Humanity Dick: A biography of Richard Martin, M.P., 1754-1834

Lynam, Shevawn. Humanity Dick – A Biography of Richard Martin, M.P., 1754-1834. London, Hamilton, 1975. 23 cm. xvii, 300 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, facsimiles, portraits. Original Hardcover with original dustjacket. Excellent, close to new condition with only minor signs of external wear. Colonel Richard Martin (15 January 1754 – 6 January 1834), was an Irish politician and campaigner against cruelty to animals. He was known as Humanity Dick, a nickname bestowed on him by King George IV. He succeeded in getting the pioneering Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act 1822, nicknamed ‘Martin’s Act’, passed into British law. Martin is now best known for his work against animal cruelty, especially against bear baiting and dog fighting. Martin’s attempt to have an anti-cruelty to animals Bill passed stands in a chronological line with some previous failed efforts in England’s Parliament. A sympathetic groundswell of public opinion emerged in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century in opposition to cultural amusements such as bull-baiting and cock-fighting and in the visible maltreatment of animals that were herded in for slaughter at London’s Smithfield Market. The first unsuccessful legislative attempt was led by William Johnstone Pulteney on 18 April 1800 to ban bull-baiting but it was lost to the opposition vote in the House of Commons. A renewed effort was undertaken in 1809 with an anti-cruelty Bill introduced into the House of Lords by Lord Erskine (1750-1823) which passed in that House but was defeated by a vote in the House of Commons. Martin voted in favour of both Pulteney’s and Erskine’s bills. Martin drafted a new Bill in consultation with the then retired Lord Erskine as well as with the agricultural writer and animal rights advocate John Lawrence (1753-1839). His actions resulted eventually in Martin’s Act of 1822, entitled Ill Treatment of Cattle Bill. The Bill passed in t..