The Temperance Movement and the "Drink Question", 1895-1933
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A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH? THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT AND THE "DRINK QUESTION", 1895-1933 JAMES CLIFFORD DUNN A Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy Department of Historical & Critical Studies University of Central Lancashire October 1999 Abstnct. The Temperance Movement was one of the most important and influential of the great nineteenth century social and moral reforming campaigns, firmly integrated with the dentral Victorian values of self-help, hard work and sobriety. As the values of the Victorian period dissipated with the rapidly changing social and ethical mores during the twentieth century, most historians have seen a similar demise in the role of the Temperance Movement. The drink question, however, remained a significant issue with two Royal Commissions, unprecedented state intervention during the First World War and innumerable bills and legislative debate between 1895 and 1933. Equally, the Temperance Movement maintained its resolve, resolutely campaigning and lobbying, proving itself to still be a key factor in the drink debate. This thesis studies the role and activity of the Temperance Movement in the continuing natioSl concern around drink between 1895 and the Peel Commission to the conclusion of the Amulree Commission in 1933. The thesis concentrates on the major temperance societies and examines their effect on English attitudes to the drink question Despite its continued activity, the Temperance Movement failed to make a significant mark on policy toward drink during this period. The reasons for this are several - loss of political support, the changing nature of drink issues, and fragmentation in the Movement The Temperance Movement was very heterogeneous, some organisations seeking moderate reform or moral suasion but the more radical campaigners demanded central or local prohibition. Such demands were the root cause of temperance division and a large factor in the loss of Liberal political support. With the Conservatives tied to the Trade, the Temperance Movement sought the assistance of the Labour Party but Labour's response during the period was vague and indecisive. Social and moral arguments used by the Temperance Movement in its attempt to secure the abolition of the drink trade were being steadily eroded as secularism, post war cynicism 1 and a huge increase in leisure activities undermined older values. Demand for alcoholic beverages fell dramatically as did reported cases of drunkenness. Despite these changes drink remained on the political and social agenda, but with many temperance reformers disillusioned and dispirited the Movement failed to present a comprehensive and coherent abolition strategy 2 Contents. Abstract. 1-2. Contents. 3. Acknowledgements. 4. Introduction. 5-16, Chapter 1. Temperance and Politics. 1895-1900. 17-49. Chapter 2. A Force to be Reckoned With? 1900-19 14. 50-86. Chapter 3. Regulation and Deregulation. 1914-1929. 87-117 Chapter 4. The Royal Commission. 1929-1931. 118-147 Conclusion. 148-155. Appendix.l. 156-158 Bibliography. 159-168. 3 Acknowledgements. I am indebted to the University of Central Lancashire for giving me the opportunity to take this research degree. A special vote of thanks go to my family who had to put up with the many editions that I cajoled, or should that be forced them into reading and a thank you to Jude Boxhall who was for most of the research period an archivist of the Livesey Collection at the University. I would also like to take this opportunity of thanking the many people who have helped me in the research particularly the staff of Mill Hill Library, Blackburn. Finally, I would like to say a very special thank you to my supervisor Keith Vernon for his unremitting help and guidance and his patience and tenacity in reading and correcting the many drafts that I submitted. Introduction. The control of addictive substances has long perplexed western societies; they are potentially very harmful and need to be controlled, but elimination of their use through full prohibition presents numerous problems. Today there is great debate around the 'drug question'; in the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century, it was the 'drink question,' and temperance reformers were as anxious to find the correct solution to their problem as are their modem counterparts. Temperance was one of the most important of the nineteenth century's great social and moral reform campaigns and ranked high among the public issues at the turn of the century. It was a campaign that had at its roots the central pillars of Victorian values - thrift, sobriety and hard work. In the nineteenth century the growth rate of the Temperance Movement was noteworthy. Many of the societies that were formed had close religious ties and could therefore rely on a somewhat captive audience. Militant reformers ensured that temperance remained in the focus of public attention in the nineteenth century and in doing so could rightfully claim to have been successful at seeking temperance reform. Whilst the significance of temperance in the Victorian period is beyond doubt, its impact in the twentieth century is much more difficult to ascertain. The drink question remained a topic of considerable debate and enquiry; temperance organisations continued to lobby and campaign yet what, in the early decades of the twentieth century, did all this actually amount to? At the turn of the century, the Temperance Movement was a vast and heterogeneous body with many different organisations, each with their own approach to the problem of drink. Most flmdamental was the divide between those favouring abstinence and moral suasion and those advocating legislative prohibition, but there were other divisions on religious lines and between moderate and hard line reformers. This investigation concentrates on the period 1895-1933; a period highly significant as it was during these years 5 that, despite considerable discussion of drink, the Temperance Movement was steadily marginalised into obscurity. Taking a broad approach, the thesis offers a study of the Temperance Movement and its responses to the drink question primarily at the level of national debate. It looks at the way the Temperance Movement was viewed by its adherents and by its main opponent, the liquor industry, and particularly by political parties and their supporters. This analysis will also highlight the most compelling impediment to the progress of temperance - lack of structural integrity. Although this wider perspective means that the activities of multifarious temperance considerations cannot be considered in detail, happily it can provide a framework of the changing positions of the Temperance Movement in the early twentieth century. In following this line of enquiry the thesis will be thematic and somewhat episodic but as is the nature of most historical research it will also follow a chronological line. This is important as the Temperance Movement had several pivotal points in its history, which are crucial when attempting to respond to the question: Was the Temperance Movement a force to be reckoned with? Literature Review Many historians have concentrated on the rise in alcoholic consumption in the early and mid-Victorian periods and the resulting response by the Temperance Movement. Brian Harrison made a major contribution to our understanding but did not go further than 1875. From its inception, the Temperance Movement's doctrine of personal abstinence and moral suasion seemed to offer a solution to many of the ills that plagued society during the major part of the nineteenth century. Temperance reform became so much a part of social and political debate that Harrison is right to suggest that the Temperance Movement had achieved 'a partial victory over their enemy.' (1) By the end of the nineteenth century however social changes had brought doubt to the mind-set of many temperance reformers and the 2. Temperance Movement had not fully achieved a single one of its objectives. L L. Shiman argues that among some teetotalters there was a growing suspicion that their traditional position suggesting a causal relationship between poverty and drink may have been erroneous and that perhaps there were other reasons for poverty besides drink. She suggests that in the twentieth century 'temperance was never the vital force that it was in the nineteenth century,' arguing that, 'the Temperance Movement did not make England free from drink,' and its decline was attributable to 'its frames of reference and values lacking validity.' (2) J B. Brown, however, suggests that many radical temperance reformers by the early twentieth century accepted the widespread existence of 'economic' poverty i.e., poverty caused through no moral fault of the pauper, a fact demonstrated in the work by J.Rowntree and A.Snowden (3) At the same time the growth in socialism emphasised that environmental changes could dramatically change the lives of many. As Victorian certainties eroded, the Temperance Movement faced the problem of defining the nature of the drink question. The practice of personal abstinence from intoxicants or 'teetotalism' had been the moral objective of a determined Temperance Movement in the early Victorian period, but with the formation of the United Kingdom Alliance in 1853, prohibition became the goal of many temperance reformers. Supporters of prohibition were not satisfied with the minimalist position of moral suasion and demanded enforced total abstinence for the individual which fundamentally altered the nature of temperance campaigning. The answer to the drink question for prohibitionists was legislation and they would have been encouraged by the statements made by social commentators such as T H Green, who asserted in 1881 that 'drink is the greatest impediment to freedom that exists in England.' Green used temperance legislation as an example of the way in which the liberal state was justified in interfering in individuals' lives in order to encourage the achievement of their true potential. (4) This brought the Temperance Movement directly into political manoeuvres as it sought positive 7 legislation.