Lord Erskine
1750-1823
 Bill for Preventing Malicious and Wanton Cruelty to Animals
1809-May-05 | "House of Lords, Friday, May 5, Cruelty to Animals Bill," Parliamentary Debates from the year 1803 to the Present Time, 16 (1809-Apr-11 to 1809-Jun-21): 380.
1809-May-15 | "House of Lords, Wednesday, May 31, Lord Erskine's [Cruelty to Animals] Bill," Parliamentary Register 3 (1809): 388-90.
1809-May-15 | "House of Lords, Monday, May 15, Cruelty to Animals Bill," Parliamentary Debates from the year 1803 to the Present Time, 16(1809-Apr-11 to 1809-Jun-21): 553-72.
1809 | Lord Erskine, The Speech of Lord Erskine…on the Bill for Preventing Malicious and Wanton Cruelty to Animals on the Second Reading of the Bill for Preventing Malicious and Wanton Cruelty to Animals, Reprinted in the appendix of The Wrongs of the Animal World, by David Mushet (London, 1839; Online at Animal Rights History, 2003).
The Speech by Lord Erskine…on the Bill for Preventing Malicious and Wanton Cruelty to Animals
The next generation will feel, in the first dawn of their ideas, the august relation they stand in to the lower world, and the trust which their station in the universe imposes on them; and it will not be left to a future Sterne to remind us, when we put aside even a harmless insect, that the world is large enough for both. This extension of benevolence to objects beneath us, become habitual by a sense of duty inculcated by law, will reflect back upon our sympathies for one another ; so that I may venture to say firmly to your Lordships, that the Bill I propose to you, if it shall receive the sanction of Parliament, will not only be an honour to the country, but an era in the history of the world.
A Bill was brought into the House of Commons, whilst I had the honour of a seat there, to repress this practice [of bull-baiting], but not upon the true principle. The framers of it were, I am persuaded, actuated by motives of humanity, but they mixed with it very laudable objects of human policy, which rather obscured the principle of protection to the animals.
1809-May-31 | "House of Lords, Wednesday, May 31, Cruelty to Animals Bill," Parliamentary Debates from the year 1803 to the Present Time, 14 (1809-Apr-11 to 1809-Jun-21): 804-8.
1809-May-31 | "House of Lords, Wednesday, May 31, Cruelty to Animals Bill," Parliamentary Register 3 (1809): 499-503.
1809-June-02 | "House of Lords, Friday, June 02, Cruelty to Animals Bill," Parliamentary Debates from the year 1803 to the Present Time, 14 (1809-Apr-11 to 1809-Jun-21): 851-3.
1809-Jun-02 | "House of Lords, Friday, June 2, Lord Erskine's [Cruelty to Animals] Bill," Parliamentary Register 3 (1809): 534-5.
1809-Jun | Belfast Monthly Magazine, "Monthly Retrospect of Politics, Bill Introduced by Lord Erskine to Prevent Cruelty to Animals, Belfast Monthly Magazine, 2 (1809-Jun): 471; Online at Google Books..
1809-Jun | Gentleman's Magazine, review of "The Speech in the House of Peers on the Second Reading of the Bill for Preventing Malicious and Wanton Cruelty to Animals [1809-May-15], Gentleman's Magazine 27 (1809-Jul): 545-549.
1809-Jul | Evangelical Magazine, review of "An Essay on Humanity to Animals, by Thomas Young," Evangelical Magazine 17 (1819-Jul): 292.
1809-Jul | Lord Erskine, Speech in the House of Peers on the Second Reading of the Bill for Preventing Malicious and Wanton Cruelty to Animals [1809-May-15], Monthly Magazine 27 (1809-Jul) 556-65.
1809-May | Sporting Magazine, "Lord Erskine's Bill, to Prevent Cruelty Towards Brute Animals," Sporting Magazine 34 (1809-May) 72-6.
1809-Oct | P. [New Kent Road], letter to the editor, "Animals' Friend" Literary Panorama (1809-Oct):83-7.
Bill for the More Effectual Prevention of Cruelty towards Animals.
1810-Apr-17 | "House of Lords, Tuesday, April 17, Bill for the More Effectally Preventing Malicious and Wanton Cruelty to Animals," Parliamentary Debates from the year 1803 to the Present Time, 16 (1810-Mar-02 to 1810-May-17): 851-858.
1810-Apr-17 | "House of Lords, Tuesday, April 17, Bill for the More Effectally Preventing Malicious and Wanton Cruelty to Animals," Parliamentary Debates from the year 1803 to the Present Time, 16 (1810-Mar-02 to 1810-May-17): 851-858.
1810-May-07 | "House of Lords, Monday, May 07, Cruelty to Animals Bill" Parliamentary Debates from the year 1803 to the Present Time, 16 (1810-Mar-02 to 1810-May-17): 245-6.
1810-May-07 | "House of Lords, Monday, May 7, Cruelty to Animals Bill," Parliamentary Register 3 (1810): 1-2.
1810-May-08 | House of Lords, Tuesday, May 08, Cruelty to Animals Bill" Parliamentary Debates from the year 1803 to the Present Time, 16 (1810-Mar-02 to 1810-May-17): 880-4.
1810-May-08 | "House of Lords, Tuesday, May 8, Cruelty to Animals Bill," Parliamentary Register 3 (1810): 32-4.
1810-May-14 | House of Lords, Monday, May 14, Cruelty to Animals Bill" Parliamentary Debates from the year 1803 to the Present Time, 16 (1810-Mar-02 to 1810-May-17): 1017.
1810-May-14 | "House of Lords, Monday, May 14, Cruelty to Animals Bill," Parliamentary Register 3 (1810): 136.
1810-May | Edinburgh Monthly Magazine and Review, "Proceedings of Parliament, House of Lords, Cruelty to Animals, May 8 and May 14, 1810" Edinburgh Monthly Magazine 1 (1810-May): 66.
1810-Jun-05 | "House of Lords, Tuesday, June 05, Cruelty to Animals Bill," Parliamentary Register 3 (1810): 414.
1810-Jun | Gentleman's Magazine, "Proceedings in the Present Session of Parliament, House of Lords, April 17, Lord Erskine, Bill for the More Effectually Preventing Malicious and Wanton Cruelty to Animals," Gentleman's Magazine 107 (1810-Jun): 575.
1815 | Rene Martin Pillet, Views of England, During a Residence of Ten Years, Six of Them as a Prisoner of War, [First Edition: 1815] (Boston, 1818; Digitized by Google, 2007).
For twelve years in succession, Lord Erskine presented at every of the House of Lords, a motion entitled Humanity to Animals. Its object was not the establishment of infirmaries or places for the reception of aged, sick or worn out domestic animals; its chief aim was to mitigate the treatment of brute animals, by sentencing those cruel beings to fines and penalties, who daily mutilate, maim, and deliberately, and for the sole pleasure of doing mischief, beat or starve to death poor animals, which render them important services, and against which they have no just complaint.
To induce the house of Lords to pass the bill which he solicits so unsuccessfully, and with such generous perseverance, Lord Erskine never fails to recapitulate the deliberate cruelties he has witnessed, or of which he has incontestible evidence. This picture is dreadful. I have seen several of the eloquent speeches delivered by Lord Erskine upon this subject, and if I could have preserved them I would here make some extracts which would convince the mind of every reader, that the English are a people essential cruel, cruel by nature as the tiger, that they must have blood, and blood is their delight.
The substance of all Lord Erskine's speeches is this; that by inducing men to be less cruel towards the brute creation, their disposition towards each other would be softened, and probably the number of crimes which are the terror and disgrace of Great Britain, will diminish in proportion to the humanity exercised towards animals.
1924 | Edward Fairholme and Wellesly Pain, A Century of Work for the Animals: The History of the R.S.P.C.A., 1824-1924 (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1924)
The Speech of Lord Erskine, in the House of Peers, on 15th of May, 1809, on the Second Reading of the Bill, "attracted much attention, and it was afterwards published in pamphlet form." The Lords passed the bill, but it was lost in the commons. The Times concludes the Bill "lay[s] the foundation for and establish a system of rights and privileges even for the mute and unconscious part of creation." The Edinburgh Review came out against the bill.
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