- Walter Hadwen
Walter Robert Hadwen MD MRCS MRCP (
August 3 1854 ,Woolwich -December 27 1932 ) was aGloucester GP and pharmaceutical chemist, president of theBritish Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), and an anti-vaccination campaigner known for his denial of thegerm theory of disease.Biography
Hadwen began his career as a
pharmacist inClapham thenSomerset , then subsequently trained as a doctor atBristol University . After qualifying, he moved to Gloucester in 1896. Hadwen was recruited as a member of BUAV by its founder and then presidentFrances Power Cobbe who hired a private investigator to assess his credentials (he was a vegetarian and total abstainer, had a reputation as a "firebrand" orator and was held in "high local esteem"). She subsequently selected him as her successor.He joined the
Plymouth Brethren as an adult.As a frequent speaker for the
National Anti-Vaccination League , his opposition to vaccination focusedFact|date=February 2007 on his view of the deficiencies ofsmallpox vaccination.He was also a member of the London Association for the Prevention of Premature Burial (founded in 1896).
Manslaughter trial
In 1924, having applied his rejection of the
germ theory of disease, and his refusal to use diphtheria anti-serum produced by inoculation of animals to the treatment of Nellie Burnham, a young girl, she died and he was tried formanslaughter by criminalmedical negligence [The Times up to and including Oct 30 1924] . He was acquitted of all charges.Publications
By
* 1896, "The Case Against Vaccination"
* "The Difficulties of Dr Deguerre"
*1902 "Smallpox at Gloucester." A reply to Dr. Coupland’s Report by Walter Hadwen. Reprinted from “The Reformer,”National Anti-Vaccination League : GloucesterAbout
*"Hadwen of Gloucester: Man, Medico, Martyr", by Beatrice E. Kidd and M. Edith Richards, 1933, John Murray, Londonee also
Vaccine controversy Notes
References
* [http://www.drhadwentrust.f2s.com/J_HAD_HadwenPage.html The story of Dr Hadwen] Biography at Dr Hadwen Trust
*"Frances Power Cobbe: Victorian Feminism, Journalist, Reformer", Sally Mitchell, 2004, University of Virginia PressISBN 0-8139-2271-2
*"Bodily Matters: The Anti-Vaccination Movement in England, 1853-1907", Nadja Durbach, 2005, Duke University Press,ISBN 0-8223-3423-2
*Obituary, The Times, Saturday, Feb 25, 1933 John Murray, London, 1933External links
* [http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020119hadwin/020119hadwenrallytalk.html SoilAndHealth.org] - 'The Case Against Vaccination' , Walter Hadwen (January 25, 1896)
* [http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020119hadwin/020119hadwenmagazine.html SoilAndHealth.org] - ' The Fraud of Vaccination', Dr. Hadwen, "Truth", (January 3, 1923)
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.