"Away, away with rum by gum"* ..... The Temperance Movement .... today on the wireless

Now I have always been ambivilent about the The Temperance Movement., and have said so.*

Spreading the message,Temperance Meeting in Manchester, 1910

One side of me joins in with silly, and cheap jibes at people who don't share my love of a fine wine, and a night out in the pub. 

But I recognise they were not kill joys, but were acting on a real concern at the destruction caused by excessive drinking, especially in working class areas. 

We shouldn't forget that it was still the cuustom at the end of the week to pay workers in pubs, with all the dangers for their wages to be lost in an alcholic night. 

And for many of those "Temperance People", it was also a revulsion at the huge profits made by the brewing industry, so we shouldn't be surprised that amongst the ranks of the campaigners were many who were in "progressive politics.

 

Temperance Demonstration, undated

All of which is an introduction to the Temperance Movement, from the In Our Time series on BBC Radio, which will be broadcast at 9 am today and then is available to listen to later in the day. 

"Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the momentum behind teetotalism in 19th Century Britain, when calls for moderation gave way to complete abstinence in pursuit of a better life. 

 Although arguments for temperance had been made throughout the British Isles beforehand, the story of the organised movement in Britain is often said to have started in 1832 in Preston, when Joseph Livesey and seven others gave a pledge to abstain. 

Temperance Billiard Hall, Chorlton, 1958

The movement grew quickly, with Temperance Halls appearing as new social centres in towns in place of pubs, and political parties being drawn into taking sides either to support abstinence or impose it or reject it. 

 

With Annemarie McAllister Senior Research Fellow in History at the University of Central Lancashire James Kneale Associate Professor in Geography at University College London And David Beckingham Associate Professor in Cultural and Historical Geography at the University of Nottingham Producer: 

Simon Tillotson" 

Pictures; Band Of Hope, Open air Temperance Meeting in Manchester, 1910, m68996, Temperance Demonstration, m18044, Temperance Billiard Hall, Chorlton, November 1958, A.H. Downes, m18044, Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council,  http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*"Away, away with rum by gum,"* signing the pledge to forgo the demon drink, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2018/04/away-away-with-rum-by-gum-signing.html

**The Temperance Movement, In Our Time BBC Radio4,, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013zl8