Frederic Richard Lees
Frederic Richard Lees was an English temperance advocate and vegetarian.Biography
Lees was born in Meanwood, near Leeds. Lees signed the antispirits pledge in 1832 and became teetotaller in 1835. He worked as a teetotalism activist and authored books on the subject. In 1837, he became the Secretary for the British Association for the Promotion of Temperance and edited its journal from 1840–1844. He edited Truth-Seeker from 1844–1850, the Teetotal Topic in 1847 and the Temperance Spectator in 1859.
He was a founding member of the United Kingdom Alliance in 1863. Lees was a vegetarian and occasionally lectured on vegetarianism. In 1857, he won a Vegetarian Society essay competition which was republished in 1884. He became an associate member of the Vegetarian Society in 1874.
Lees obtained an honorary doctorate from University of Giessen for his writings against Owenism. Lees married Mary Jowett in 1838, they had two children; she died in 1870. In 1878, he married Sarah Barnesley, who died in 1889.
Lees died on 29 May 1897, in Halifax, West Yorkshire.Selected publications
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