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102 pages

English

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The truth behind the amazing work of the women of the temperance movement. In a time when women had no vote, their temperance work made the voices of many heard and their actions count. Exploring a forgotten but vital element of women's history, Scandal, Salvation and Suffrage demonstrates how closely the temperance campaign was linked to the fight for suffrage. Told through the true stories of real women, we see how they rose above their status as 'the weaker sex' to campaign for restrictions on the sale of alcohol, having recognised that many social problems were caused by excessive drinking - an issue still prevalent today. Some women were admirable but not likeable, while others were more radical and ahead of their time. Sex, slander and scandal all feature in their stories. This book leaves the reader to decide whether there are any lessons to be learned today from the work of these remarkable women and encourages us to remember their hard work and determination. Based on considerable research but written in an accessible way, Scandal, Salvation and Suffrage aims to celebrate the work of these extraordinary women and will appeal to those who enjoy social and women's history. It is not aimed at totallers; readers can - and should - raise a toast to these extraordinary women.

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Publié par	Troubador Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	28 mars 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781784628239
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

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Scandal, Salvation and Suffrage
The Amazing Women of the Temperance Movement
Ros Black

Copyright © 2015 Ros Black
Cover design by Agent Design www.agentdesign.eu
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study,
or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in
any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the
publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with
the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries
concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
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ISBN 978 1784628 239
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Matador ® is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

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This book is dedicated
to women everywhere –
let her story be told
Contents

Cover

Also by Ros Black

Acknowledgements

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 – Temperance Times

CHAPTER 2 – Anne Jane Carlile and the Band of Hope

CHAPTER 3 – Julia Wightman (1817 – 1898) – an Early Pioneer

CHAPTER 4 – Margaret Bright Lucas (1818 – 1890) and the British Women’s Temperance Association

CHAPTER 5 – Elizabeth Lewis (1843 – 1924) ‘The Drunkard’s Friend’

CHAPTER 6 – Sarah Robinson (1834 – 1921) ‘The Soldiers’ Friend’

CHAPTER 7 – Dame Agnes Weston (1840 – 1918) ‘The Sailors’ Friend’

CHAPTER 8 – Catherine Booth (1829 – 1890) ‘Mother of The Salvation Army’

CHAPTER 9 – Lady Henry Somerset (1851 – 1921) and her Farm Colony for Inebriate Women

CHAPTER 10 – Rosalind Howard, Countess of Carlisle (1845 – 1921) – ‘The Radical Countess’

CONCLUSION

The Last Word

Sources and Bibliography
Also by Ros Black

A Talent for Humanity – the Life and Work of Lady Henry Somerset
Duxhurst – Surrey’s Lost Village
Acknowledgements

I have been helped by so many people in my research. It never fails to surprise me how generous people are with their time, knowledge and encouragement.
I must firstly pay tribute to Audrey Ward for awakening my interest in Lady Henry Somerset and setting me off on an incredible journey of discovery. I am indebted to Dr Annemarie McAllister of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) for her enthusiasm for the temperance movement and for a wonderful re-enactment of a Band of Hope Meeting at the People’s History Museum, Manchester. Her colleague, Helen Cooper, curator of the Livesey Collection at UCLAN was also most helpful. Temperance historians and academics including Cynthia Belaskie have pointed me in some useful directions..
I have found staff at libraries and local history centres unfailingly helpful. My local Haywards Heath library has ordered in many books for me. The British Library, as always, has proved a rich source of pleasure and knowledge. Staff at Portsmouth History Centre, the Surrey History Centre, the Plymouth and West Devon Records Office and The National Archives at Kew have provided valuable assistance. I have been granted full access to the archives at The Institute of Alcohol Studies in London, where staff were very friendly and encouraging. Personnel at the Salvation Army International Heritage Centre and Lambeth Palace Library were similarly most obliging.
Much, but not all, of the story of women and the temperance movement is linked to the history of the British Women’s Temperance Association. Today’s successor organization is most commonly known as The White Ribbon Association and staff at its Solihull archives have been wonderfully generous with their time, resources and knowledge, particularly Anna Homer, Mary Ayres, Gail Williams and Victoria Taylor-Smith.
In researching Sarah Robinson’s story, I was assisted by Jane Seabrook, local historian & bookshop owner in East Hoathly. Through the wonders of the internet I have been contacted by relatives of Sarah now living in South Africa, including Ashton Emery. The Davis family of Swartberg and the Solomon family from near Howick have shared with me the delights of one of Sarah’s original journals.
The story of Agnes Weston took me to Plymouth. Nigel Overton of Plymouth Museum was most helpful and through him I was also assisted by Alston Kennerley of Plymouth University and Graham Brooks of the Plymouth Postcard Club. Local residents John Elder and Pippa Clewer, who both have links to the old Royal Sailors’ Rests, have kindly shared with me family stories which have helped bring Agnes’s story to life and made me appreciate what a legacy she has left. The National Museum of the Royal Navy at Portsmouth was also a useful source of information.
The same people who assisted me with my original researches in to the life of Lady Henry Somerset, for my first book, also deserve mention here, particularly Eileen Wood, curator of Reigate Priory Museum, James Hervey-Bathurst, owner of Eastnor Castle, Hazel Lein, archivist at Eastnor, Surrey historians Alan Moore, Sean Hawkins, Mary Slade and Carolyn Burnley and the current and former residents of Duxhurst. Arthur and Pauline Kennedy provided some fascinating photographs. I had assistance from across the Atlantic regarding Lady Henry’s great friend Frances Willard, especially from Janet Olsen and Mary McWilliams and from academics Carolyn De Swarte Gifford and Olwen Niessen.
I was granted access to the archives at Castle Howard, by kind permission of the Hon. Simon Howard. The Assistant Curator, Anna-Louise Mason, and Curator, Dr Christopher Ridgway, have been very helpful.
Without the support of family and friends it would be impossible to write any book. I salute you all.
Particular mention must go to my friends at Sutton Writers who gave me valuable feedback regarding titles and cover design and to Lena Scott who kindly provided a very long term loan of a most useful book.
Special thanks to Rosemary Callinan and Steve Black for their constructive comments on the draft manuscript.
Introduction

The women featured in this book didn’t necessarily think of themselves as feminists, yet their stories provide wonderful examples of what females could achieve. As we delve into the murky depths of the temperance movement, we find a colourful collection of female stars – women who didn’t let the lack of a vote affect their desire to highlight the perils of the drinking culture and to help others. Through their biographies, we can see how the movement impinged upon many aspects of life in the 19 th and early 20 th centuries.
History hasn’t been kind to the temperance crusade; it is either ignored or ridiculed. Its proponents are often perceived as cranks rather than as champions of social change. Yet it was a huge campaign, at its height in the late Victorian era. We think of prohibition as a somewhat bizarre, short-lived American experiment, spawning bootlegger heroes for page and screen. It could never have happened in Britain.
Or could it? In fact, Scotland came close. In 1913, just before the outbreak of the First World War, The Temperance (Scotland) Act was passed, giving voters the right to impose a local veto on the sale of alcohol in their area. Throughout the rest of the United Kingdom, the introduction of severe restrictions on the liquor trade was a very real possibility.
Some women – Sarah Robinson, Agnes Weston, Catherine Booth, Lady Henry Somerset and Rosalind Howard – were very major players and each warrants detailed consideration in this book. Others featured, like Mrs Elizabeth Lewis and Julia Wightman, were important figures, willing to break the mould of subservient womanhood. Two female-led temperance organizations – the Band of Hope, founded in 1847, to encourage children to understand and avoid the perils of alcohol, and the British Women’s Temperance Association founded in 1876, to mobilize the women’s voice – are central to the story. The timeline in Chapter 1 helps illustrate where our ladies fit into the overall picture. Perhaps not surprisingly, we discover that, from the women’s perspective, the campaign for temperance had many links to the campaign for suffrage.
You don’t have to be a teetotaller yourself (I’m not) to admire the courage and determination of these women. You don’t have to subscribe to the image of ‘the demon drink’ to enjoy their stories.
I discovered the work of Lady Henry Somerset, a Victorian temperance leader, quite by chance when visiting some local sites open over the annual Heritage Weekend. I had lived for 30 years in Reigate, Surrey, where Lady Henry had had a home. Although I had worked in the field of special needs social housing, I had never been aware that, in the 1890s, Lady Henry had set up a village just south of the town for the rehabilitation of women with alcohol problems. In reality, she had been doing my job over a hundred years before me.
In researching Lady Henry Somerset’s story, I came across many other amazing women from her period. Some were content to help individuals in a small way; others felt compelled to campaign on a bigger scale. Many found they had a real way with words, either teaching or writing – both socially acceptable practices. A few espoused temperance as a political cause, as important, perhaps even more important, than women’s suffrage. For many, temperance went hand-in-hand with evangelism. Salvation was sought through sobriety.
These women challenged the traditions of the navy, the army and the established church. There were aristocratic ladies, like Lady Henry Somerset and Rosalind Howard, or wives of vicars or preac