. . . William Harvey, a Mayor of Salford, was our second president [of the Vegetarian Society]. His son-in-law James Simpson, was the first president. . . .
. . . Something must be said of Brotherton's circle [Joseph Brotherton, Salford's first MP and chair of the meeting that founded the Vegetarian Society]. Family ties and membership of the Bible Christians linked so many of the key radicals. Foremost among them was William Harvey, Brotherton's cousin and a deacon of the Church. He was a Salford alderman from 1844 until his death in 1870. The first meetings of the UK Alliance - the main temperance organisation - were held at his home in Acton Square. He was a vice-president of the Anti-Tobacco Society.
Harvey's sister, Martha, had married Brotherton in 1806 and she was a powerful organiser behind the scenes. She wrote the first true vegetarian cookery book in 1812 and dealt with the practical side of running events.
Harvey's son-in-law, James Simpson, was a wealthy cotton magnate who had met the Harveys through the church. He toured Europe preaching the values of pacificism and temperance. And it was Simpson who became the first president of the Vegetarian Society
The movement suffered a double blow in the late 1850s. Brotherton, its figurehead and most famous member, died in 1857. Two years later Simpson died and Ald William Harvey succeeded him as president of the Vegetarian Society. The Society's fortunes declined . . . .
. . . His successor as president was William Harvey, Mayor of Salford and a Bible Christian.. . .
. . . In 1847 Brotherton presided over the meeting held to create the The Vegetarian Society. It elected James Simpson, a deacon of the Bible Christian Church, as its first president. When Simpson died in 1859, his father-in-law, William Harvey, then mayor of Salford, took over as president until his own death in 1870. (Harveys sister, Martha, was married to Brotherton and wrote the first vegetarian cookery book.) . . .
The Mayor of Salford, about the middle of the nineteenth century, was Mr. William Harvey, the second President of The Vegetarian Society, and a prominent member of the Bible Christian Church. He gave the first recorded teetotal and vegetarian banquet, an unusual happening in these days, and a remarkable event one hundred years ago.
