19th Century Vegetarians Were Proto-Vegans

The Vegetarian Society, whose roots are in England in the 1800's, had a very forward thinking president named Francis Newman who nearly changed the history of vegetarianism by suggesting that people who ate eggs and drank milk were only 'partial vegetarians.'  This was, of course, before there was the word 'vegan.'  Vegetarian Society supporters did not go along with Newman's ideas, however, and that's why modern day vegetarians eat dairy - rather than abstaining, like Newman would have them do.

Link:  http://www.vegsource.com/john-davis/prof-francis-w-newman-and-the-attempted-vegan-revolution-of-1871.html