Nina Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Nina Mary Benita Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton (née Nina Mary Benita Poore; 13 May 1878 – 12 January 1951) was an English peeress and animal welfare activist. She campaigned for humane slaughter.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref><ref name="Slaughter Houses">Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref>
Early life
Douglas-Hamilton was born on 13 May 1878 in Nether Wallop, Hampshire. She was the youngest daughter<ref name=":0" /> of Major Robert Poore and Juliana Benita Lowry-Corry; her mother was a daughter of Rear Admiral Armar Lowry Corry.<ref name=ODNB>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
Personal life
Three years after her brother, Major Robert Poore, married Flora Douglas-Hamilton, on 4 December 1901 Nina married Flora's brother Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton, at the parish church of Newton Tony, Wiltshire, not far from her parents' home at Winterslow.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref> Together, they were the parents of four sons and three daughters:
- Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton
- Lady Jean Douglas-Hamilton
- George Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk
- Lady Margaret Douglas-Hamilton
- Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton
- Lord David Douglas-Hamilton
- Lady Mairi Nina Douglas-Hamilton
Douglas-Hamilton was very proud of her father's work in helping agricultural labourers at Winterslow and was philanthropic towards the group, but kept her gifts secret from all but the recipients. Another gift was sufficient to completely equip and furnish a home for nurses at Bo'ness, West Lothian.<ref name=ODNB />
She was a member of the Spiritualists' National Union.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref>
Animal welfare
Duchess of Hamilton was a co-founder in 1906 of the Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society, with Lizzy Lind af Hageby, a society which set up three veterinary hospitals for horses during World War I, and campaigned against cruelty to animals including the use of animals in war.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref name="ABC"/> In 1912, she became a founder of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Vivisection, which went on to become Advocates for Animals.<ref name="ABC">Template:Cite book</ref> She also established Ferne Animal Sanctuary, at Ferne House in Dorset, the estate she and her husband owned.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She compiled an illustrated book related to the sanctuary called Chronicles of Ferne, published in 1951.<ref name="ODNB" /> At the beginning of the Second World War she opposed pet-culling that was being encouraged by civil defence authorities, that led to what became known as the "British pet massacre" in 1939 and 1940, and caused her to shelter many cats at Ferne.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Douglas-Hamilton was an advocate of humane slaughter. She campaigned for "human killers" and opposed the use of the knife and poleaxe in the slaughterhouse.<ref name="Slaughter Houses"/> In 1925, it was reported that she had witnessed 52 animals being slaughtered in a single afternoon in pursuance of the statutory use of the humane killer.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref>
Douglas-Hamilton was chief promoter of the Animal Defence Society's "Model Humane Abattoir", established in Letchworth in 1928. The humane abattoir received many donations.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref> On creation of the humane abattoir, Douglas-Hamilton commented that "in a civilized country, a slaughterhouse need not be a place of horror, into which animals are driven by kicks and tail-twistings. We ask for mercy to animals, for decency, for cleanliness, and, above all a swift and painless death".<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref> Douglas-Hamilton was a vegetarian in her personal life but in 1928 became the head of a humane butcher's shop.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref> In 1931, she stated that "we should ask for the first step to needful reform. This is the use in every slaughterhouse of the mechanically operated humane killer, through which death is made swift and painless".<ref name="Slaughter Houses"/>
In May 1950, she opened a maternity home for cats at her Dorset home, where she looked after 40 cats that were mostly strays.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref> In June 1950, she attended an international animal welfare conference at Genova.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref> She was a member of the Council of Justice to Animals (Humane Slaughter Association).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Death
Douglas-Hamilton refused to be operated on for a throat condition due to her opinions on medical research, and when the condition worsened, she refused antibiotics. The condition led to her death on 12 January 1951, at her London house. The funeral service was held in Salisbury Cathedral and the burial was at Berwick St John, near Shaftesbury.<ref name=ODNB />
Legacy
A Princess Coronation Class steam locomotive was named after her, which is on static display at the National Railway Museum, York. The Duchess Nina Institute in the village of Quarter, near Hamilton, Scotland, was a gift to the villagers by the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton and was formally opened on 24 September 1910.
See also
Notes
External links
- The Duchess Nina Institute – Hamilton Observer, 1 October 1910
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