Humphrey Primatt

Humphrey Primatt (1734 – ) was an English clergyman and early animal rights writer. Primatt has been described as "one of the most important figures in the development of a notion of animal rights."

Biography

Primatt was born in London, in 1734.

Animal rights

In 1776, Primatt authored A Dissertation on the Duty of Mercy and Sin of Cruelty to Brute Animals, which argued that all animals were created by God, so deserve humane treatment and that any form of cruelty to animals should be equated with atheism and wickedness.

Primatt wrote that "We may pretend to what religion we please, but cruelty is atheism. We may make our boast of Christianity, but cruelty is infidelity [i.e., unfaithfulness]. We may trust to our orthodoxy, but cruelty is the worst of heresies."

Primatt held that pain is evil and humans have no right to inflict it on animals or each other. It was one of the first books to argue for the compassionate treatment of animals and influenced the animal welfare movement.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals considers the book a "foundation stone" of their organization as it influenced the founders of their society. Arthur Broome was inspired by Primatt's book and republished it in 1822. Henry Stephens Salt described it as a "quaint but excellent book". Marc Bekoff has noted that "Primatt was largely responsible for bringing animal welfare to the attention of the general public." He suggested that man is permitted to kill animals for food but denied that this permits unnecessary suffering.

Selected publications

A Dissertation on the Duty of Mercy and Sin of Cruelty to Brute Animals (1776)