W. B. Shearn
W. B. Shearn | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | William Benjamin Shearn 1872 St Giles, Middlesex, England |
| Died | 12 January 1938 (aged 65) London, England |
| Resting place | St. Pancras Cemetery, London, England |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, florist, vegetarianism activist |
| Spouse |
Ella Masterson (m. 1914) |
| Children | 1 |
William Benjamin Shearn (1872 – 12 January 1938) was an English businessman, florist, and vegetarianism activist, who promoted a fruitarian way of living. He managed a fruitarian restaurant at Tottenham Court Road.
Early life
Shearn was born in the first quarter of 1872 in St. Giles, Middlesex.[1] He was christened on 11 February 1880 at Saint John the Evangelist, Charlotte Street, Camden.[2]
Career
Shearn's father Benjamin Shearn (1829–1913) was the owner of the first fruitarian restaurant in London, established in 1905.[3] The restaurant was positioned above his fruit store at 231-234 Tottenham Court Road, that were both managed by Shearn.[4][5] The ground floor was a florist and greengrocer and the two upper floors belonged to the restaurant.[5] The restaurant served nutmeat.[5] Alfred Perlès described it as "probably the best vegetarian restaurant in the world, with the emphasis on a fruitarian diet".[6] Customers would pay two shillings to consume as much fruit and nuts that they could eat with a cup of coffee, cream and brown bread and butter.[6] Shearn is credited with introducing grapefruit and "fruit lunch" to the British public.[7] Shearn's company advertised itself as the "World's Largest Fruitarian Stores".[8]
The restaurant contained a fruit saloon luncheon room that became a popular meeting place for members of the London Vegetarian Society.[9] Shearn cooperated with The Children's Realm, a children's vegetarian magazine published by the London Vegetarian Society and Vegetarian Federal Union.[9] Advertisements for his store were featured in the magazine. In 1907, Shearn offered a basket of fruit as an award for the best "Why I am a Vegetarian" children's essay. He organized parties for vegetarian children at his restaurant.[9]
In 1909, Shearn donated 2000 oranges for poor children in London.[10] He was the first president of the British division of the Florists Telegraph Delivery Association.[7][11] Shearn was the editor of The Practical Fruiterer and Florist.[12]
Shearn visited the United States in 1933, where he received the title of "Ambassador of the Floral Kingdom of England".[13]
Personal life and death
Shearn was a vegetarian but preferred the term fruitarian. His diet consisted of fruit, nuts and vegetables with dairy products and eggs.[14][15]
Shearn married Ella Masterson at St Giles in the Fields in 1914.[14] Their wedding was described as a "fruitarian wedding" as Ella wore cherries in her hair and the bridesmaids carried baskets of fruit.[14][16] The vegetarian meal served for over a hundred guests in a room decorated as a fruit and flower garden was a Brazil nut cutlet, mock chicken made from almonds and pine kernels, savoury nuts with cucumber and an egg gateau.[14] Shearn stated that "I am such a firm believer in fruit as a means of keeping fit and well that I determined to have a fruitarian wedding in order to popularise this form of diet".[14]
Shearn and Ella had one son born in 1916.[17] He was Major John Benjamin Shearn.[18]
Shearn died on 12 January 1938 in London.[note 1] He was buried in St. Pancras Cemetery.[20] His fruit store was closed in 1961.[18]
Selected publications
- The Practical Fruiterer and Florist (3 volumes, 1935)
Notes
- ^ In the England & Wales Index of Wills and Administrations his place of death is listed at University College Hospital London,[19] but The Observer obituary states that he died at his home.[20]
References
- ^ "Births Mar 1872". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Board of Guardian Records, 1834-1906/Church of England Parish Registers, 1754-1906; Reference Number: p90/jne1/010.
- ^ "Death of Mr. B. Shearn". The Guardian. March 28, 1913. p. 5. (subscription required)
- ^ Catering Management: A Comprehensive Guide to the Successful Management of Hotel, Restaurant, Boarding House, Popular Café, Tea Rooms, and Every Other Branch of Catering, Including a Section on the Law and the Caterer. Waverly Book Company. 1919. p. 4.
- ^ a b c Wright, Laura (2022). The Social Life of Words: A Historical Approach. Wiley. p. 189. ISBN 978-1119881056.
- ^ a b Perlès, Alfred (1946). Round Trip. D. Dobson. p. 46.
- ^ a b "William B. Shearn". The New York Times. 1938.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Shearn's: The World's Largest Fruitarian Stores" (PDF). The Herald of the Golden Age and British Health Review. 15 (1). 1912.
- ^ a b c Kubisz, Marzena (2024). "The Stepping Stones of Another Order". Vegetarian Childhood in Early Victorian Discourse and Literary Representation. Routledge. ISBN 978-1003400042.
- ^ "Warships's Message to Poor Children". The Daily Mirror. December 18, 1909. p. 4. (subscription required)
- ^ "Banquet". The Florist's Review. 54 (6): 38. 1924.
- ^ "Floristry in 1930s Britain". Garden Museum. Archived from the original on November 30, 2023.
- ^ "Obituary". The Times of Northwest Indiana. 1938-02-28. p. 8.
- ^ a b c d e "A "Nutty" Wedding". The Daily Mirror. May 29, 1914. p. 13. (subscription required)
- ^ "W. B. Shearn". Dubin Evening Mail. December 5, 1916. p. 2. (subscription required)
- ^ "The Bridal Cherry". Sheffield Daily Telegraph. June 11, 1914. p. 9. (subscription required)
- ^ "The Cherry Bride's Baby". The Daily Mirror. September 22, 1916. p. 7. (subscription required)
- ^ a b "Old Eastbournian" (PDF). Eastbourne College. 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 26, 2024.
- ^ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861-1941.
- ^ a b "Death of Mr. W. B. Shearn". The Observer. January 16, 1938. p. 10. (subscription required)