Jessey Wade

Jessey Wade
Black-and-white illustration of a woman seated beside a cat
A woman, possibly Wade, with the office cat Tibby, from The Animals' Friend Cat Book (1917)
Born
Anna Jessey Wade

(1859-12-02)2 December 1859
Westminster, Middlesex, England
Died10 May 1952(1952-05-10) (aged 92)
London, England
Occupations
Known for


Anna Jessey Wade (2 December 1859 – 10 May 1952) was an English animal welfare campaigner, writer, editor and women's suffrage activist. She worked with Ernest Bell on animal welfare publications, edited Little Animals' Friend and founded the Cats Protection League in 1927. She also co-founded the feminist journal Urania and the National Society for the Abolition of Cruel Sports.

Biography

Early life

Wade was born Anna Jessey Wade on 2 December 1859, in Westminster, Middlesex, to John and Anna Wade.

Animal welfare and publishing

Ernest Bell and Jessey Wade's banner for The Animals' Friend, parading through London in 1909, during the Anti-Vivisection International Congress

Wade worked as the personal secretary of Ernest Bell until his death in 1933. She worked at George Bell & Sons at York House, 6 Portugal Street, London. Bell edited The Animals' Friend, and Wade edited its children's companion, Little Animals' Friend, succeeding Edith Carrington.

Wade contributed articles to The Animals' Friend and wrote material for the Animals' Friend Society. Her contributions included the pamphlets Cruelties in Dress and Mother Love in the Animal World, and the leaflets Fur Coats, Hats and the Woman, Little Father Christmas and Winter Cruelties. From 1906 to 1919, she was honorary secretary of the Children's Department of the Humanitarian League.

Wade published The Animals' Friend Cat Book through George Bell & Sons in 1917. It included an illustration of the firm's cat Tibby with a woman whom Cats Protection has suggested might be Wade. On 16 May 1927, a meeting at Caxton Hall, London, established the Cats Protection League, organised by Wade. Bell became the league's treasurer. In June 1927, the league gave its headquarters as the Animals' Friend's Office, York House, Portugal Street, London. Wade began editing its magazine, The Cats' Mews-Sheet, when it launched in 1931. The magazine was renamed The Cat in 1934, and she continued as editor until March 1935.

In 1932, Wade co-founded the National Society for the Abolition of Cruel Sports with Bell and others. She was also involved with the Pit Ponies' Protection Society and the Performing and Captive Animals' Defence League. She met B. Maude Phillips of the Animal Rescue League of Boston in London. She also spoke for the Humane Education Society in Manchester.

Women's suffrage and Urania

Wade was a member of the Women's Freedom League. During the suffragette boycott of the 1911 census, she refused to provide the requested information. She belonged to the Aëthnic Union, founded by Thomas Baty in 1912. In 1916, she co-founded Urania with Baty, Eva Gore-Booth, Esther Roper and Dorothy Cornish. The journal opposed distinctions based on sex and gender.

Personal life and death

In 1945, The Cat reported that Wade was in poor health following a serious accident, and that she had undergone an operation for cataracts.

Wade retired from editing Little Animals' Friend in 1948. A contemporary newspaper described her as having worked on the magazine for fifty years. She died at her home at Abbey Road Mansions on 10 May 1952, aged 92. She was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 15 May.

Animal welfare organisations

Wade held roles in several animal welfare organisations:

Publications

Books

Magazines

Pamphlets

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Meet Cats Protection founder Jessey Wade". Meow! Blog. Cats Protection. 8 March 2019. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Wade". The Daily Telegraph. 13 May 1952. p. 8. Retrieved 25 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ United Kingdom census (1861). "Anna J Wade". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 25 March 2026.
  4. ↑ "Anna J Wade". 1939 England and Wales Register. Ancestry.com. 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
  5. 1 2 ""Society has split perfection into two": the Aëthnic Union, Urania and LSE". LSE History. London School of Economics. 13 November 2023.
  6. ↑ Galsworthy, John (1913). Treatment of animals: being a speech delivered at the Kensington Town Hall on December 15, 1913, at a meeting called to protest against cruelties to performing animals. London: Animals' Friend Society.
  7. 1 2 Edmundson, John (14 November 2013). "The Brown Linties by Jessey Wade". HappyCow. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  8. ↑ Hankins, Justine (4 May 2002). "In a league of their own". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  9. ↑ "Cats Protection League". Hampstead and St. John's Wood Advertiser. 9 June 1927. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ "The history of The Cat magazine". Cats Protection. Cats Protection.
  11. 1 2 Wilson, David A. H. (2015). The Welfare of Performing Animals: A Historical Perspective. Springer. p. 229. ISBN 978-3662458341.
  12. ↑ "Miss Phillips Abroad". Our Fourfooted Friends and How We Treat Them. 31 (4): 7–8. 1934 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ↑ "Protection of Animals". The Manchester Guardian. 26 November 1934. p. 16. Retrieved 29 June 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Jessey Wade". Hampstead Garden Suburb Virtual Museum. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  15. ↑ Tiernan, Sonja (2013). "Radical sexual politics and post-war religion". Eva Gore-Booth: An Image of Such Politics. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-1-84779-509-0.
  16. ↑ "Ourselves" (PDF). The Cat. 15 (9): 68. 1945.
  17. ↑ "A Friend of Animals". The Children's Newspaper. 21 February 1948. p. 3. Retrieved 29 June 2020 – via Internet Archive.
  18. ↑ The Humane Education Society Council for Protection of Animals: The Future is with the Children and Kind Hearted People (PDF). 1935. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  19. ↑ "Cats Protection turns 90: Here's what we've achieved!". Cats Protection. 16 May 2017. Archived from the original on 15 July 2024.