George Dornbusch (born Georg Dornbusch; 12 August 1819 – 5 February 1873) was an Austrian-British merchant, social reformer, and publisher. He was active in the Victorian vegetarian movement and supported causes including abolitionism, anti-vaccination, temperance, women's suffrage, and the peace movement.

Dornbusch was born near Trieste, then part of the Austrian Empire, in 1819 and grew up in Hamburg. He adopted a strict vegan diet in 1843 and moved to London in 1845. He worked as a merchant on Threadneedle Street and published The Floating Cargoes Daily List from 1854 to 1873. Dornbusch was one of the first members of the Vegetarian Society, served as its secretary and vice-president, and was also involved with the London Vegetarian Association. He survived an attempted murder by a business rival in 1865, but was permanently disabled. He died from bronchitis in 1873 and was buried in Abney Park Cemetery.

Biography

Early life

Dornbusch was born Georg Dornbusch[a] near Trieste, then part of the Austrian Empire, on 12 August 1819. When he was seven years old, he moved with his family to Hamburg, where he grew up. His father worked for the Swedish-Norwegian post office.[2]

Dornbusch became a vegan in 1843, "partaking neither of fish, flesh, fowl, butter, milk, cheese, or eggs, and abstaining also from the use of tea, coffee, intoxicating drinks, salt, and tobacco".[3] Francis William Newman described him as also abstaining from "every form of vegetable grease or oil, from the chief vegetable spices, such as pepper and ginger, and emphatically from salt".[4]

Career

Dornbusch moved from Hamburg to England in 1845 and settled in London.[5] He operated a merchant business on Threadneedle Street in the City of London. His business published The Floating Cargoes Daily List, a private daily trade list recording cargo arrivals;[6] it was published from 1854 to 1873.[7]

On 23 December 1865, a business rival attempted to murder Dornbusch.[8] Dornbusch suffered 23 stab wounds and recovered sufficiently to return to work, but was permanently disabled.[2]

Social reform

Dornbusch was a member of the vegetarian movement in London.[5] He named his house "Vegetarian Cottage" and was one of the first members of the Vegetarian Society.[5][9] Dornbusch served as the Society's secretary and vice-president.[7][10] He was also a member of the London Vegetarian Association.[11]

Dornbusch served as treasurer of the Stop-the-War League and was a member of the general committee of the Emancipation Society, along with John Stuart Mill.[5][6] He was also involved with the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League and the National Society for Women's Suffrage, serving on the central committee from 1871 to 1872.[5][12]

Other activities

Dornbusch was active in the spiritualist movement and was a Theosophist.[13] He also became a Freemason and served as an alderman and a member of the Hackney vestry.[7]

Personal life and death

In December 1846, Dornbusch married Johanna Wilhelmine Amalie Siemers, the daughter of a Hamburg merchant. The marriage, which produced two children, ended in divorce in 1865.[2] Dornbusch later married Emma Wallis[b] and they had three children.[1][15] In 1866, he signed a women's suffrage petition with his daughter Ada, from his first marriage, and his second wife.[5]

Dornbusch died of bronchitis at his home in South Hackney on 5 February 1873, aged 53.[16] He was buried in Abney Park Cemetery, London.[5] Dornbusch's great-great-grandson was the space scientist Kevin Beurle, a fifth-generation vegetarian.[17]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Dornbusch later changed his first name to George.[1]
  2. ↑ The 1861 United Kingdom census lists Emma Wallis as employed as Dornbusch's housekeeper;[14] the 1871 census lists her as his wife.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 United Kingdom census (1871). "George Dornbusch". FamilySearch. Retrieved 3 May 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 Kiehnbaum, Erhard (2011). "Anmerkungen zur Unterstützung der Londoner politischen Flüchtlinge im Jahre 1849 durch norddeutsche Demokraten" [Notes on the Support of London Political Refugees in 1849 by North German Democrats] (PDF). Beiträge zur Marx-Engels-Forschung (in German). Neue Folge: 165–189.
  3. ↑ Forward, Charles Walter (1898). Fifty Years of Food Reform: A History of the Vegetarian Movement in England. London: The Ideal Publishing Union. p. 71 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ↑ Newman, Francis William (1883). Essays on Diet. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co. p. 56 – via Internet Archive.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Crawford, Elizabeth (28 April 2015). "Suffrage Stories: The 1866 Petition: J.S. Mill And The South Hackney Connection". Woman and her Sphere. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  6. 1 2 Newkey-Burden, George (2011). The Making of a Victorian Newspaper during a Period of Social Change (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of London. pp. 82–84. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 Gregory, James Richard Thomas Elliott (May 2002). "Biographical Index of British Vegetarians and Food reformers of the Victorian Era". The Vegetarian Movement in Britain c.1840–1901: A Study of Its Development, Personnel and Wider Connections (PDF) (PhD thesis). Vol. 2. University of Southampton. p. 35. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  8. ↑ "ELIA FERMI. Breaking Peace; wounding. 29th January 1866". The Proceedings of the Old Bailey. 29 January 1866. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  9. ↑ Dozell, Anne (2 May 1996). "A Brief History of Vegetarianism". Toronto Vegetarian Association. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  10. ↑ Richardson, Elsa (22 November 2021). "Lentils Beyond the Veil: Spiritualism, Vegetarianism and Dietetics". Aries. 22 (1): 136–154. doi:10.1163/15700593-02201007. ISSN 1567-9896.
  11. ↑ Davis, John (26 October 2011). "London Vegetarian Association, 1850s – the world's first 'vegan society'". International Vegetarian Union. Retrieved 19 July 2025.
  12. ↑ Barrow, Logie (1986). Independent Spirits Spiritualism and English Plebeians, 1850–1910. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 186–187. ISBN 978-0-7102-0815-6 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ↑ Bates, A. W. H. (25 July 2017). "A New Age for a New Century: Anti-Vivisection, Vegetarianism, and the Order of the Golden Age". Anti-Vivisection and the Profession of Medicine in Britain: A Social History. Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-55697-4_4. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  14. ↑ United Kingdom census (1861). "George Dornbusch". FamilySearch. Retrieved 3 May 2026.
  15. ↑ "Births Mar 1872: Dornbusch, Rosa Francisca". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 3 May 2026.
  16. ↑ "Death of George Dornbusch". The Medium and Daybreak. 4 (149): 67. 7 February 1873 – via Internet Archive.
  17. ↑ "Generating Vegetarians". The Vegetarian. Vegetarian Society. June 1992 – via International Vegetarian Union.

Further reading

allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dornbusch