News / Clifton
Animal rights group commemorates 125th anniversary with application for blue plaque
An animal protection organisation has commemorated its 125th anniversary by applying for a blue plaque to be placed at the spot in Bristol where it was first started.
Cruelty Free International was founded as the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) in Clifton in 1898.
Adopting its current name in 2012, the organisation has taken its campaign for a ban on animal testing for cosmetics around the world.
is needed now More than ever
It has submitted its application for a Bristol Civic Society blue plaque to be placed on Queens Road to mark its Bristolian beginnings.
Cruelty Free International has applied for a blue plaque to be placed on Queens Road in Clifton, where it was founded 125 years ago – photo: Charlie Watts
Cruelty Free International CEO, Michelle Thew, said: “We would prefer our work to have been completed, consigning animal testing to the history books.
“This anniversary, therefore, is not something we wish to celebrate, but to mark, as the organisation continues the fight of our founders.
“We feel that it is fitting to mark the significance of this important historical movement with a blue plaque at the place where it all started.”
Formerly known as the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, the sign for the ‘anti-vivisection society’ can be seen to the left of this photograph from circa 1900 – photo: Bristol Archives 35529/35
The BUAV was established following a public meeting at 49 Queens Road – then known as 20 The Triangle – on June 14, 1898.
The first meeting of the BUAV’s board of managers was held at the premises – which is now a Penny Brohn charity shop – the following day, and it became the first registered offices of the organisation.
The BUAV was initially led by renowned social reformer and leading women’s suffrage campaigner, Francis Power Cobbe.
Thew added: “Cobbe was a hugely-influential figure in Victorian society, for her work in supporting women’s suffrage, animal protection and social reform to protect the poorest families in every community.
“She described Bristol as being full of ‘kind souls’ and both her impact on the city, and her compassion for humans and animals, deserves to be remembered there.”
The founding place of the organisation is now the the Penny Brohn UK Hub – photo: Google
Cruelty Free International, which moved its headquarters from Bristol to London in 1905, says it is now one of the world’s longest standing and most respected animal protection organisations.
The organisation says it is widely regarded as an authority on animal testing issues and is frequently called upon by governments, media, corporations and official bodies for its advice or expert opinion.
Its 2018 petition, Forever Against Animal Testing, was presented to the United Nations with eight million signatures.
And in May 2023, the UK government only partially reinstated the country’s 1998 ban on animal testing for cosmetics, in response to information revealed in Cruelty Free International’s Judicial Review.
Main photo: Charlie Watts
Read next:
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