Colin Spedding

Sir Colin Raymond William Spedding (22 March 1925 – 17 December 2012) was a British biologist, agricultural scientist and animal welfare expert. Spedding founded or worked for numerous agricultural agencies, including the Farm Animal Welfare Council, Assured Food Standards and the UK Register of Organic Food Standards.

Early life and education Spedding was born in 1925, the son of an itinerant Methodist minister. He attended several different schools before leaving education without qualifications in 1939.

Animal welfare advocacy Spedding founded or chaired numerous animal welfare and organic certification organisations, including the Farm Animal Welfare Council, Assured Food Standards, the National Equine Forum, the Apple and Pear Research Council and the UK Register of Organic Food Standards. While heading the Farm Animal Welfare Council in the 1990s, he presided over the development of five key tenets of animal welfare: "freedom from hunger and thirst; from discomfort; from pain and disease; from fear; and freedom to express normal behaviour".

Personal life Spedding married Betsy George in 1952. They had two sons and a daughter before Betsy's death in 1988; one of their sons predeceased Spedding. Spedding was a keen gardener, and kept a three-acre garden at his home in Berkshire, which he often opened to local schoolchildren for the study of wildlife. He died in December 2012, aged 87.