Robert Semple (activist)
Robert Semple | |
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 Portrait from Fifty Years of Food Reform (1898) | |
| Born | 1841 Paisley, Scotland |
| Died | (aged 1841) Belfast, Ireland |
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Robert Semple (1841 – 7 February 1920) was a Scottish poet and temperance and vegetarian activist. He worked as a lecturer for temperance organisations in Scotland and Ireland, edited The Irish Templar, and served as president of the Irish Vegetarian Union.
Biography
Early life and work
Semple was born in Paisley, Scotland, in 1841 to a textile family.[1] He was the son of James Semple and Isabella Semple (née Smith).[2] As a boy, he worked as an assistant to a handloom weaver. In 1861, he became a pattern designer, and in 1871 he was foreman of a winding department in a textile factory.[1]
Temperance work
Semple became teetotal in 1869 and joined the International Organisation of Good Templars in 1870.[3] During the 1870s, he lectured on temperance and was a member of the Paisley Total Abstinence Society.[1] In 1881, he lectured in the Scottish Highlands.[1]
In 1883, Semple moved to Belfast as a lecturer for the Irish Temperance League.[4] He worked with the Hibernian Band of Hope Union in Dublin for several years and was elected grand secretary of the Good Templar Order of Ireland in 1893.[1][3][4] He edited The Irish Templar.[3]
Semple was also a poet. In 1884, he published a collection of temperance songs, Semple's Temperance Solos.[2] His wife was also involved in the temperance movement; she died in 1902.[5]
Vegetarianism
Semple became a vegetarian in 1880.[6] He was president of the Irish Vegetarian Union from 1894 to 1897 and honorary secretary in 1901.[7][8][9] He served on the General Council of the Order of the Golden Age in 1897.[10]
At an Irish Vegetarian Union meeting in 1894, Semple spoke about five years he had spent in Australia. He said that Australians ate a large amount of meat and that animals there were abused, diseased and overworked before slaughter.[6] He later argued that meat, eggs and seafood were unnecessary and too costly for ordinary households. He recommended a diet including grains, lentils, butterbeans, peas, vegetables, milk, nut margarine and tea.[11]
Semple lectured for the Belfast Vegetarian Society and was its vice-president.[12][13]
Death
Semple died at his residence on 7 February 1920 in Belfast, aged 79.[4][14] An obituary in the Weekly Telegraph described him as a "staunch and faithful advocate" of temperance in Ireland.[15]
Selected publications
- Temperance Sketches in Prose and Verse (1879)
- Semple's Temperance Solos (1884)
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Lauder, Charlotte. "Semple, Robert". Piston, Pen & Press. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - 1 2 Brown, Robert (1893). Paisley Burns Clubs 1805–1893. Paisley: Alexander Gardner. pp. 170 – via Internet Archive.
- 1 2 3 "R. Semple, G. Sec'y of Ireland". The International Good Templar. 8 (1): 73. 1895 – via Google Books.
- 1 2 3 "Pithy Provincial News". The Irish Independent. 10 February 1920. p. 6. Retrieved 13 May 2026 – via Findmypast.
- ↑ "Death of a Forres Lady in Belfast". The Aberdeen Daily Journal. 9 September 1902. p. 4. Retrieved 13 May 2026 – via Findmypast.
- 1 2 "The Irish Vegetarian Union". The Northern Whig. 9 March 1894. p. 7. Retrieved 13 May 2026 – via Findmypast.
- ↑ "The Irish Vegetarian Union". The Ulster Echo. 22 May 1894. p. 4. Retrieved 13 May 2026 – via Findmypast.
- ↑ "The Irish Vegetarian Union". The Northern Whig. 27 April 1901. p. 7. Retrieved 13 May 2026 – via Findmypast.
- ↑ "Irish Vegetarian Union Annual Report 1897". International Vegetarian Union. 2025. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ↑ "The Order of the Golden Age" (PDF). The Herald of the Golden Age. 2 (9). 1897 – via IAPSOP.
- ↑ "Economy in Diet". The Belfast News-Letter. 29 January 1916. p. 7.
- ↑ "Belfast Vegetarian Society". Belfast News-Letter. 17 October 1916. p. 6. Retrieved 13 May 2026 – via Findmypast.
- ↑ "The Meaning of a Meatless Day". Belfast News-Letter. 4 December 1916. p. 8. Retrieved 13 May 2026 – via Findmypast.
- ↑ "Death of Mr. R. Semple". Larne Times. 14 February 1920. p. 2. Retrieved 13 May 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "Death of Mr. R. Semple". Weekly Telegraph. 14 February 1920. p. 2. Retrieved 13 May 2026 – via Findmypast.