Edgar J. Saxon

Edgar J. Saxon (1877-1956) was a British environmentalist, naturopath and alternative health writer. He was a pioneer of the organic movement.[1]

Edgar J. Saxon
Born1877
East End of London
Died1956
OccupationNaturopath, writer

Biography

Saxon was born Ernest Savage and later changed his name to Edgar J. Saxon.[2] He was born at the East End of London and moved to Wimbledon as a child.[1] He worked for an office firm but took a day off in 1897 to walk the hills to the River Dee.[3] He suffered from foot pain so decided to take his boots off and put his feet in a waterfall.[3] He stated that his feet had been cured the next morning by an energy in the water unknown to science and he considered himself restored by a "nature cure". He believed that people in modern society had become alienated from the healing properties of nature.[3]

In 1908, Saxon met Charles William Daniel at his bookshop in Amen Corner, off Ludgate Hill.[2] In 1911, Daniel founded The Healthy Life magazine, of which Saxon became editor and owner in 1920.[1] It was renamed Health and Life in 1934 and Saxon edited the magazine until his death in 1956.[4] The magazine has been described as an "essential source for students of the alternative health movement in Britain". It promoted health foods, herbal medicine, homeopathy and social nudism.[1]

Between the wars, Saxon created the first health food restaurants known as "Vitamin Cafés" and a naturopathic centre in Wigmore Street, London.[1] Saxon established a bookstore, school of reform and lectured at Conway Hall.[1] He was founding member and former president of the Nature Cure Association of Great Britain.[5]

Saxon advocated organic farming and raged against the industrialization of modern society.[3] He criticized chemical companies and the use of fertilizers. He wrote against adulterated foods, pollution and waste.[3] Saxon promoted a diet of "honest foods", by this he meant whole foods, which are grown without artificials or processed and refined.[1] He campaigned against the use of sugar and white bread.[1] Saxon's books were published by Charles William Daniel.[6]

Saxon promoted vegetarianism but criticized veganism as he believed it would lead to impoverished soil through lack of humus.[7]

Selected publications
  • Right Diet for Children (1912)
  • Towards Radiant Health (1925)
  • Complete Guide to Sound, Successful and Attractive Food Reform (with Maud Baines, 1929)
  • Fruit: Its Use and Misuse (1929)[8]
  • Why Aluminum Pans Are Dangerous (1939)
  • Soil and Human Health (1939)[9]
  • Good Food from Healthy Soil (1945)
  • Simple And Attractive Food Reform (1948)
  • Sensible Food for All: In Britain and Temperate Zones (1949)
  • A Sense of Wonder (1977)

References
  1. Conford, Philip. (2001). The Origins of the Organic Movement. Floris Books. pp. 141-142. ISBN 978-0863153365
  2. "Archives Charles William Daniel Company". Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  3. Barton, Gregory A. (2018). The Global History of Organic Farming. Oxford University Press. pp. 33-34 ISBN 978-0-19-964253-3
  4. Conford, Philip (2002). "The Myth of Neglect: Responses to the Early Organic Movement, 1930-1950". Agricultural History Review. 50 (1): 80–106.
  5. Brown, P. S. (1988). "Nineteenth-Century American Health Reformers and the Early Nature Cure Movement in Britain". Medical History. 32 (2): 174–194. doi:10.1017/S0025727300047980. PMID 3287059. S2CID 40813192.
  6. Dyck, Harvey L. (1996). The Pacifist Impulse in Historical Perspective. University of Toronto Press. p. 267. ISBN 0-8020-0777-5
  7. Watson, Donald (1948). "Veganism and Humus". The Vegan. 4 (4): 4–5.
  8. "Reviews and Notices of Books". British Journal of Inebriety. 22 (4): 192–205. 1925.
  9. "Brief Notices". The Quarterly Review of Biology. 14 (4): 468. 1939.
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