OBITUARY : Lord Houghton of Sowerby

Lord Houghton's passion to end the abuse of non-human animals equalled his concern for human rights, writes Alan Whittaker [further to the obituary by Tam Dalyell, 3 May].

In the Seventies, when many of us, naively as it turned out, thought cruelty could be finally outlawed, I had the pleasure of serving under Lord Houghton. Many of us in those heady days were three or four decades younger than him, but few of us had his energy and none of us his nous.

His commitment to animal welfare was not a pastime of the evening of his life, but lifelong and profoundly-felt. In his teens he had mounted the stage of a Derbyshire music hall to protest at an animal act - an early sign of his urge to get things done. That practical action was important to him was later evidenced by what was virtually his own creation, CRAE, the Committee to Reform Animal Experiments, and his association with some of the more radical animal welfare organisations. Even in his nineties, he would help any practical initiative to further animal welfare.

CORRECTION: Lord Hough-ton of Sowerby is survived by his wife, Lady Houghton. She was awarded the CBE in 1986.