William Tebb

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William Tebb (1839-1914) was a British merchant, vaccination critic and author of anti-vaccination books. He established the Vaccination Inquirer, the organ of the London Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination, which later became The National Anti-Vaccination League. He was summoned by the St Pancras guardians to have his daughter, Beatrice, vaccinated; he refused, and was prosecuted on more than one occasion, appearing in the Marylebone police-court.

He became a highly publicised activist against the compulsory vaccination law, and then one of the most prolific writers and activists against vaccination itself. He visited the United States in 1897, and campaigned against smallpox vaccinations. Smallpox had recently become epidemic again, after a decline in vaccination, following a decline in cases of smallpox earlier in the century. Several American anti-vaccination organisations arose around the time of his visit.

The Act of 1898 introduced exemption from vaccination on grounds of conscientious objection.

Along with Walter Hadwen, he was a member of the London Association for the Prevention of Premature Burial, founded in 1896.

[edit] Publications

• Sanitation, not Vaccination the True Protection against Small-Pox, 1881 paper, Second International Congress of Anti-Vaccinators
• Testimonies of Medical Authorities on Vaccination, Preface, 1882, London Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination
• Compulsory Vaccination in England: with incidental references to foreign states, 1884, E.W. Allen, London

• The Increase of Cancer, 1892, The Tocsin. Booklet reprint 1892, Wertheimer, Lea & Co., London
• Leprosy and Vaccination, 1893, Swan Sonnenschein & Co., London

[edit] References

• Bodily Matters: The Anti-Vaccination Movement in England, 1853-1907, Nadja Durbach, 2005, Duke University Press, ISBN 0-8223-3423-2