National Anti-Vaccination League

Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League The National Anti-Vaccination League grew from earlier smaller organizations in London, originally under the title Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League (ACVL) in response to the government making smallpox vaccination compulsory. The Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League was founded by Richard Butler Gibbs at Finsbury in 1866. Members included Richard's brother George Sleight Gibbs and his cousin John Gibbs, author of the first anti-vaccination pamphlet. The Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League had 103 branch leagues and claimed 10,000 members in 1871. Notable members of the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League were James Burns, George Dornbusch and Charles Thomas Pearce. After the death of Richard B. Gibbs in 1871, the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League underwent various changes until 1876 when it was revived under the leadership of Mary Hume-Rothery and the Rev. W. Hume-Rothery. The Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League published the Occasional Circular which later merged into the National Anti-Compulsory Vaccination Reporter. London Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination In 1880, William Tebb enlarged and reorganized the League with the formation of the London Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination, with William Young as secretary. The London Society focused on lobbying parliamentary support in the 1880s and early 1890s. National Anti-Vaccination League The movement grew, and as the influence of the London Society overshadowed the Hume-Rotherys and it took the national lead, In 1906, George Bernard Shaw wrote a supportive letter to the National Anti-Vaccination League, equating methods of vaccination with "rubbing the contents of the dustpan into the wound". Lily Loat devoted her life to the cause and died still working for the league in 1958. The league's journal ceased to create new issues in 1972. ==Publications of The National Anti-Vaccination League==

• 1901, An Italian Indictment of Vaccination., Carlo Ruata. Public address given at the opening of the session of the University of Perugia, November, 1898. Translated from the Italian. National Anti-Vaccination League: London. • 1901, Vaccination a Delusion, Alfred Russel Wallace. Chapter 28 of The Wonderful Century • 1902, Smallpox at Gloucester. A reply to Dr. Coupland's Report by Walter Hadwen. Reprinted from “The Reformer,” National Anti-Vaccination League: Gloucester • 1902, Smallpox at Middlesbrough. A reply to Dr. Dingle's Reports ... 2nd edition, rev. by Biggs, John Thomas pp. 24. • 1902, What about Vaccination, Milnes, Alfred. With other contributions. (When Doctors Disagree. The Wreck of the Preussen. Vaccination an Error.) National Anti-Vaccination League: Westminster. • 1904, The Story of the Vaccination Crusade in Hackney & Stoke Newington, 1902–1904, and what came of it. The cases of John Polley, William Pitt, and others, with an account of the action-at-law Polley v. Fordham., Burton, John Francis. Hackney Union Branch of the National Anti-Vaccination League: London. • 1910, For and Against Vaccination A statement by the Royal College of Physicians, Ireland; (with correspondence thereon, between A. Phelps and T. Percy C. Kirkpatrick). • 1911, Smallpox and vaccination in British India. • 1912, Leicester: Sanitation Versus Vaccination, J. T. Biggs, JP. Book. • 1921, Vaccination and the State, Arnold Lupton MP. • 1929, National Anti-Vaccination League (London) Thirty-third [etc.] Annual Report, etc. • 1936, The Case Against Vaccination, Maurice Beddow Bayly. • 1939, The Schick Inoculation Against Diphtheria, Maurice Beddow Bayly • 1947, Smallpox and Vaccination., Trolridge, Arthur. • 1952, B.C.G. Vaccination, Maurice Beddow Bayly. • 1957, Is Mass Vaccination with B.C.G. always warranted in the Scandinavian Countries? (booklet). ==References==