TEMPERANCE

How and why were temperance principles such a major force in British society and politics 1870-1914?

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The Licensing Act 1872

The Licensing Act markedly increased both the scale and scope of alcohol regulation.

New important regulations:

• Section 7: Sale of spirits to children
• Section 12: Penalty on persons found drunk
• Section 24: Times of closing
• Section 35: Entry on premises by constables

Focus on social and environmental effects regarding regulations.

The Inebriates Act 1898 :

• Courts can order people considered as habitual drunkards or offenders to be confined to an inebriate reformatory
• Increased use of taxation over alcohol consumption

1902 Licensing Act:

• Laws on drunkenness changed
• Improved licensing
• all “off” licenses under the magistrates’ control and registered clubs

1914 - World War I

• Alcohol seen as a threat
• Alcohol restrictions
• Favour war effort: industrial productivity and effectiveness

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Reactions to the Licensing Act 1872

Many people struggled to swallow the problematization of alcoholic drinks and hence found that new, more interventionist laws entirely unpalatable.The liberty to consume alcoholic beverages free from state interference was central to many people's conception of traditional English constitutional freedoms.This powerful sense that traditional, hard-won liberties were being lost led to:

• frustration
• social disorder
• riots

Debates about the Licensing Act 1872

The Act provoked intense debates in the society. There were three main reasons:

1. Geographical injustice
2. Class legislation
3. Undermining traditional rights of consumption

Sources

• Gutzke, D.W. (1989) Protecting the pub : brewers and publicans against temperance . Wolfeboro, N.H., USA :; Woodbridge, Suffolk [England] ;; [London] :, Boydell Press; Royal Historical Society .
  

• Harrison, B. (1971) Drink and the Victorians: the temperance question in England, 1815-1872. London: Faber and Faber Ltd.
• J. R Greenaway (2003) Drink and British politics since 1830 : a study in policy-making. New York, Palgrave Macmillan.

• Licensing Act 1872: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/35-36/94/contents/enacted (04.03.2022).
• McAllister, Annemarie, "Pictruing the Demon Drink: How Children were shown the temperance Principles in the Band of Hope," Taylors and Francis. 28/022022. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01973762.2012.732029
• Yeomans, H. (2014) Alcohol and moral regulation : public attitudes, spirited measures and Victorian hangovers . Bristol :, Policy Press.
• "Temperance Movement." Ohio Hitory Central . 04/03/2022. https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Temperance_Movement
• Encyclopedia Britancia, "Temperance movement." Britannica. 01/03/2022 https://www.britannica.com/topic/temperance-movement.