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Thomas Richard Allinson (29 March 1858 – 29 November 1918) was an English physician, dietetic reformer, businessman, journalist and vegetarianism activist. He was a proponent of wholemeal (whole grain) bread consumption. His name is still used today for a bread popular in Europe, Allinson bread. Welcome to over 100 years of Allinson quality and taste. allinsonflour.co.uk
In 1888, Allinson married Anna Pulvermacher, an artist who exhibited at the Royal Academy; they had one daughter and three sons, including Bertrand P. Allinson and Adrian Allinson.
Allinson was a vegetarian. He noted that vegetarians do not eat fish, commenting "the vegetarian draws a line at all things that have had life, and does not use them. As butter, cheese, eggs, and milk are not obtained by the slaughter of animals he uses them".
His views often brought him into conflict with the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the General Medical Council, particularly his opposition to doctors' frequent use of toxic drugs, his opposition to vaccination and his self-promotion in the press. In 1892 he was struck off the Medical Register.
In 1892, he founded the Natural Food Company with the intention of producing and selling healthy foods; he bought a stone grinding flour mill in Bethnal Green, and a bakery was established shortly afterwards. In 1911, Allinson bought the failing magazine Vanity Fair from Frank Harris. He failed to revive its fortunes and, in 1914, Vanity Fair merged with Hearth and Home.
During World War I, the food value of wholemeal bread was recognised. Although it has been claimed that Allinson was offered the right to re-register during WW1, the General Medical Council has no record of this and by that time he had no registrable qualifications. His company flourished from the increased demand for whole-grain bread and meal. After his death, the company grew: two more stone-grinding mills were purchased in Newport, Monmouthshire and in 1921 Castleford. The mills stand to this day.
Allinson died from tuberculosis, at his home in Marylebone, on 29 November 1918.
He wrote a number of books and pamphlets directed at a general rather than medical readership, including A System of Hygienic Medicine (1886), How to avoid Vaccination (1888), The Advantage of Wholemeal Bread, Medical Essays and A Book for Married Women (1894) and books on stomach diseases, consumption (tuberculosis), rheumatism, vegetarian cooking and healthy diet. He gave frequent public lectures throughout the country propounding his ideas. In one of his books, The Advantages of Wholemeal Bread (1889), he proposed that wholemeal bread was healthier than White bread (or refined) bread. He believed that smoking was a cause of cancer, which was a radical idea at the time. Allinson regularly sought publicity for his theories and practices in the press and directed his energies not just towards his colleagues but directly to the public. To demonstrate the suitability of a vegetarian diet for strenuous exercise, he undertook a walk from Edinburgh to London in 1891. He walked for 15 consecutive days, averaging a day, arriving in London on Saturday, September 12.
In 1893, Allinson sued the Vegetarian newspaper for alleged libel as an article had been published with a comment that his theories encouraged sexual immorality. The jury decided that it was a fair comment and the action was dismissed with costs.
His Book for Married Women advocated equality of women and men, the right of a woman to choose the size of her family, and birth control. For this he was prosecuted and convicted under the Obscene Publications Act in 1901.
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