The Scottish Prohibition Party and the Millennium

William M. Walker

doi:10.1017/S0020859000004375

The Scottish Prohibition Party and the Millennium

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2008

William M. Walker

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In his most recent return to a thesis first stated in 1957, Professor Norman Cohn remains convinced of the “parallels and indeed the continuity” between medieval millenarianism and modern totalitarianism. While Professor Cohn's treatment of this theme has in 1970 been stated “more briefly” than in 1957, it is difficult to share his view that it has simultaneously been rendered “more clearly”. Indeed the latest edition of The Pursuit of the Millennium might easily persuade the reader that Professor Cohn had surrendered that hypothesis which formed a major interest of his work.

Type: Research Article
Information: International Review of Social History , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , December 1973 , pp. 353 - 379

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020859000004375 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1973

References

^{page 353 note 1} Cohn, N., The Pursuit of the Millennium (London, 1970), p. 285.Google Scholar

^{page 353 note 2} Ibid., p. 11.

^{page 353 note 3} Smalley, B., in English Historical Review, LXXIV (1959), pp. 101–03.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 353 note 4} Hobsbawm, E., Primitive Rebels (London, 1959), p. 57.Google Scholar

^{page 354 note 1} An explanation which Professor Cohn has expanded in another work: see Cohn, N., Warrant for Genocide (London, 1967), pp. 251–68.Google Scholar

^{page 354 note 2} The Prohibition Pioneer and Almanack for 1913 (Glasgow, 1913), pp. 4–6. This publication is to be found in the Scrymgeour Collection (hereafter SC), Box 10, in the Dundee Reference Library. The collection consists of the correspondence of Edwin Scrymgeour (leader of the Prohibition Party) together with propaganda literature and other items. The collection is uncatalogued but has been placed in numbered boxes. The library also has a complete file of the Scottish Prohibitionist (hereafter Prohibitionist). The temperance and prohibitionist sources quoted are all located in the Dundee Reference Library.

^{page 354 note 3} The Rev. Walter Walsh: see infra.

^{page 354 note 4} Christened the Tocsin, the premature collapse of Labour's first publishing venture can be traced to a cultural pretentiousness which never marked the pages of the Prohibitionist.

^{page 354 note 5} The paper survived, however, only with difficulty. It had to meet the charge that it was “far too local in character” (W. Wheatley to Scrymgeour, March 8, 1910, SC, Box 4), and that “prohibition is not to the front” (W. Innes to Scrymgeour, June 5, 1912, SC, Box 5).

^{page 355 note 1} For a discussion of this event see my “Dundee's Disenchantment With Churchill”, in: Scottish Historical Review, XLIX (1970).Google Scholar

^{page 355 note 2} From a cutting of an undated newspaper review of the Fourth Biennial Report 1861 of the Dundee Band of Hope, in the Dundee Band of Hope Historical Scrapbook (hereafter DBHHS), p. 156.

^{page 355 note 3} W. Norrie, The Life of James Scrymgeour of Dundee (Dundee, 1887), p. 35. The fact that James Scrymgeour, when well, was still the object of the citizenry's banter, makes it difficult to estimate just how unbalanced he was.

^{page 355 note 4} Ibid., passim.

^{page 355 note 5} Arthur, J., president of Dundee Band of Hope to Editor of Northern Warder, 05 25, 1853, DBHHS, p. 19.Google Scholar

^{page 356 note 1} Scrymgeour, J., Hard. Times Come Again No More (Dundee, 1860), p. 22.Google Scholar

^{page 356 note 2} Norrie, op. cit., p. 42.

^{page 356 note 3} Ibid., passim.

^{page 356 note 4} Hobsbawm, op. cit., p. 134.

^{page 356 note 5} “Enthusiastic” in the manner described by R. A. Knox (Enthusiasm (Oxford, 1950), p. 2)Google Scholar as that type of Christian who “insists that the members of his society, saved members of a perishing world, should live a life of angelic purity” and, among whom, there are “strange alternations of rigorism and antinomianism”.

^{page 356 note 6} J. Scrymgeour, op. cit., p. 5.

^{page 356 note 7} Undated newspaper cutting, DBHHS, p. 124.

^{page 357 note 1} Ibid.

^{page 357 note 2} Northern Warder, (May?) 1853, ibid., p. 84.

^{page 357 note 3} Quoted in Prohibitionist, November 25, 1922.

^{page 357 note 4} Cohn, Warrant for Genocide, p. 258.

^{page 357 note 5} Norrie, op. cit., p. 26.

^{page 357 note 6} James to Edwin Scrymgeour, November 17, 1882, SC, Box 6.

^{page 357 note 7} Prohibitionist, January 15, 1910.

^{page 358 note 1} Cohn, Pursuit of the Millennium (1962 edition), p. 314.

^{page 358 note 2} Ibid., p. 318.

^{page 358 note 3} For details of Scrymgeour's early unemployed struggles, see correspondence in SC, Box 5.

^{page 358 note 4} Rejection slips and returned manuscripts show Scrymgeour to have been no more successful with the local press than with the Pall Mall Magazine (SC, Box 6).

^{page 358 note 5} Cohn, Pursuit of the Millennium (1962 edition), p. 318.

^{page 359 note 1} Prohibitionist, November 12, 1910.

^{page 359 note 2} Dundee Courier and Advertiser, February 3, 1947.

^{page 359 note 3} For The Right (the monthly magazine of the Gilfillan Church), January, 1908.

^{page 359 note 4} Ibid., January, 1899.

^{page 359 note 5} Ibid., January, 1907.

^{page 360 note 1} Ibid., January, 1899.

^{page 360 note 2} Ibid., June, 1904.

^{page 360 note 3} Ibid., January, 1908.

^{page 360 note 4} Ibid., July, 1904.

^{page 360 note 5} From a biographical sketch: ibid., October, 1902.

^{page 360 note 6} Ibid., November, 1906.

^{page 360 note 7} Walsh argued that he had been obliged to seek a fresh electoral mandate since a “conspiracy” of Dundee Town Council members had prevented him from laying before the Council a policy document on housing reform (W. Walsh, The Tale of a Trick (Dundee, n.d., probably 1908), p. 2). In a spirited polemic an opponent on the Town Council explained that Walsh had infringed Standing Orders by trying to by-pass the Housing Committee and lay his report directly before the Council (A. F. Burke, “Burke” and “Hair” or The Tale of a Whole Bag of Tricks (Dundee, 1908), passim. “Hair” was a nickname earned for Walsh by his abundant locks, and Burke clearly could not resist the pun.)

^{page 360 note 8} For The Right, December, 1908.

^{page 361 note 1} Ibid.

^{page 361 note 2} Inglis, K. S., The Churches and the Working Classes in Victorian England (London, 1964), p. 233.Google Scholar

^{page 361 note 3} Walsh, W., From Presbyterian Dogma to Universal Religion (Dundee, 1912), p. 8, SC, Box 2.Google Scholar

^{page 361 note 4} Ibid., passim.

^{page 361 note 5} Stewart, R., Breaking The Fetters (London, 1967), p. 48.Google Scholar

^{page 361 note 6} Ibid.

^{page 362 note 1} Prohibitionist, February 5, 1910.

^{page 362 note 2} Stewart, op. cit., p. 48.

^{page 362 note 3} Ibid., p. 138.

^{page 362 note 4} Harrison, B., Drink and the Victorians (London, 1971), p. 377.Google Scholar

^{page 362 note 5} Sinclair, A., Prohibition (London, 1962), p. 22.Google Scholar

^{page 362 note 6} Prohibitionist, December 3, 1910.

^{page 363 note 1} Dundee Free Press, October 30, 1931.

^{page 363 note 2} Prohibitionist, April 6, 1912.

^{page 363 note 3} M. Moore to Scrymgeour, November 22, 1922, SC, Box 9.

^{page 363 note 4} Anon, to Scrymgeour, n.d., SC, Box 10.

^{page 364 note 1} Prohibitionist, January 15, 1910.

^{page 364 note 2} Ibid., January 29, 1910.

^{page 364 note 3} From an undated propaganda leaflet, SC, Box 5.

^{page 365 note 1} Scrymgeour to Tennyson Smith, July 30, 1909, ibid.

^{page 365 note 2} J. Grahame to Scrymgeour, May 14, 1914, ibid.

^{page 365 note 3} Scrymgeour to Grahame, May 16, 1914, ibid.

^{page 366 note 1} E. Scrymgeour, The Unanswered Case for Prohibition (Wishaw, 1920), p. 7, SC, Box 16.

^{page 366 note 2} Walsh, W., The Hewing of Agog (Dundee, n.d.), pp. 10–11.Google Scholar

^{page 366 note 3} Stewart, op. cit., pp. 44–5.

^{page 367 note 1} Prohibitionist, January 15, 1910.

^{page 367 note 2} Tennyson Smith to Scrymgeour, August 12, 1909, SC, Box 5.

^{page 367 note 3} J. Sime to E. D. Morel, November 1, 1921, Archives of the Union of Jute, Flax and Kindred Textile Operatives, Dundee, Union Letter-book No 2, fo. 320.

^{page 367 note 4} Sect, of Brechin branch of Prohibition Party (no signature) to Scrymgeour, December 3, 1906, SC, Box 4.

^{page 367 note 5} Burke, op. cit., p. 21.

^{page 367 note 6} Ibid., p. 7.

^{page 367 note 7} In the general election of 1918 the president of the Dundee Trades Council sought but was refused the permission of that body to chair Scrymgeour's campaign meetings. But there was a “large turn-out” of trade unionists at a meeting called by Scrymgeour to press his claims to adoption as the “Prohibitionist and Labour” candidate (Prohibitionist, March 16, 1918). By refusing to make the token gesture of securing affiliation, Scrymgeour made it impossible for the Dundee Labour Representation Committee to give him official recognition.

^{page 368 note 1} Walsh, W., From Presbyterian Dogma …, p. 14.Google Scholar

^{page 368 note 2} For the Right, November, 1907.

^{page 368 note 3} Ibid., March, 1905.

^{page 368 note 4} Burke, op. cit., p. 7.

^{page 368 note 5} Prohibitionist, March 16, 1918.

^{page 368 note 6} Ibid., June 29, 1918.

^{page 369 note 1} H. Dailly to Scrymgeour, March 26, 1912, SC, Box 5.

^{page 369 note 2} Dundee Free Press, October 30, 1931.

^{page 369 note 3} J. Scott to Scrymgeour, November 17, 1924, SC, Box 4.

^{page 370 note 1} Prohibitionist, April 2, 1910.

^{page 370 note 2} For The Right, April, 1905.

^{page 370 note 3} Ibid.

^{page 370 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 370 note 5} Ibid., May, 1905.

^{page 370 note 6} Ibid., February, 1905.

^{page 370 note 7} Burke, op. cit., passim. For evidence of the housing reforms proposed by Walsh it could be wished that a more reliable source existed than the polemic of Burke. At the same time, the quotations taken from Walsh by Burke do have a convincing tone.

^{page 371 note 1} Hobsbawm, op. cit., pp. 57–8.

^{page 371 note 2} Ibid., p. 65.

^{page 371 note 3} Ibid., pp. 139 and 134.

^{page 372 note 1} Ibid., p. 148.

^{page 372 note 2} Ibid., p. 7.

^{page 372 note 3} Ibid., p. 58.

^{page 372 note 4} Forgan, J. to Scrymgeour, 11 3, 1909, SC, Box 4.Google Scholar

^{page 372 note 5} M. Smilie to Scrymgeour, October 30, 1924, ibid.

^{page 373 note 1} Stewart, R., En Route To The Sober Commonwealth (n.d.), pp. 6 and 2, SC, Box 15.Google Scholar

^{page 373 note 2} Hobsbawm, op. cit., pp. 60–1.

^{page 373 note 3} Unidentified person (signature illegible) to Scrymgeour, October 30, 1924, SC, Box 4.

^{page 374 note 1} Scrymgeour's sense of divine mission did not deprive him of a capacity for astute political calculation. After the First World War he assiduously cultivated Dundee's discontented Irish community, and the Irish party in parliament, despite earlier criticism of both for their respective fondness of drink and financial backing by drink interests. There are other examples of how Scrymgeour thought it wise to suspend criticism of groups which might have been the object of Prohibitionist scorn had it not been that they were now deemed to be useful.

^{page 374 note 2} In fact the tenement flat occupied by Scrymgeour was a superior example of this type of building.

^{page 374 note 3} This resolution was welcomed by the monthly journal of the Dundee Jute and Flax Workers' Union as a “sign of the times” and the “wakening of the people”.

^{page 375 note 1} The cross-voting figures in Dundee elections were published in the dailies the Dundee Advertiser and the Dundee Courier. My colleague Dr Donald Southgate has made a study of the electoral support of the Prohibition Party in a valuable biographical sketch of Scrymgeour. See Lythe, S. G. E., Ward, J. T. and Southgate, D. G., Three Dundonians (Dundee, 1968), pp. 16–22.Google Scholar

^{page 375 note 2} Dundee Advertiser, December 15, 1918.

^{page 375 note 3} The figures are taken from the Dundee Advertiser. The calculation of percentages is my own.

^{page 376 note 1} Scrymgeour was a harsh critic of those who had deserted the party, but neither in 1924, nor at any other time, was he severe with Stewart.

^{page 377 note 1} Scottish Prohibition Party, Great Debate: Revolution Without Religion or Revolution Through Religion (Dundee n.d.), no pagination.

^{page 377 note 2} Cohn, , Pursuit of the Millennium (London, 1970), p. 282.Google Scholar

^{page 377 note 3} Harrison, op. cit., p. 380.

^{page 377 note 4} Hobsbawm, op. cit., pp. 67–8.

^{page 377 note 5} Ibid., p. 131.

^{page 377 note 6} In 1921 of the total number of persons occupied in industries and services in Dundee, 41.2 per cent worked in textiles (Census of Scotland 1921, Vol. 1, Pt 3, pp. 91–2.)

^{page 378 note 1} The jute industry experienced periods of great expansion in times of war and especially so during the Crimean War, the American Civil War and the FrancoPrussian War. See Lenman, B., Lythe, C. and Gauldie, E., Dundee and its Textile Industry 1850–1914 (Dundee, 1969), Ch. 2.Google Scholar

^{page 378 note 2} Report of the Chief Constable of the City of Dundee for 1939 (Dundee, 1940), pp. 50–1.Google Scholar

^{page 378 note 3} Ibid. My own calculation of percentages.

^{page 378 note 4} St. Andrew's Cathedral Booklet (Gloucester, 1935), p. 94.Google Scholar

^{page 378 note 5} The Rev. Henry Williamson, Dundee's Unitarian minister and President of the Dundee Mill and Factory Operatives' Trade Union, in a local paper, The People's Journal, October 14, 1922.

^{page 378 note 6} Undated newspaper cutting. Lamb Collection 196(D), Dundee Reference Library.

^{page 379 note 1} Dundee Advertiser, March 2, 1912.

^{page 379 note 2} “Word” to Scrymgeour, November 12, 1923, SC, Box 7.

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