{{Short description|British biologist, agricultural scientist and animal welfare expert}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Colin Raymond William Spedding | honorific_suffix = CBE | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|03|22|df=yes}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2012|12|17|1925|03|22|df=yes}} | death_place = | other_names = | known_for = Farming research and animal welfare advocacy | occupation = {{Flatlist| *Biologist *agricultural scientist}} | alma_mater = University of London }} '''Sir Colin Raymond William Spedding''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE}} (22 March 1925 – 17 December 2012)<ref name=Telegraph>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9886325/Professor-Sir-Colin-Spedding.html|title=Professor Sir Colin Spedding|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=21 February 2013|accessdate=9 March 2013}}</ref> was a British biologist, agricultural scientist and animal welfare expert. Spedding founded or worked for numerous agricultural agencies, including the Farm Animal Welfare Council, Assured Food Standards and the UK Register of Organic Food Standards.<ref name=Telegraph/> He also held academic posts at the University of Reading and the Grassland Research Institute, and was a prolific author of books on wildlife and agriculture.<ref name=Reading>{{cite web|url=http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/staffportal/news/articles/spsn-483505.aspx|title=Emeritus Professor Sir Colin Spedding 1925 – 2012|publisher=University of Reading|date=21 January 2013|accessdate=9 March 2013}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Spedding was born in 1925, the son of an itinerant Methodist minister. He attended several different schools before leaving education without qualifications in 1939.<ref name=Telegraph/> During the Second World War, Spedding served aboard Royal Navy torpedo boats.<ref name=Telegraph/> After the war, he secured a menial laboratory job, and studied as an evening student to gain a degree in zoology from the University of London.<ref name=Telegraph/>
==Academic career== Between 1949 and 1975, Spedding worked at the Grassland Research Institute in Hurley, Berkshire. Thereafter, he became Professor of Agricultural Systems at the University of Reading, also serving as the university's Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Food, and as its pro-vice-chancellor between 1986 and his nominal retirement in 1990.<ref name=Reading/> He furthermore served as a governor of the Royal Agricultural College between 1982 and 1988, and was President of the Institute of Biology from 1992 to 1994.<ref name=Telegraph/> As well as publishing over 200 academic papers, Spedding wrote or edited a total of 19 books both during and after his academic career, on subjects as diverse as farming, garden wildlife and proverbs.<ref name=Telegraph/><ref name=Reading/> He was appointed CBE in 1988, and knighted in the 1994 New Year Honours.<ref name=Telegraph/><ref>{{cite news |title='Ordinary' people ride high but those at the top can bank on heading list |work=The Guardian |date=31 December 1993 |page=8}}</ref>
==Animal welfare advocacy== Spedding founded or chaired numerous animal welfare and organic certification organisations, including the Farm Animal Welfare Council, Assured Food Standards, the National Equine Forum, the Apple and Pear Research Council and the UK Register of Organic Food Standards.<ref name=Telegraph/> While heading the Farm Animal Welfare Council in the 1990s, he presided over the development of five key tenets of animal welfare: "freedom from hunger and thirst; from discomfort; from pain and disease; from fear; and freedom to express normal behaviour".<ref name=Telegraph/>
==Personal life== Spedding married Betsy George in 1952. They had two sons and a daughter before Betsy's death in 1988;<ref name=Reading/> one of their sons predeceased Spedding.<ref name=Telegraph/> Spedding was a keen gardener, and kept a three-acre garden at his home in Berkshire, which he often opened to local schoolchildren for the study of wildlife.<ref name=Reading/> He died in December 2012, aged 87.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{cite web|url=http://www.societyofbiology.org/newsandevents/news/view/513?view=results&poll=7|title=Sir Professor Colin Spedding Hon FSB – Obituary|publisher=Society of Biology|date=11 January 2013|accessdate=9 March 2013}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.fwi.co.uk/articles/03/01/2013/136993/obituary-prof-sir-colin-spedding-1925-2012.htm#.UblxkMu9KSM|title=OBITUARY: Prof Sir Colin Spedding, 1925-2012|work=Farmers Weekly|date=3 January 2013|accessdate=13 June 2013}}
{{People in animal welfare}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spedding, Colin}} Category:1925 births Category:2012 deaths Category:British animal welfare scholars Category:British biologists Category:British agriculturalists Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Alumni of the University of London Category:Academics of the University of Reading Category:People associated with the Royal Agricultural University