Temperance – moderation, self-restraint, esp in eating and drinking, moderate use of, or total abstinence from, alcoholic liquors as beverages; ~ society etc. for restriction or abolition of use of alcoholic drinks. L temperantia.
The British Women's Temperance Association (BWTA) was founded in Newcastle in April 1876 following the National Convention of the International Order of Good Templars. The Manchester Women's Christian Temperance Association [MWCTA] was founded earlier in the same year but remained independent of the BWTA until in 1886 and even then retained its own name.
In the last quarter of the nineteenth century the philanthropic MWCTA worked for social improvement, particularly amongst the working classes. The Association was popular with middle-class ladies and they expanded their branches into Lancashire and Cheshire, with social gatherings entertained by music and recitations, where several girls expressed a desire to sign the pledge.
The Temperance Pledge
I hereby promise by grace divine, to take no spirits, beer or wine, nor will I buy nor sell, nor give strong drink to others while I live, and this my true resolve shall be, no drink, no drink, no drink for me.
The main concerns for the MWCTA during this period were: The work of the Police Courts Mission [PCM] and the establishment of a Reformatory for Inebriate Women. An enabling change to the Inebriates Act 1879. The appointment of police matrons at police stations for female prisoners. Stricter enforcement of the licensing laws and the conditions within the ‘Palace of Varieties’ and similar music halls. The selling of drink and the treating by sweets to children under 17 years at the back door of pubs and beer houses. The provision of public drinking fountains.
Police Courts Mission
The MWCTA became directly linked with the Police Courts Mission as it pursued the goal of a Reformatory for Inebriate Women and Police Matrons for female prisoners within the inner-city police stations. The PCM believed that ‘Intemperance is the root and cause of crime’. Present at the Manchester Minshull Street Court from 1879 it had by 1886 assisted over ‘3,000 women and girls who have had kindly words and offers of help given to them’ along with over 7,000 temperance pledges taken.
Intemperance and the Police
The English police records for the period reveal that from 1860 to 1876 there was a dramatic increase in cases of drunkenness (and subsequent imprisonment) which accounted for over half of all crime in London and one which Harrison (1971) summarised as ‘the product of a particular socio-economic structure’
Within Manchester a similar picture emerged. By 1876, out of the total number of persons arrested and charged, a third were females and 61% of those were drunk upon arrest (65% of male arrests). Drunkenness accounted for just under a half of all cases charged. The final quarter of the century saw a slow reduction in drunkenness. By 1892 within Manchester the total cases of drunkenness had fallen to 24% of those arrested and summonsed for all offences.
Manchester's PCM records stated that of 294 women seen in 1886 nearly 100 were drunk or had attempted suicide under the influence of strong drink. By 1890 the number of detained females had risen to 493. Relevant offences being larceny [theft], accosting [forceful begging], drunk and accosting, drunk and incapable, sleeping out and attempted suicide.
Fledgling Probation Service
McWilliams (1983)presents the missionaries of the PCM as the forerunners of the modern probation service, as they laboured to turn around and restore to moral and physical health, those women and girls they encountered. In 1889 the missionary at the Manchester Police Court restored 169 girls to their parents,13 to places of service, 11 to the workhouses four to hospital and ‘others to various houses’ often out of Manchester and harm's way. They were often able to persuade the Magistrates to pay for the expenses incurred. Only 30 females had gone onto the penitentiary that year which had been established to reform prostitutes.
The MWCTA stated that the use of imprisonment for the treatment of inebriate women was counter productive. By way of punishment for drunkenness the law provided for a fine of 21 shillings [£1.05] or a sentence of 28 days on default of payment. As the offender had often no means to pay, repeated terms of imprisonment was the inevitable result for habitual drunkards. In 1901 the Manchester City Police [MCP] recorded that out of 341 such offenders 93 had been arrested more than 20 times with one drunkard arrested for their 158th time.
Reformatory for Inebriate Women.