Elizabeth Horsell

For other people with similar names, see Elizabeth Horrell.

Elizabeth Horsell
Born	Elizabeth Gillett 1798 Bromyard, Herefordshire, England
Died	(1874-06-12)12 June 1874 (aged 76) Lee, Kent, England
Occupation(s)	Activist, writer
Known for	Vegetarianism and temperance activism
Notable work	The Penny Domestic Assistant and Guide to Vegetarian Cookery (1850)
Spouse	William Horsell ​ ​ (m. 1834; died 1863)​

Elizabeth Horsell (née Gillett; bapt. 27 June 1798 – 12 June 1874) was an English activist and writer. She was known for her work in the temperance movement and vegetarian advocacy. Horsell authored The Penny Domestic Assistant and Guide to Vegetarian Cookery (1850), an early vegan cookbook. Alongside her husband, publisher and reformer William Horsell, she operated a hydropathic infirmary in Ramsgate and contributed to numerous public lectures and reform initiatives.

Biography

Early and personal life

Elizabeth Gillett was born in 1798 in Bromyard, Herefordshire, the daughter of John and Anne Gillett. She was baptised on 27 June 1798. She married William Horsell in Vowchurch on 30 June 1834.

Activism

From the 1840s, Horsell became active in the temperance movement and was invited to speak at Dr John Lee's Peace and Temperance Festival. Alongside her husband, she also participated in vegetarian meetings in London, giving lectures at venues including the Talfourd Hotel, as well as further afield.

In 1846, the couple moved to Ramsgate, where they established a hydropathic boarding house. While the establishment was being set-up, Horsell ran a family school for the "moral, intellectual and physical improvement" of children.

The Penny Domestic Assistant and Guide to Vegetarian Cookery

In 1850, Horsell published the vegan cookbook The Penny Domestic Assistant and Guide to Vegetarian Cookery, through her husband's press. It offered recipes free from animal products and salt. It includes guidance on domestic economy, industry, and hygiene, along with statistical tables and moral reflections. The work was intended to support the physical and social improvement of those adopting a vegetarian lifestyle.

Later life and death

Following her husband's death in 1863, Horsell continued to contribute to the vegetarian movement and ran a girls' boarding school that accommodated vegetarian pupils. She also wrote several letters to the Vegetarian Messenger, in which she reaffirmed her commitment to dietary reform and abstinence from tea, coffee, and cocoa. In one letter, she expressed her hope that readers would "work while it is called to-day, for the social, physical, and spiritual improvement of your day and generation." In another, she described herself as "a new creature in Christ Jesus" and framed her advocacy of vegetarianism and teetotalism in explicitly Christian terms. In the same correspondence, she expressed grief over the loss of her husband, writing in 1865 that she felt "more and more the loss of my dear husband."

Horsell remained active in the movement from her home in Lee, Kent, which at the time was a developing village on the outskirts of London, and continued her advocacy until her death. She died on 12 June 1874 at Sydenham Cottage, aged 76. She was buried in Lewisham on 18 June.

Publications

• The Penny Domestic Assistant and Guide to Vegetarian Cookery (London: W. Horsell, 1850)
• Divine Ordinance in Reference to Blood Eating (c. 1858)
• First Principles of Vegetarianism