers. The meeting was held on Wednesday 16 June 1824 in Old Slaughter's Coffee House, London. The meeting was chaired by Thomas Fowell Buxton MP (1786–1845) and the resolution to establish the society was voted on. Among the others who were present as founding members were Sir James Mackintosh MP, Richard Martin, William Wilberforce, Basil Montagu, John Ashley Warre, the Rev. George Bonner, the Rev. George Avery Hatch, Sir James Graham, John Gilbert Meymott, William Mudford, and Lewis Gompertz.Lewis Gompertz, 'Fragments in Defence of Animals, and Essays on Morals, Souls and Future State' (London: Horsell, 1852), pp 174–175; Edward G. Fairholme and Wellesley Pain, A Century of Work For Animals: The History of the RSPCA, 1824–1934 (London: John Murray, 1934), p 54. The organisation was founded as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Broome was appointed as the society's first honorary secretary."Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals," The Times [London] Thursday 17 June 1824, p 3; "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals" Morning Post 28 June 1824 p 2. The foundation is marked by a plaque on the modern day building at 77–78 St Martin's Lane.
The society was the first animal welfare charity to be founded in the world.Arthur W. Moss, Valiant Crusade: The History of the RSPCA (London: Cassell, 1961), 20–22. In 1824, it brought 63 offenders before the courts. Princess Victoria became the society's patron in 1835, and, as Queen, granted its royal status in 1840 to become the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as it is today.
RSPCA Inspectors The origins of the role of the RSPCA inspector stem from Broome's efforts in 1822 to personally bring to court some individuals against whom charges of cruelty were heard."Inhumanity of a Drover" 'Morning Post', 27 June 1822, p 3 Broome employed and personally paid the salary for an inspector to monitor the abuse of animals at the Smithfield Market.Fairholme and Pain, A Century of Work For Animals, p 55. The inspector hired by Broome, Charles Wheeler, served in the capacity of an inspector from 1824 to 1826 but his services were terminated when the society's revenue was exceeded by its debts. The accrued debts led to a suspension of operations when Broome as the society's guarantor for debts was imprisoned.On Broome's imprisonment see The National Archives, King's Bench Prison commitments, 1826, Ref. No. PRIS 4/38, 54; and King's Bench Prison, Final Discharges 1827, Ref. No. PRIS 7/46, II. Also refer to Fairholme and Pain, A Century of Work, 60–62; Moss, Valiant Crusade, 24–25. When operations resumed there was some divided opinions in the committees that steered the society about employing inspectors, which resulted in a resolution in 1832 to discontinue employing an inspector. The permanent appointment of a salaried inspector was settled in 1838, and the inspector is the image best known of the organisation today.Moss, Valiant Crusade, 60–61
Broome's experience of bankruptcy and prison created difficulties for him afterwards and he stood aside as the society's first secretary in 1828 and was succeeded by the co-founding member Lewis Gompertz.Fairholme and Pain, A Century of Work, 62–63 Unlike the other founder members who were Christians, Gompertz was a Jew and despite his abilities in campaigning against cruelty, fund-raising and administrative skills, tensions emerged between him and other committee members, due to Gompertz's approach, considered very radical at the time, in opposition to hunting and other forms of using animals he regarded as abusive.Gompertz, Lewis. 1997 [first edition: 1824]. Moral inquiries on the situation of man and of brutes, Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press.See Ryder, Richard. 2000. Animal revolution, Oxford: Basil. The tensions led to the convening of a meeting in early 1832 which led to Gompertz resigning.See Moss, Valiant Crusade, 27–28. See the Report of an Extra Meeting of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals January 13, 1832. Also see Gompertz' brief account in Fragments in Defence of Animals, 176. His resignation coincided with a resolution adopted in 1832 that "the proceedings of the Society were entirely based on the Christian faith and Christian principles."Fairholme and Pain, A Century of Work, p 68
Impacting public opinions Alongside the society's early efforts to prosecute offenders who maltreated animals, there were efforts made to promote kindly attitudes toward animals through the publication of books and tracts as well as the fostering of annual sermons preached against cruelty on behalf of the society. The first annual anti-cruelty sermon that was preached on behalf of the society was delivered by Rev Dr Rudge in March 1827 at the Whitechapel Church.See Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser, 20 March 1827, p 2 In 1865 the RSPCA looked for a way to consolidate and further influence public opinion on animal welfare by encouraging an annual "Animal Sunday" church service where clergy would preach sermons on anti-cruelty themes and the very first sermon was delivered in London on 9 July 1865 by the Rev. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815–1881), the Dean of Westminster.Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, The Creation of Man: A Sermon preached at Whitehall Chapel 9 July 1865 (Oxford; London: Parker, 1865); Moss, Valiant Crusade, 205. The "Animal Sunday" service became an annual event in different church gatherings in England, which was later adopted by churches in Australia and New Zealand in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and it was the forerunner of the "pet blessing" services that emerged in the 1970s.Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson, "Christian Blessings for Pets" in Taboo Or To Do? (London: Darton Longman and Todd, 2016), p 173. In the twentieth century the RSPCA widened the horizons in the public domain by promoting an annual "animal welfare week".For example, Elsie K. Morton, "Man and the Animals: 'Welfare Week' Appeal," The New Zealand Herald, 24 October 1925, 1. Morton, "Our Friends the Animals: World Day Observance," New Zealand Herald, 3 October 1936, 8.
The RSPCA also had annual accounts published in newspapers, like The Londoner, where the secretary would discuss improvements, report cases, and remind the public to watch over their animals' health.
During the second half of 1837, the society sponsored an essay-writing competition with a benefactor offering a prize of one hundred pounds for the winning entry. The terms of the competition stipulated:"The Essay required is one which shall morally illustrate, and religiously enforce, the obligation of man towards the inferior and dependent creatures – their protection and security from abuse, more especially as regards those engaged in service, and for the use and benefit of mankind-on the sin of cruelty – the infliction of wanton or unnecessary pain, taking the subject under its various denominations – exposing the specious defence of vivisection on the ground of its being for the interests of science – the supplying the infinite demands on the poor animal in aid of human speculations by exacting extreme labour, and thereby causing excessive suffering – humanity to the brute as harmonious with the spirit and doctrines of Christianity, and the duty of man as a rational and accountable creature."See David Mushet, The Wrongs of the Animal World (London: Hatchard, 1839), p xii.