John Galsworthy (1867–1933) and Animal Welfare

This article discusses John Galsworthy’s activist writing and beliefs concerning animal welfare within the context of modern twentieth-and twenty-first-century theoreticians, commentators, and leaders from a range of different disciplines, including Christian and secular thinkers across the disciplines of literature, philosophy, history, ethics, bioethics, and political and biological science, as well as the pastoral and practical occupations of farming and forestry. Galsworthy, a lover of humanity and rarely seen without a dog or horse as a companion, undertook animal advocacy through several communication modes, all of which involved writing and careful research. Fiction, poetry, letters, essays, and talks all played a part in his lifelong support of the animal world. When scrutinized, Galsworthy’s views not only are consonant with much modern thought but also demonstrate a breadth and depth of thinking, experience, and understanding beyond modern commentators.