Lind-af-Hageby , Emilia Augusta Louise , 1878-1963

The case was a cause celebre for the antivivisection movement. Miss Emilia Augusta Louise Lind-af-Hageby (1878-1963) was a Swedish woman who settled in England, and was founder of the Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society. In 1911 she was responsible for opening a shop in Piccadilly displaying the reality of vivisection. In May 1912 two articles by Dr C W Saleeby appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette accusing her anti-vivisection campaign of being based on lies and falsification. Miss Lind-af-Hageby then brought a suit for libel against Dr Saleeby, with his co-defendents W Waldorf Astor, proprietor of the Pall Mall Gazette, J L Garvin, the editor, and D C Forrester, the printer. She conducted her own case, and the action lasted from 1st-23rd April 1913. A summary account of the case and its significance can be found in E Westacott: A Century of Vivisection and Anti-Vivisection (The C W Daniel Co, Ltd, Ashingdon, Rochford, Essex, England, 1949), pp 502-505. Miss Lind-af-Hageby lost the case but obtained valuable publicity for the anti-vivisection cause.