History of veganism

Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products. One of the first recorded individuals following a vegan diet was Dr. William Lambe in 1806. Later individuals included John Frank Newton, a patient of Dr. Lambe, in 1811 and Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1813.

In 1838, James Pierrepont Greaves opened Alcott House in Ham, London as a boarding school with pupils required to follow a vegetarian diet, understood as a vegan diet today. They used "vegetarian" to describe a 100% plant-based diet; a vegetarian was simply someone who lived on vegetation. Supporters of Alcott House were a key group in the formation of the first Vegetarian Society in 1847.

In 1843, Amos Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane established the short-lived vegan community Fruitlands in Harvard, Massachusetts.

In 1944, Donald Watson coined the word "vegan" and founded the Vegan Society.