Illegal Activities (Animals) Act 1875

The Illegal Activities (Animals) Act 1875 was an Act of the British government of Benjamin Disraeli of 1874-1880. The opposition, the Liberal Party (led by Lord Hartington from 1874 to 1876, and by William Gladstone from then on) derisively labelled it the "Bee and Badger Act". The name derives from the (virtually non-existent) fixation of the Act with the practices of badger-baiting and apiculture. Badger-baiting, by far the most barbarous act of the pair, was originally banned in 1835 but had continued to be practiced in covert form in several cities. Apiculture - the keeping of bees - was not considered aggressive, but the act dedicated several clauses stipulating the minimum space in which bees could be kept. This was less to do with the "harm" that may be caused "to" bees as a concern as to the damage that bees "could do". In Bishopsgate in 1872, three children had been stung to death after disturbing the hives of an apiculturist - an event that most consider to have prompted the apiculture clauses of the Act. The derogatory name was applied first by either Sir Charles Dilke or Hugh Childers, with most historians believing it was Dilke. This is because Childers suffered from ill healt during the 1870s, and did not attend Parliament with regularity, although some contend that he could have used the term at a social function.