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Locally led organisations aimed at teaching young people about kindness to animals. They also worked to prevent cruelty to animals. Founded by Catherine Smithies as a furtherance of the temperance movement.

From : "The history of the Band of Mercy movement dates back to 1875, when Catherine Smithies formed the first one in Britain. In 1879 the Band of Mercy Advocate began as a periodical publication in Britain. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) took over the organization of both the Bands of Mercy and its related publication in 1882." And from “… in 1824 {elsewhere we have read 1875}, Catherine Smithies, an anti-slavery activist, set up an SPCA youth wing called the Bands of Mercy. It was a children's club modelled on the Temperance Society's Bands of Hope, which were intended to encourage children to campaign against drinking and gambling. The Bands of Mercy were similarly meant to encourage a love of animals.”

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