Talk:C. P. Newcombe

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Photos[edit]

@Psychologist Guy: Are you aware of any photos of Newcombe? I've not managed to find any. Throughthemind (talk) 14:06, 27 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I have a photograph of C. P. Newcombe from a detailed obituary. Its in the Kent & Sussex Courier 08 August 1913. The only problem is that the photograph is too dark. It could be uploaded but its just a very dark photo due to the poor state of the newspaper article. Apparently there is software to lighten up old photographs but I don't have that. Psychologist Guy (talk) 16:13, 27 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Psychologist Guy: Nice, thanks! I can have a go at lightening the photo if you upload it to Wikimedia. Throughthemind (talk) 17:31, 27 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Good news I managed to find a clear photograph of him from 1905 so we don't have to worry about the dark one. I have put it on commons. Psychologist Guy (talk) 18:11, 27 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Perfect, thanks! Throughthemind (talk) 18:24, 27 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Throughthemind, I would like to get hold of a copy of The Diet Cure of Cancer but I don't think any copies have survived but Newcombe's obituary in the Kent & Sussex Courier says the book had wide circulation in the day. It appears Newcombe was influenced by James Braithwaite [1]. Newcombe also recommended honey tea. I understand honey was recommended by some of the earliest vegans before the founding of the Vegan Society. Psychologist Guy (talk) 18:48, 27 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I've just tried searching on Worldcat (link here) and the only work of Newcombe's I can find is The Manifesto for Vegetarianism which is in the British Library and Wellcome library. No sign of the The Diet Cure of Cancer unfortunately. I didn't know about early vegans eating honey. That's interesting. I think Lewis Gompertz might have been one of the first vegans to give ethical consideration to insects. He talks about silkworms here:

Y: What are your opinions concerning the propriety of using silk? Z: I disapprove of the act of depriving the living grubs of their silk. I however understand, that numbers of them generally die naturally while enclosed in their silk; also that the silk of these is the most esteemed; and this of course may be used. Though I am averse to the act of depriving the living ones of their natural clothing, and substituting bran in its stead; but I severely censure the usual mode of baking them to death in an oven.

[1] and bees here:

Man stops at nothing, he knows no scruples; no robbery too distressing; no torture too excruciating to its victims; no murder too atrocious in himself can impede his furious and interested career for his own welfare. He bnrns the bees, he steals their honey.

[2] Throughthemind (talk) 21:42, 27 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for those quotes, that is historical information that is usually forgotten by academics who study this field. Lewis Gompertz did support the use of roadkill apparently (but that's another debate). I do know that John and Vera Richter were eating honey it is in their cookbooks and Russell Thacher Trall mentions honey in many of his books but never condemned it. In complete opposition to this I know Gustav Schlickeysen opposed its use as did many other more 'mainstream' vegans. It seems that historians or philosophers have not covered the use of honey in the history of vegetarianism or veganism. The standard historical books on the subject do not cover it (‎Michael Iacobbo, Colin Spencer etc). I can't find a single paper on it. The Vegan Society have opposed the use of honey since the very beginning I was reading some of their magazines from the 1950s earlier today. :@J Milburn: writes papers on some of these topics from a modern basis, he might know more. I would like to get hold of a copy of Newcombe's The Manifesto for Vegetarianism. Psychologist Guy (talk) 00:07, 28 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

No problem! Yeah, Gompertz didn't see it as a problem for humans to use the bodies of animals who have died naturally or accidentally, which is definitely a good source of debate! Thanks for the information on honey consumption. I'd like to see this information put on Wikipedia somewhere. Maybe in the honey article (it currently has no mention of veganism or ethics). The milk article has a section on criticism Milk#Criticism. Throughthemind (talk) 12:31, 28 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]