Bertrand P. Allinson | |
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![]() Bertrand P. Allinson at the Annual Vegan Dinner in 1962 | |
Born | Bertrand Peter Allinson 12 August 1891 |
Died | 1 April 1975 Marylebone, England | (aged 83)
Occupation(s) | Physician, writer |
Parent |
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Relatives | Adrian Allinson (brother) |
Bertrand Peter Allinson MRCS LRCP (12 August 1891 – 1 April 1975) was a British physician, naturopath and vegetarianism activist.
Allinson was the son of Thomas Allinson and brother of Adrian Allinson.[1][2] He was raised as a vegetarian and studied medicine. Allinson qualified MRCS and LRCP in 1914 from the University College Hospital.[3] He was a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps (1916–1920).[3] He was a physician at the British Hospital for Mental and Nervous Diseases.[1]
Allinson was an anti-vaccinationist and anti-vivisectionist. He opposed the use of pharmaceutical drugs which he believed hindered the "automatic cleansing process".[1] Allinson wrote articles supportive of naturopathy. He was vice-president of the National Anti-Vaccination League.[1]
Allinson was a physician at the Nature Cure Clinic, a naturopathic hospital which promoted vegetarianism and animal welfare causes such as anti-vivisection.[4] The Nature Cure Clinic opened in 1928 at an apartment in Baker Street.[5] In 1940, the out-patient building was destroyed by bombing and the Clinic moved to Allinson's house in Dorset Square. After the war, the Clinic moved to Oldbury Place.[5]
He was treasurer of the London and Provincial Anti-Vivisection Society.[6] His daughter Sonya Madeleine Allinson was an artist.[7]
Allinson stated that fruit juice fasting, a strict vegetarian diet and naturopathic practices such as hydrotherapy and osteopathy could be used to prevent and cure many diseases including cancer, hypertension and rheumatism.[6][8][9][10] He opposed the consumption of alcohol, coffee, meat, processed sugar, tea, white bread and promoted a vegetarian diet of raw fruit, nuts, salads, dairy products and whole grains.[10] He described alcohol, coffee and tea as injurious to the functions of the body.[11] Allinson recommended persons between the ages of 25 and 55 to take two meals per day and after that age one meal per day in the afternoon.[11]
Allinson was vice-president of the International Vegetarian Union (1958–1963) and President of the London Vegetarian Society (1922–1962).[12][13]