View source for William Axon

{{short description|English librarian andantiquary}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{Infobox person
| name          = William Axon
| honorific_suffix = [[Royal Society of Literature|FRSL]]
| image         = William A. E. Axon.png
| alt           = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1846|01|13}}
| birth_place   = [[Chorlton-on-Medlock]], Manchester, England
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1913|12|27|1846|01|13}}
| death_place   = [[Manchester]], England
| nationality   = 
| other_names   = 
| occupation    = Librarian, journalist
| years_active  = 
| known_for     = 
| notable_works = 
| spouse        = {{marriage|Jane Woods|1866|1899|end=d.}}<br/>{{marriage|Setta Lueft|1899|1910|end=d.}}
| children      = 4
}}

'''William Edward Armytage Axon''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRSL}} (13 January 1846 – 27 December 1913) was an English librarian, [[antiquary]] and journalist for the ''[[Manchester Guardian]]''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite ODNB|last=Hollingworth|first=Brian Charles|date=2004-09-23|title=Axon, William Edward Armytage (1846–1913), librarian and antiquary|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-57406|access-date=2020-07-09|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/57406|isbn=9780198614128}}</ref> He contributed to the ''[[Dictionary of National Biography]]'' under his initials W. E. A. A. He was also a notable [[vegetarianism]] activist.

==Biography==
[[File:Anna Jane Vardill Niven frontispiece.jpg|thumb|Anna Jane Vardill Niven frontispiece by Axon]]

Axon was born in [[Chorlton-on-Medlock]], Manchester.<ref name=":0" /> He was best known as an antiquary and a bibliographer, but his interests were extremely varied. As honorary secretary of the Manchester and Salford Sunday Society he took a prominent part in the agitation for the opening of the [[Manchester Library & Information Service|Manchester libraries]] on Sunday. Axon had begun life as a boy in the Manchester Reference Library, and was early drawn to literary pursuits. Later he wrote much on the folklore and historical associations of Lancashire and Cheshire, and the [[Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society|antiquaries of these counties]] made him their president. Besides this, as a member of the English Dialect Society Axon wrote many tales and sketches illustrating the dialect and customs of the county in which he lived.

Axon married Jane Woods in 1866; they had three children. After Jane's death in 1899, he married Setta Lueft; they had one child.<ref name=":0" />

Axon was also the author of ''Cobden as a Citizen'' in 1907. He published his study of [[Anna Jane Vardill]]'s poem that was a sequel to Coleridge's poem [[Christabel (poem)|Christabel]] in 1908. It was claimed that she had not written it but based on new evidence he was able to assure the [[Royal Society of Literature]] that the poem had been written by her.<ref name="orl">{{Cite web|url=http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=vardja|title=Anna Jane Vardill © Orlando Project|website=orlando.cambridge.org|language=en|access-date=2018-10-21}}</ref> Axon's second wife died in 1910.<ref name=":0" />

Axon for 30 years was on the literary staff of the ''Manchester Guardian'', and for his general literary work was distinguished by the University of Manchester, which conferred on him the honorary degree of Master of Arts in 1913. He was a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Literature]], an honorary LL.D. of [[Wilberforce University]], and had contributed articles to the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', ''[[Dictionary of National Biography]]'', ''[[American Encyclopædia]]'', and ''[[Notes and Queries]]''.<ref name="The Times">''The Times'' Obituary (1913)</ref>

Axon died at home on 27 December 1913 and was buried at St Paul's Church in [[Kersal]], Manchester.<ref name=":0" />

==Vegetarianism==

Axon was an ardent [[Vegetarianism|vegetarian]] and member of the Anti-Tobacco League.<ref name="The Times"/> He has been described as a "leading figure of the
vegetarian movement."<ref>Li, Chien-hui. (2019). ''Mobilizing Traditions in the First Wave of the British Animal Defense Movement''. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 289. {{ISBN|978-1-137-52650-2}}</ref> He was Vice-President and Hon. Secretary of the [[Vegetarian Society]].<ref>Forward, Charles W. (1898). [https://archive.org/details/b2486609x/page/164 ''Fifty Years of Food Reform: A History of the Vegetarian Movement in England'']. London: The Ideal Publishing Union. p. 164</ref> Axon contributed articles on the [[history of vegetarianism]] to John Harvey Kellogg's ''[[Good Health (journal)|Good Health]]'' journal. He was editor of the ''Vegetarian Messenger''.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049796421&view=1up&seq=451 ''Dr. William E. A. Axon'']. ''Food, Home and Garden'', 1899.</ref>

Axon wrote the [[preface]] for the 1884 edition of Percy Bysshe Shelley's ''[[A Vindication of Natural Diet]]''.<ref>Shelley, Percy Bysshe. (1884). [https://archive.org/details/vindicationofnat00shelrich/page/n5 ''A Vindication of Natural Diet'']. London.</ref> He also authored ''[[Shelley's Vegetarianism]]'', in 1891.

Historian [[Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska]] has noted that "Axon abhorred cruelty to animals and the degrading work of the 'slaughterman, reeking with blood and striking to death with remorseless blows a creature that shares with him the gift of life".<ref>Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Ina. (2010). ''Managing the Body: Beauty, Health, and Fitness in Britain 1880-1939''. Oxford University Press. p. 30. {{ISBN|978-0199280520}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
{{expand list|date=December 2009}}
*1877: ''Handbook of the Public Libraries of Manchester and Salford''. Manchester: [[Abel Heywood]] and Son.
*1879: [https://archive.org/details/johnruskinbiblio00axonuoft ''John Ruskin: A Bibliographical Biography''].
*1883: [https://archive.org/details/lancashiregleani00axonrich ''Lancashire Gleanings''].
*1884: [https://archive.org/details/cheshiregleaning00axon ''Cheshire Gleanings'']. 
*1888: [https://archive.org/details/straychaptersinl00axoniala ''Stray Chapters in Literature, Folk-lore, and Archaeology''].
*1890: [https://archive.org/details/thomastaylorplat00axonrich ''Thomas Taylor, the Platonist''].
*1891: [https://archive.org/details/shelleysvegetari00axonuoft  ''Shelley's Vegetarianism''].
*1893: [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015076976185&view=1up&seq=562 ''The Literature of Vegetarianism''].
*1897: [https://archive.org/details/bygonesussex00axoniala ''Bygone Sussex''].
*1899: [https://archive.org/details/echoesofoldlanca00axoniala ''Echoes of Old Lancashire''].
*1899: [https://archive.org/details/ortensiolandohum00axoniala ''Ortensio Lando, a humorist of the Renaissance'']
*1907: ''Cobden as a Citizen''
*1908: ''Anna Jane Vardill Niven''

===Edited works===
*1886: ''The Annals of Manchester: a chronological record from the earliest times to the end of 1885''. Manchester: J. Heywood, Deansgate and Ridgefield ("The volume now offered to the public, as a revised edition of the ''Manchester Historical Recorder'', is virtually a new work&nbsp;...". - preface); [https://archive.org/details/annalsofmanchest00axon electronic version]  
* ''Collected sermons, 1631–1659'' of [[Thomas Fuller]], Volume 1 edited by [[John Eglington Bailey]]. Completed by William E. A. Axon (1891)<ref>[https://archive.org/details/collectedsermons01fulluoft Collected sermons, 1631–1659], Volume 1, edited by John Eglington Bailey. Completed by William E. A. Axon (1891)</ref>
* ''Collected sermons, 1631–1659'' Volume 2 edited by John Eglington Bailey. Completed by William E. A. Axon (1891)<ref>[https://archive.org/details/collectedsermons02fulluoft Collected sermons, 1631–1659], Volume 2, edited by John Eglington Bailey. Completed by William E. A. Axon (1891)</ref>

===Contributions to the DNB===
{{expand list|date=December 2009}}
*Ashworth, John
*Banks, George Linnaeus
*Bellot, Thomas
*Bennis, George Geary
*Blythe, John Dean
*Bowers, George Hull
*Bradberry, David
*Brandwood, James
*Brittain, Thomas
*Brooke, Henry
*Brookes, Joshua
*Brotherton, Edward
*Bruen, John
*Butterworth, James
*Calvert, Charles
*Calvert, Thomas
*Canne, John 
*Castillo, John
*Caw, John Young
*Clayton, John (1754–1843)
*Cole, Thomas (1628–1697)
*Crestadoro, Andrea

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* [[s:The Times/1913/Obituary/William Edward Armytage Axon|Obituary: Dr. William Edward Armytage Axon]] in ''[[The Times]]'', December 30, 1913; Issue 40407; pg. 9; col B

;Attribution
*{{source-attribution|"Obituary: Dr. William Edward Armytage Axon", The Times (1913)}}

==External links==
* {{wikisource author-inline}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=Axon,+William+E.+A.+(William+Edward+Armytage)}}
* {{Internet Archive author |name=William Edward Armytage Axon}}
* {{Librivox author |id=9535}}
* [http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/search-resources/guide-to-special-collections/atoz/axon-papers/ William Axon papers] at the [[John Rylands Library]], [[University of Manchester]].

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{{s-bef|before= Ernest Frederick Letts }}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the [[Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society]] |years=1903–04}}
{{s-aft|after= Henry Taylor }}
{{s-end}}

{{Vegetarianism|state=collapsed}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Axon, William}}
[[Category:1846 births]]
[[Category:1913 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century English historians]]
[[Category:20th-century English historians]]
[[Category:Anti-smoking activists]]
[[Category:British vegetarianism activists]]
[[Category:English antiquarians]]
[[Category:English biographers]]
[[Category:English librarians]]
[[Category:English male journalists]]
[[Category:English temperance activists]]
[[Category:Historians of vegetarianism]]
[[Category:Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society]]
[[Category:Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Male biographers]]
[[Category:People associated with the Vegetarian Society]]
[[Category:Writers from Manchester]]