William Horsell

William Horsell was an English social reformer, publisher, editor and hydrotherapist, born on 31 March 1807 and died on 23 December 1863. His interests ran through the temperance movement, phrenology, hydrotherapy and the early organised vegetarian movement. He took part in founding the Vegetarian Society in 1847 and served as its first secretary, edited its early journal the Truth-Tester, later renamed The Vegetarian Advocate, and managed the Northwood Villa Hydropathic Institute in Ramsgate. He published works on diet, health and spiritualism, including Cholera Prevented by the Adoption of a Vegetarian Diet in 1849. He died of fever in 1863 while travelling on an anti-slavery mission to West Africa. This entry records his historical role and what he promoted, and is not medical advice.