Colonel Coulson

Colonel Coulson

Sir, Will you permit me to express which many humanitarians feel as to the honour paid to the memory of Colonel Coulson.

He was one of the first men of standing who lent their support to the Humanitarian League. He joined the committee, then took the chair at its first public meeting, and was always ready with his counsel and practical help. His pamphlet on the horse had a wide circulation and his lectures were extremely popular. No one could be surprised at Colonel Coulson’s great success with his audiences, for there was a sincerity and frankness about him which went straight to the heart, and his lectures were full of humanity, raciness, and sound judgement. Himself brought up as a sportsman and country gentleman, he felt very keenly on the subject of cruelty to animals and after his retirement from the army he devoted his time largely to his lecturing tours, in which he visited almost every part of the kingdom, and especially addressed himself to schools. It would be difficult to over-estimate the good done by him in this respect, for no one was better fitted to impress the minds of boys as a type of true manliness; and the lectures he was able to give at some of the great public schools had a very marked effect.

Among the many workers for the better treatment of the lower animals during the past quarter century, no one has done nobler service in a more unassuming way than Colonel Coulson. Brave, simple, courteous and considerate to every living creature, he was loved by all who knew him, by none more than by his colleagues in the humanitarian cause, and of whom the present writer will always remember it as a privilege to have been one.

Henry Salt

Newcastle Daily Journal, 1914