Basil Tozer

Basil John Joseph Tozer (March 1868 – 7 December 1949) was an English journalist, author, and hunter. He was best known for his 1908 history of horsemanship, The Horse in History.

Early life and education

Tozer was born in March 1868 in Teignmouth. He was educated at Beaumont College. Tozer was the son of J. H. Tozer, a solicitor. His brother E. J. Tozer was honorary secretary of the South Devon Hunt.

Career

As a young man, Tozer worked as a journalist and was editor of the Galignani's Messenger newspaper in Paris. He served in the Royal Army Service Corps in France during World War I. After a world tour he joined the staff of the Daily Mail. He worked with Sir Arthur Pearson, 1st Baronet on several of his publications.

Tozer authored articles for The English Illustrated Magazine. In August 1895 he authored a five-page article "The Dogs' Home, Battersea" which included photographs taken by Walter Brock of dogs being euthanised in the Battersea Lethal Chamber.

Tozer's best known work was The Horse in History, an exploration of the role of the horse throughout civilisation. It was described as pleasantly written "sketch of the varying fortunes of the horse through the centuries".

Hunting

Tozer was an avid huntsman but was concerned about unnecessary cruel activities he had observed on hunts. At first he wrote letters on the topic anonymously but later wrote an article under his own name with the title "The Abuse of Sport", published in The Fortnightly Review in 1906. Tozer recounted an act of cruelty involving the use of a gigantic corkscrew to kill a fox. He commented that one of the hunter's servants also carried a triple fish hook. In regard to game hunting, he noted that the beaters and game keepers themselves had thrown birds that were not quite dead into their pockets and game bags. Tozer stated that the reason for calling attention to the abuses was because animal welfare organisations were planning to abolish certain field sports by an Act of Parliament and that if unnecessary cruelty was removed from such sports they would not be abolished.