Lily Loat (21 January 1880 – 16 August 1958) was a British anti-vaccination activist. She was the Secretary of the National Anti-Vaccination League for nearly 50 years.
Loat was born in Battersea in about 1880 and her father was John Loat. She was head pupil at Tiffin Girls' School in Kingston-on-Thames[citation needed]. After leaving school, she took shorthand lessons and gained her a position at the National Anti-Vaccination League. She worked for the league's secretary answering correspondence and during this time she became a strong supporter of the league. When the secretary resigned she was soon confirmed as the replacement secretary at the beginning of 1909.[1]
During 1920s and 1930s, she was on occasion invited to speak internationally.[1]
The League's journal The Vaccination Inquirer and Health Review had been published since 1880.[2] Loat took on the editorship of the journal in 1932.[1] In 1951, Loat published The Truth about Vaccination and Immunization. This was a small book that itemised the arguments against vaccination.[3] Loat was also opposed to vivisection.[4]
Loat died in Kingswood in Surrey in 1958. She was working for the National Anti-Vaccination League whilst in hospital during her final illness.[1]
Selected publications
1939, Pasteurization of Milk: The Case Against Compulsion
1951, The Truth About Vaccination and Immunization
