William Cowherd - Bible Christian Church

Bible Christian Church

In 1800 he established a new congregation in Salford, building the chapel at his own expense. His chapel, called Christ Church, was located in King Street, Salford, just across the River Irwell from Manchester. Believing that ministers should maintain themselves he conducted a school and practised as a physician from time to time. In 1809 he promulgated the doctrine that people should "eat no more meat till the world endeth" and abstain from alcoholic drinks.

The denomination he founded was known as the Bible Christian Church (not to be confused with Methodist sect of the same name based in the South-west of England). His early ideas and insight into the abstinence from eating meat, provided the basis for early ideas about vegetarianism. This message was later preached in the U.S. as some 41 members of the Bible Christian Church crossed the Atlantic in 1817.

Cowherd is credited with being the main figure advocating the theory of vegetarianism. It is noted that he asked his congregation in a sermon preached on January 18, 1809, to refrain from eating meat which culminated in the founding of the Vegetarian Society in 1847.