22 January 2026

We launch our ‘kindness to animals’ pledge in honour of Black Beauty author Anna Sewell

Text reads "Black Beauty Pledge" with three graphics of horses

Redwings and the University of East Anglia (UEA) have launched a new animal welfare pledge that honours the legacy of Anna Sewell, the author of Black Beauty.

The Black Beauty Pledge is inspired by the Bands of Mercy, an organisation established during Anna’s lifetime, to promote kindness to animals, especially amongst children, using education and direct action.

As our supporters will know, Redwings are custodians of Anna Sewell House in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, where Anna was born. Two years ago, we collaborated with the UEA on a special fundraising edition of Black Beauty and have been working together to further Anna’s legacy since then.

You can purchase the book for yourself or as a gift for a loved one from the Redwings shop here.

A drawn image of Anna Sewell

Nicola Knight, Redwings Head of Communications and Campaigns, said: “The Bands of Mercy groups were incredibly popular in their day. They had a similar promise that we wanted to reinstate for the modern times.

“The idea is that the pledge, to promise to treat all animals as you would like to be treated if you were that animal, gets us thinking about what a particular animal needs to be happy and healthy. 

“We hope that by signing up to the Black Beauty Pledge children and young people especially will be motivated to take action to be kind to animals.”

Sign up here.

Photo of the key chain and pledge certificate

Everyone who signs up will receive a certificate and keyring, saying they have made the pledge. And those who go on to show the charity what they have done for animals will also receive a prize of sweets by local producer Sweet Smiles of Norfolk, a copy of their Black Beauty book and a collectable Schleich horse. They will also be featured on a special gallery of people who have done something positive for animal welfare.

Professor Thomas Ruys Smith, Professor of American Literature and Culture at the UEA, said: “We are so excited to launch the Black Beauty Pledge, two years on from the publication of our special edition of Black Beauty, our first collaboration with Redwings, to raise funds for them.

“We hope this will inspire everyone who signs up to think about the welfare of the animals in their life, and those they encounter, and consider their behaviour towards them with that animal’s welfare in mind.

“Anna Sewell wrote Black Beauty at a time when horses were relied upon in many aspects of people’s lives, not as a work of fiction but as a tool she hoped would change hearts and minds and lead to improvements in their welfare. We want to honour her legacy through this Pledge.”

To find out more and sign up please go to our special Black Beauty Pledge page here.

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Redwings Press Office

For all enquiries please contact lplumtree@redwings.co.uk

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