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Job Caudwell
FRSL FRGS
A sepia-toned, historical portrait of a bearded man wearing a suit and bow tie, with an indistinct facial expression.
Caudwell, c. 1850
Born8 December 1820
Drayton Manor, Abingdon, England
Died(1908-06-05)5 June 1908 (aged 87)
Wandsworth, Middlesex, England
Occupation(s)Publisher, bookseller, editor, activist
Spouses
Eliza Cooper Braine
​
​
(m. 1860; died 1887)​
Eliza Harvey
​
(m. 1901)​
Children4 or 5

Job Caudwell FRSL FRGS (8 December 1820 – 5 June 1908) was an English publisher, bookseller, editor, and activist. He edited temperance and reform literature and advocated for temperance, vegetarianism, and against vaccination. Caudwell also published and edited multiple temperance periodicals and authored a vegetarian cookbook.

Caudwell was born at Drayton Manor in Abingdon, the youngest of 21 siblings in the ancient Caudwell family of Berkshire. Raised in rural Berkshire, he developed a passion for botany and antiquarian research and devoted his life to addressing social issues. He played significant roles in the London Vegetarian Association and the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League. Caudwell was a prolific editor and publisher, contributing to periodicals such as the Temperance Star and Temperance Spectator, and publishing the Journal of Health and Vegetarian Cookery for the Million. He ran a homeopathic institute from his publishing office. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Geographical Society, he was also a member of the Victoria Institute.

Life and career

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Job Caudwell was born in 1820, at Drayton Manor in Abingdon.[1] He was christened on 17 January 1821 in Drayton.[2] Caudwell was the seventh and youngest son, of William Caudwell (1779–1854) and his wife Hannah (née Lousley; 1782–1849).[1] Coming from a large family, Caudwell had 20 siblings. His family belonged to the ancient, armigerous Caudwell lineage in Berkshire, which had settled in Abingdon in 1790.[3]: 23–24 

Raised in rural Berkshire, Caudwell later embarked on extensive travels. His academic interests centred on botany and he also engaged in antiquarian research. Caudwell dedicated his life to tackling the root causes of social issues, particularly those related to alcohol consumption.[3]: 23–24 

Caudwell was actively involved with the London Vegetarian Association (later the Vegetarian Society) and the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League (later the National Anti-Vaccination League).[3]: 23–24  Between 1857 and 1876, he significantly contributed to the periodical Temperance Star as a publisher and editor, and from 1859 to 1867, he edited the Temperance Spectator. Additionally, he published the Journal of Health and authored the vegetarian cookbook Vegetarian Cookery for the Million in 1864. Caudwell also advocated for homeopathy and hydropathy.[4]

In July 1859, he entered a publishing partnership with fellow activist William Horsell at 335 The Strand, which lasted until September 1860.[5]: 11  Caudwell's publishing office also doubled as a homeopathic institute, where Caudwell dispensed his unique brand of homeopathic cocoa.[3]: 59  He also sold unadulterated flour there.[3]: 23–24  Caudwell’s publications in the 1860s included temperance dictionaries, health manuals, and studies of Mormonism. He also published Southcottian works and studies of the American Civil War.[5]: 29 

Caudwell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1863,[2] and in 1879, he became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.[6] Later, in 1891, he became a member of the Victoria Institute.[7]

In February 1865, a memoir and portrait of Caudwell was published in The Illustrated News of the World,[3]: 23–24  where he served as editor.[2] In 1881, he laid the cornerstone of Putney Methodist Church.[8]

Caudwell died at the age of 87 on 5 June 1908 in Wandsworth, Middlesex.[9]

Personal life

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A committed teetotaler, Caudwell became a vegetarian through reading and adorned his home with vegetarian mottos.[5]: 22  He was also an avid outdoorsman, known for successfully summiting Ben Nevis as a vegetarian.[3]

Caudwell married Eliza Cooper Braine in 1860 and together they had four sons. Following her death in 1887, he married Eliza Harvey in 1901.[2]

Selected publications

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  • Vegetarian Cookery for the Million (six editions; 1864–1865)[3]: 350 
  • Job Caudwell's Threepenny Pledge Book (1865)[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Descendants of William Caudwell" (PDF). Sowdons of Reading Family History. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d "Job Caudwell (1820-1908)". The Holliday Family Tree Newsletter. Vol. 1, no. 4. September 2008. p. 12. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Gregory, James Richard Thomas Elliott (2002). "Biographical Index of British Vegetarians and Food reformers of the Victorian Era". The Vegetarian Movement in Britain c.1840–1901: A Study of Its Development, Personnel and Wider Connections (PDF). Vol. 2. University of Southampton. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Victorian Popular Fiction Association 11th Annual Conference: Abstracts and Biographies" (PDF). Victorian Popular Fiction Association. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Gregory, James (2013) [2008]. "'Zealously affected in a good thing' The publishing career and life of William Horsell (1807‒1863)". Academia.edu. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  6. ^ "List of Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society". The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London. 49: 551. 1879 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ^ "C". Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute. XXIX: 294. 1897 – via Internet Archive.
  8. ^ "1881 - Putney Methodist Church - Gwendolen Avenue, London, UK". Waymarking. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  9. ^ "Deaths". The Norwood News. 13 June 1908. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com. (subscription required)
  10. ^ "Job Caudwell's Threepenny Pledge Book for the Pocket, etc. [Ruled blank leaves for signatures, etc.] | WorldCat.org". WorldCat. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
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