Francis Anderson Calder was born in 1787 and served in the Royal Navy between 1803 and 1815.
After naval service, he founded the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1836 with the purpose to ‘Prevent Cruelty and Relieve Suffering’ to animals. It is the second oldest animal welfare charity in the world.
He also paid for the construction between 1843 and 1855 of ten public water-troughs for the use of cattle including the present day one outside the Customs House.
Anderson Calder was active in the Belfast Anti-Slavery Society. He signed a motion in 1845 calling on the various churches of Britain and Ireland to work with churches in the USA not to enrol parishioners who ‘tolerated’ the iniquity of slavery.
He hosted Frederick Douglass when he visited Belfast in 1845.
Anderson Calder died in 1855.
Belfast played a role in the international slave trade and its abolition, to learn more, book the ANTI SLAVERY BELFAST TOUR!