Elsie Shrigley

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Elsie Shrigley
Portrait of Shrigley
Born
Elsie Beatrice Salling

(1899-10-30)30 October 1899[1]
North London, England
Died13 May 1978(1978-05-13) (aged 78)
Tonbridge, Kent, England
Other namesSally Shrigley
OccupationsActivist for vegetarianism and veganism
Known forCo-founding The Vegan Society
Movement
Spouse
Walter Shrigley
​
(m. 1939)​

Elsie Beatrice Shrigley (née Salling; 30 October 1899 – 13 May 1978), also known as Sally Shrigley, was an English activist for vegetarianism and veganism. A long-standing member of the Vegetarian Society, she co-founded The Vegan Society in 1944 with Donald Watson following the Society's rejection of a proposal to form a non-dairy section. Shrigley is sometimes credited with helping to coin the term "vegan" and played a central role in shaping the early vegan movement, later serving as president of The Vegan Society and remaining active in its committee until her death.

Biography

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Early and personal life

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Shrigley was born in North London in 1899 to a Swedish mother and Danish father.[2] She married Walter Shrigley, a dentist, in 1939.[1]

Vegetarian and vegan activism

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Shrigley became a vegetarian in 1934 and gave up dairy products in 1944.[2] In August of that year, she and Donald Watson proposed the creation of a non-dairy section within the Vegetarian Society. When the proposal was rejected, they and several others founded The Vegan Society in November 1944, marking the formal beginning of the vegan movement.[3][4] Shrigley is sometimes credited with coining the term "vegan" with Watson.[5][6]

She served as honorary secretary of the Croydon Vegetarian Society from 1940 to 1958, later becoming secretary of the Surrey Vegetarian Society.[7] She also briefly served as acting secretary of the London Vegetarian Society and held several leadership positions within The Vegan Society, including its presidency from 1960 to 1963.[1][8] Shrigley remained an active member of the society's committee until her death.[1]

Death

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Shrigley died in Tonbridge, Kent, on 13 May 1978.[1] An obituary commemorating her life and work appeared in the Autumn 1978 issue of The Vegan, the journal of The Vegan Society.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "In search of Sally - The Lesser Known Founder of The Vegan Society with Donald Watson". Veggie Vision. 27 April 2016. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  2. ^ a b Davis, John (September 2016). "The Origins of the Vegans: 1944-46" (PDF). Vegetarian Society. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  3. ^ Russell, Polly (17 January 2020). "The Seeds of Veganism". Financial Times. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  4. ^ "The Women Pioneers of the Movement: Rarely Out of the Shadows". VegfestUK. 1 September 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  5. ^ Fox, Sarah W. (30 April 2017). "Elsie Shrigley: The Woman Behind the Word Veganism". Collectively Free. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  6. ^ Puskar-Pasewicz, Margaret (2010). Cultural Encyclopedia of Vegetarianism. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. p. 239. ISBN 978-0-313-37557-6. OCLC 693771866.
  7. ^ Arioch, David (6 October 2018). "Elsie Shrigley, uma pioneira do movimento vegano" [Elsie Shrigley, a pioneer of the vegan movement]. Vegazeta (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  8. ^ a b J. S. (Autumn 1978). "Sally Shrigley". The Vegan. 4 (3). The Vegan Society: 16. Retrieved 16 October 2025.