“Those were drinking days, and most men drank hard.” Thus spoke the narrator in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, about the late 18th century, commenting that habits had since changed to the extent that the description of how much people used to drink now sounded like “a ridiculous exaggeration”. The change between the time of the French Revolution and when Dickens was writing his novel in the 1850s had seen the development of a movement aimed specifically at ‘improving’ the drinking habits of British men and women. It became known as the temperance movement.

The temperance movement really took off in the 1820s. At the age of 31, in 1829, Irish minister John Edgar poured his supplies of whisky out of the window of his manse, seeing spirits, specifically, as a danger to society. He wrote to the Belfast News-letter, setting out his views, and formed the Ulster Temperance Movement with other clergymen. Initially, those in favour of temperance were ridiculed by other members of society – after all, society was centred around the local tavern or inn, and drinking was seen as a form of socialising.

But by the early 1830s, the temperance movement was growing, and garnering more and more attention. In what is now Northern Ireland, the temperance movement had early success, and by 1831, the Temperance Hotel, Coffee and Reading Rooms in Castle Lane, Belfast, had been established, where owner Mrs Lyons offered a “large cup of tea or coffee, with bread and butter, for three pence” – cheaper than a whisky, as the press pointed out. [The Belfast News-Letter, 11 Nov 1831] A year later, the Coleraine Temperance Society was established, meeting at the local Temperance Hotel. Its meeting in March 1832 was attended by some 200 members, mainly men, who called on local women to join their cause. [Belfast News-letter, 23 March 1832]

The Pledge
This Irish movement had temperance – moderation – as its goal. But in 1833, a temperance movement started in Preston that saw teetotalism as the way to go. This was the brainchild of Joseph Livesey, who established the first temperance hotel in Preston, and a year later founded The Preston Temperance Advocate, a temperance magazine. On his death in 1884, Livesey was recorded in his obituary as being “universally known and esteemed as ‘The Father of Teetotalism’”. [The Preston Guardian, 6 September 1884] The temperance movement was linked to political movements such as the call for universal suffrage and also to Chartism – Joseph Livesey was actively involved in local politics and protested against the Corn Laws. Encouraging the working classes to abstain from alcohol was seen as a way of showing the government that they could be respectable and responsible, and therefore deserving of the vote.

In 1839, Irish priest Theobald Mathew started the Cork Total Abstinence Society, calling on individuals to use their will to avoid alcohol, making ‘The Pledge’ to signify their commitment. The Pledge read:

“I promise to abstain from all intoxicating drinks except used medicinally and by order of a medical man and to discountenance the cause and practice of intemperance.”

Mathew’s idea of a pledge was a huge success, with 150,000 people said to have taken the pledge within nine months of Mathew’s proposing it. In 1844, he visited England, including successful trips to Liverpool, Manchester and London, to promote his idea of total abstinence.

Temperance and children
It was seen as especially important to bring children up to avoid alcohol, teaching them about its dangers when young in the hope that they would then grow up wanting to avoid it. In 1847, in Leeds, the Reverend Jabez Tunnicliff started the Band of Hope, also originally known as the Juvenile Temperance Meeting or movement, which aimed to teach children about the importance of sobriety and save them from the perils of drink.

The local press covered its meetings, which rapidly spread throughout West Yorkshire, in glowing terms, noting in 1849 that Tunnicliff had given a sermon to “an attentive congregation” in Bradford one Sunday, and three days later had “delivered an address to a large number of children”. The report continued: “His remarks were well-adapted to the comprehension of his juvenile audience, who seemed highly delighted with the temperance melodies which were interspersed in the address. At the conclusion a great number signified their intention of becoming members of the Bradford Band of Hope at the next meeting to be held on Tuesday week.” [The Bradford Observer, 21 Sept 1849] Two years later, the Manchester Times was reporting that a Band of Hope in that city, run by a Mr Williamson, had originally had just two members, but had now grown to 64 children between the ages of five and 15. The attraction of this group was in its provision of music training – it met twice a week to teach children music, with the newspaper reporting that 20 boys were now able to “play very well upon flutes and drums”. [The Manchester Times, 21 June 1851] The paper also reported on several other local temperance societies, showing the success of the movement in Manchester. All had taken part in a local procession, carrying their own banners, and playing “temperance melodies” on their own instruments, apart from the Openshaw Branch of the Band of Hope, which “did not take part in the procession, owing to the greater part of the members being at work”.

In 1853, the Bristol Mercury reported that the “Teetotal Band of Hope” in the city had held an annual meeting at which 2500 children had assembled, “most of them wearing teetotal medals and white rosettes, and a portion bearing gilded wands, and numerous flags and banners”. [Bristol Mercury, 26 March 1853]

The Band of Hope successfully merged religion with entertainment to appeal to children and the working class. It became so successful that in 1855, a national organisation was formed, with local groups meeting in churches throughout the country. On 5 January 1859, the Belgrave Band of Hope held an annual festival in the local chapel’s school room, which 300 members attended. They drank tea before holding a public meeting, with a speech given by the Rev Tunnicliff. The Leeds Harmonic Society then performed to members, featuring quartets performed by piano and violins. Prizes – including a copy of the Bible – were also given for the best essays on the subject of ‘The Employment of Leisure Hours’. [Leeds Mercury, 6 Jan 1859]

Nonconformism
Religion continued to be a key part of the movement, with the Perth temperance society passing a resolution that intemperance was a “sin” that prevented the “advancement of the cause of Christ in the country generally”. [Dundee Courier, 11 Feb 1880] In the 1840s and 1850s, the key religious supporters of the temperance movement were the Nonconformists, particularly the Presbyterian and Methodist churches. The Methodist church disapproved of sinful ‘amusements’ such as gambling, going to plays, sexual immorality and drinking – the latter being particularly linked to crime and poverty. The Irish Presbyterians at one point even argued that wine should be banned in communion services. It is clear why they supported the temperance movement. But the established Church then founded the Church of England Temperance Society in 1862 (it existed until 1969, when it became the Church of England Council for Social Aid). Two years later, in 1864, the Salvation Army was founded, and had an emphasis on abstinence.

Drink had always been seen as a particular problem of the working class, and the Salvation Army’s mission to help the poorer members of society was inevitably linked to its identification of the problem of drink. Temperance societies similarly saw the working class as a prime target for their message, joining forces with other political and social movements, and actively or seeking to promote membership among the working classes in other ways.

In 1880, as part of the York Temperance Society’s festival, a working men’s temperance demonstration took place on Goodramgate, with a “very fair attendance of the working classes” where several men “occupied in various branches of manual labour” were persuaded to address the onlookers about the benefits of total abstinence from alcohol. [York Herald, 24 January 1880]

Entertainment
Yet in other ways, the temperance movement was seen as a means of celebration and entertainment. Whit Monday in Derby, for example, was looked forward to chiefly because of the temperance demonstration that took place on that holiday every year. Every Sunday school in the area took part, with the youth members of the various bands of hope first meeting at the Temperance Hall near Derby’s Friargate at midday before setting off on a parade through the local streets with banners, playing brass instruments, flutes and drums. The procession was said to be so large that it took 20 minutes for all the main participants to pass a certain point. The parade ended at the Arboretum, where amusements were provided for the children, and balloons sent up at regular intervals for spectators to look at. [Nottinghamshire Guardian, 21 May 1880]

In its earlier years, there had been friction between those who believed that moderation was the key to solving alcohol problems, and those, like Joseph Livesey, who believed in complete abstinence. Decades later, at a temperance demonstration in Perth in the 1880s, the local sheriff had noted that there were “disagreements that existed among temperance men as to what plan was best to be pursued in order to uproot the evil of intemperance”. The sheriff, Mr Barclay, stated that he did not think that an Act of Parliament could make a man sober, which reflected a further friction between those who sought to persuade men to avoid alcohol, and those who believed that government legislation or prohibition was the key.

By the 1880s, it was reported that there were some 9,000 temperance societies in the United Kingdom, with a combined total of one million members, aged between seven and 21. [Aberdeen Weekly Journal, 13 March 1883] Yet the temperance movement was on borrowed time. In 1914, the Defence of the Realm Act introduced the licensing of pub hours, watered down beer, and subjected beer to an extra tax of a penny per pint. These were not specifically measures designed to pander to the temperance movement, but were about helping the war effort. However, it was from the end of the war that the temperance movement declined as a political and social force, as the world had changed, and the focus of people was on surviving and adapting to post-war life – not on pledging to avoid a beer.