Name Muriel Baroness Role Baroness Dowding | Died November 20, 1993 | |
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Spouse Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding (m. 1951–1970) | ||
Muriel Dowding, Baroness Dowding (22 March 1908 – 20 November 1993) was an English animal rights activist. Like her second husband Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, she was a vegetarian, an anti-vivisectionist, spiritualist and Theosophist.
She was well known in Britain for her work as an animal rights campaigner. Dowding used her prominent social position to advance animal welfare without seeking any personal gain or reward. She hosted regular Sunday lunch parties introducing influential people to vegetarian food, and her house was always a sanctuary for animals in need. In 1959 she founded Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC) to highlight the suffering of animals. She won several awards from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).