Was the League Against Cruel Sports founded in 1924?

Claim: The League Against Cruel Sports (originally the League for Prohibition of Cruel Sports) was founded in 1924.
Verdict: False.

Context

The League Against Cruel Sports is celebrating its centenary in 2024, prominently claiming that it was founded in 1924, with the alleged inaugural meeting held on 25 November that year. This founding date is displayed across its website, merchandise, and promotional materials. While the 1924 date is repeated in some historical texts and League documents, no primary evidence supports it. On the contrary, statements from the League’s founders, clearly identify 1925 as the organisation’s actual founding year.

Analysis

Lack of Evidence for the 1924 Date

The claim that the League was founded in 1924 lacks any substantiating evidence. Assertions of this date appear to stem from later tradition and misinterpretation of events rather than verifiable facts.

1. Secondary Sources Supporting 1924:
   Several books mention 1924 as the founding year:
   1. In The Politics of Hunting, Richard H. Thomas: “…the League… started in 1924”¹. No primary source is cited.
   2. In The Hunt and the Anti-Hunt, Philip Windeatt states: “In 1924, the League… was formed by vegetarians Henry Amos and Ernest Bell”². No primary source is cited.
   3. In Voiceless Victims, Rebecca Hall states: “It [the League] was founded in 1924…”³. No primary source is cited.
   4. In Animal Revolution, Richard D. Ryder, states: “In 1924…, Henry Amos and Ernest Bell, founded the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports…”⁴. No primary source is cited.
   5. In The History of Opposition to Blood Sports, Michael Tichelar: “…in 1924 he [Henry Amos] and [Ernest] Bell Formed the League…”⁵. No primary source is cited.
   These claims are repeated without any supporting documentation, indicating reliance on the League’s later internal narratives rather than primary evidence.
2. Internal League Materials:
   League newsletters and documents from later decades reference 1924 as the founding year. However, with the League’s archives being restricted to select authorised personnel, independent verification of these claims remains limited.
3. Misinterpretation of Later Activities
   The League itself has conflated events from 1925, such as the inaugural public meeting on 25 November 1925, with earlier efforts.

Primary Evidence Supporting 1925

Statements from the League’s founders leave no doubt that the organisation was formally established in 1925:

1. Statements by the Founders:
   1. In Cruel Sports, Ernest Bell, co-founder of the League, explicitly stated: “Our League… has made most praiseworthy progress in a very short time since 1925...”⁶.
   2. Henry B. Amos, the League’s other co-founder, reflected in Cruel Sports: “Since its foundation in 1925, [the League] has done very useful work…”⁷.
   Both founders unequivocally identify 1925 as the League’s founding year, contradicting any claim of a 1924 establishment.
2. First Recorded Use of the League’s Name:
   The earliest known reference to the League for Prohibition of Cruel Sports appears in a letter by Henry B. Amos, published in the The Evening Telegraph in March 1925⁸.
3. Formal Announcements in 1925:
   The creation of the League was formally announced in multiple publications throughout mid-1925:
   • Daily News and Leader⁹
   • Torbay Express and South Devon Echo¹⁰
   • Hampstead St. John’s Wood and Kilburn Advertiser¹¹
   • Our Dumb Animals, announced: “A new society has just been organized in England under the name of the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports…”¹²
4. Inaugural Meeting
   The League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports inaugural public meeting was held on 25 November 1925, not 25 November 1924 as the League Against Cruel Sports state.
5. Other References:
   • In The Theosophist, Henry Amos described the League as newly formed: “It has now been made possible to go forward, and [the League] has been formed.”¹³
   • The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review states that Amos was involved in anti-rodeo campaigns in 1924 but helped to “found and organize the League” the following year¹⁴.

Misinterpretation of 1924 Activities

The association with 1924 may stem from confusion with Henry Amos’ role in the Rodeo Protest Committee, which successfully campaigned against rodeo exhibitions in Leeds that year. However, this campaign was unrelated to the formation of the League.

Discrepancies in Other Sources

1. E. S. Turner’s 1926 Date:
   In All Heaven in a Rage, Turner claims that the League was founded in 1926¹⁵. This is incorrect, as contemporary records from 1925 already reference the League’s establishment and activities.
2. Hilda Kean’s 1925 Date:
   In Animal Rights, Political and Social Change in Britain since 1800, Hilda Kean correctly identifies 1925¹⁶ as the founding year but does not cite a source.

Conclusion

The claim that the League Against Cruel Sports was founded in 1924 is false. Primary evidence overwhelmingly supports 1925 as the year of its establishment. Assertions of a 1924 founding are unsupported by evidence and directly contradicted by the League’s founders, who explicitly stated the organisation was formed in 1925.

Verdict

False. The League Against Cruel Sports was founded in 1925, not 1924.

1. Richard H. Thomas, The Politics of Hunting (Gower Publishing Ltd, 1983), p. 65 ↩︎
2. Philip Windeatt, The Hunt and the Anti-Hunt (Pluto P, 1982), p. 24 ↩︎
3. Rebecca Hall, Voiceless Victims (Wildwood House Ltd, 1984). p. 36 ↩︎
4. Richard D. Ryder, Animal Revolution (Wiley–Blackwell, 1989), p. 135 ↩︎
5. Michael Tichelar, The History of Opposition to Blood Sports, (Routledge, 2017) p. 55 ↩︎
6. Cruel Sports, January 1928, p. 2 ↩︎
7. Ten Years’ Work, Cruel Sports, June 1935, p. 43 ↩︎
8. The Evening Telegraph (Dundee), 18 March 1925, p. 2 ↩︎
9. Daily News and Leader, 2 June 1925, p. 3 ↩︎
10. Torbay Express and South Devon Echo, 23 June 1925 ↩︎
11. Hampstead St. John’s Wood and Kilburn Advertiser, 30 July 1925, p. 3 ↩︎
12. Our Dumb Animals, October 1925, Vol. 58, No. 5, p. 74 ↩︎
13. The Theosophist, August 1925, pp. 668-9 ↩︎
14. Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review, December 1946 ↩︎
15. E. S. Turner, All Heaven in a Rage (‎Michael Joseph, 1964, p. 283) ↩︎
16. Hilda Kean, Animal Rights, Political and Social Change in Britain since 1800 (Reaktion Books, 1998, p. 185) ↩︎