In Temperance Societies in Late Victorian and Edwardian England, David Fahey picks up the story of the Temperance movement in the late Victorian period, which was the point of departure for Brian Harrison in Drink and the Victorians: The Temperance Question in England, 1815–1872 (1971) and Lillian Shiman in The Crusade against Drink in Victorian England (1988). As Fahey notes, these classic texts in British alcohol and Temperance history opened a gateway to a field of study that continues to yield historical insights into the political, social, economic, medical, and moral dimensions of alcohol production, consumption, and regulation in Britain. Fahey adds to this literature by skillfully navigating the complexities of the Drink Question in late Victorian Britain through an analysis of the national and local Temperance societies that proliferated in England during the period.
Fahey focuses each of his five chapters focus on a particular aspect of the Temperance movement. In chapter 1, he considers the different types of people who aligned with Temperance, ranging from moderationists, who were in favor of licensing reform, to the more radical Teetotalers, who advocated absolute abstinence from alcohol and the prohibition of alcohol sale and consumption. Put simply, one might imagine the Temperance movement as existing on a spectrum ranging from prohibitionists at one end to moderationists at the other, Those in the movement differed in their beliefs and opinions about alcohol according to their social class, age, occupation, gender, religion, ethnicity, geographical location, political alignment, and of course their own relationship with alcohol, as some were reformed drinkers. Although there were differences and contradictions in people's beliefs about alcohol sale and consumption, Fahey argues that those in the movement people were united by their commitment to it.
Chapter 2 outlines the moderate Temperance societies operating in England in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. As Fahey notes, there were simply too many societies to discuss all separately. For example, in 1907 there were 30 national societies, 830 county societies, and 40,000 town and village societies (25). These societies held different positions on alcohol regulation, control, and prohibition, and their membership differed in terms of religious denomination, political beliefs, occupational status, and even recreational pursuits. Two notable groups, for example, were the Abstainers Cycling Union and the Temperance Billiards League. The largest youth organization was the Band of Hope, which recruited working-class children, but other societies also had youth divisions. At the fringe of the moderate societies was the semi-Teetotal movement where members signed a pledge promising not to drink except at mealtimes and to limit the amount of alcohol they consumed daily. There are interesting parallels with this group and current public health messages about limiting rather than prohibiting alcohol consumption.
Chapter 3 focuses on the largest of the UK Temperance societies, the United Kingdom Alliance, which was founded in Manchester in 1853 as a political organization campaigning for the prohibition of alcohol. In the decades that followed its inception, the United Kingdom Alliance shifted its position to campaign for local rather than national prohibition, favoring the policy known as Local Veto, which would enable ratepayers to decide on banning alcohol sales within their towns and districts. This shift occurred at a time when licensing reform held more political currency than did alcohol prohibition, and as Fahey notes, the United Kingdom Alliance's shrinking membership toward the end of the century reflected this political move from prohibition to reform. Nonetheless, the United Kingdom Alliance remained committed to campaigning for prohibition and opposed other forms of alcohol regulation and control such as restricting the numbers of licensed premises and disinterested management schemes. Fahey considers other prohibitionist organizations in chapter 4, such as the Independent Order of Good Templars, which operated along similar lines to the Freemasons and had a more militant working-class membership than the United Kingdom Alliance, including high numbers of reclaimed drunkards. The Good Templers were ardent prohibitionists who recruited large numbers of working-class men and women into their ranks.
In the final chapter, Fahey considers in more detail the role of women within the larger Temperance societies such as the United Kingdom Alliance, where women held honorary senior positions and the Church of England Temperance Society, which set up inebriate homes that were managed by women. It also considers the women-only societies, like the British Women's Temperance Association, which was formed in 1876 as an offshoot of the Good Templars. Disagreements over the leadership and tactics of the British Women's Temperance Association led to a split in 1893 to form the Women's Total Abstinence Union, which was more aligned with women's suffrage. Fahey shows that although women were generally marginalized in terms of leadership and membership within national and sometimes local societies, some did achieve prominence, but many more played a grassroots role in populating meetings, organizing fund-raising events, and, of course, raising a generation of potential abstainers.
Given the complexity and diversity of the Temperance movement, Fahey generates more questions than he can possibly answer, but he does pave the way for future research. He provides tantalizing glimpses into the social and cultural aspects of Temperance subculture that left me wanting to know more about the grassroots element of Temperance activism and its connections to working-class radicalism and women's emancipation. He also raises questions about why people were so conflicted in their attitudes and beliefs about alcohol sale and consumption and how this connects to the changing social and political context. Fahey's meticulous research has yielded an important resource for students and scholars of British alcohol history as it contributes to a greater understanding of the Temperance movement in England and more broadly offers valuable insights into the social, political, and religious context of alcohol regulation and control during a period of great social change.
