Abstract
Edwardian Britain saw the Drink question reach heights of acrimony and fierce political dispute, culminating in the controversies of the Liberal government’s licensing bill of 1908. This triggered massive demonstrations on either side in Hyde Park, elicited controversial pronouncements from prominent church leaders and contributed to the simmering constitutional crisis of 1909–11. In short, Drink became one of the major conflicts between the parties. This could hardly have been forecast at the turn of the century, when calmer waters had seemed to lie ahead. Then, the pattern had seemed to be set whereby Drink would increasingly be taken out of the cockpit of party politics, with renewed efforts being made by moderate social reformers, church leaders and the like to produce compromise solutions.
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Notes
T. R. Gourvish and R. G. Wilson, The British Brewing Industry, 1830–1980 (Cambridge University Press, 1994 ) pp. 267–83.
Ibid., p. 285; David W. Gutzke, Protecting the Pub: Brewers and Publicans Against Temperance ( Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1989 ) p. 164.
Edmund Bristol, ‘The Liberty and Property Defence League and Individualism’, Historical Journal, 18 (1975), pp. 761–89;
N. Soldon, ‘Laissez-Faire as Dogma: The Liberty and Property Defence League, 1882–1914’, in Kenneth D. Brown (ed.), Essays in Anti-Labour History: Responses to the Rise of Labour in Britain ( London: Macmillan, 1974 ) pp. 208–33.
Joseph Rowntree and Arthur Sherwell, The Temperance Problem and Social Reform (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 7th edn, 1899), ch. 2.
G. B. Wilson, Alcohol and the Nation: a Contribution to the Study of the Liquor problem in the United Kingdom from 1880 to 1935 ( London: Nicholson and Watson, 1940 ) p. 185.
Parliamentary Debates, 4th series, vol. 82, cols. 1004–28 (8 May, 1900); G. K. A. Bell, Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury, 2 vols (London: Oxford University Press, 1935 ), vol. 1, pp. 323–4; Ridley to Salisbury, 2 May, 1900, Salisbury Papers; Parliamentary Debates, 4th series, vol. 82, cols. 1023–8, (8 May, 1900 ).
CETS, Annual Report, 1899, p. 17. See also E. S. Howard, Why the Church of England Temperance Society supports Lord Peel’s Report (London: CETS, [c.1901]). Howard and other officials of the Society were among the keenest supporters of Whittaker’s efforts: E. S. Howard to F. Eardly-Wilmot, n.d., Eardley-Wilmot to Davidson, 10 July, 1900, Davidson Papers, 1900/ T2; Eardley-Wilmot to Davidson, 14 May, 1900, ibid., Temperance and Licensing box. The rank and file were less extreme, and the Society also agreed to support proposals embodying the ‘common ground’ between the two reports of the Commission;
E. S. Howard, Practical Suggestions for the Improvement of the Existing Licensing Laws and their Administration, based upon the Points of Agreement in the Royal Commission Reports (London: CETS, [c.1900]);
E. S. Howard, What is Practical in the Way of Temperance Legislation? (London: CETS, [1902]).
Peel to Davidson, 15 March, 1900, Davidson Papers, Temperance and Licensing box; Peel, The Times, 30 October, 1901, p. 8; John Newton, W. S. Caine, M.P.: A Biography ( London: Nisbet, 1907 ) pp. 294–8; T. W. Russell, Parliamentary Debates, 4th series, vol. 89, cols. 595–607 (20 February, 1901); ibid., 101, cols. 1441–4 (30 January, 1902 ).
James E. G. De Montmorency, Francis William Fox ( London: Oxford University Press, 1923 ) p. 35.
Samuel Smith, My Life-Work ( London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1902 ) p. 293.
Arthur Chamberlain, Licensing in the City of Birmingham (Birmingham: Cornish Bros. [1902]) pp. 9–12.
Arthur Chamberlain came to view the trade with some bitterness and took a prominent part in the subsequent agitation against proposals for compensation, much to his brother’s embarrassment. James L. Garvin and Julian Amery, The Life of Joseph Chamberlain, 6 vols (London: Macmillan, 1932–69) vol. 5, pp. 172–3; The Times, 29 July, 1903, p. 10, 23 September, 1903, p. 4, 11 March, 1904, p. 8, 15 April, 1904, p. 5.
Joseph Rowntree and Arthur Sherwell, Public Interests or Trade Aggrandisement? ( London: P. S. King, 1904 ) p. 9. Articles by Rowntree and Sherwell, Daily News, 6, 13, 16, and 23 May, 1904.
Lloyd George to William George, 23 June, 1904, quoted William George, My Brother and I ( London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1958 ) p. 171.
George W. E. Russell, Sir Wilfrid Lawson: a Memoir ( London: Smith Elder, 1909 ) p. 261.
Viscount G. Cave, The Licensing Bill, 1908. The Case Against the Bill (London: National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations, 1908);
F. E. Smith and E. E. Williams, An Essay on the Philosophy of the Licensing Bill ( London: P. S. King, 1908 );
F. E. Smith and E. E. Williams, The ‘Facts’ and ‘Arguments’ of Sir Thomas Whittaker, M. P., An Examination ( London: P. S. King, 1908 ); Walter Long, Parliamentary Debates, 4th series, 187, cols. 1282–4, (9 April, 1908);
Peter Rowland, The Last Liberal Governments: The Promised Land 1905–1910 (London: Barrie and Rockliff, Cresset Press, 1968 ) p. 161.
Philip Snowden, An Autobiography, 2 vols (London: Nicholson and Watson, 1934), vol. 1, p. 187
Cf. also C. Masterman, The Condition of England, J. T. Boulton (ed.), (London: Methuen, 1960 ) pp. 99–102.
J. S. Sandars to Balfour, 8 May, 1908, Balfour Papers, Add. MSS, 49765, f. 164; Thomas Newton, Lord Lansdowne: a Biography ( London: Macmillan, 1929 ), p. 368; Rowland, Last Liberal Governments, p. 161.
Lord Willoughby de Broke, The Passing Years ( London: Constable, 1924 ) p. 247.
E. H. H. Green, The Crisis of Conservatism: the Politics, Economics and Ideology of the British Conservative Party, 1880–1914 ( London: Routledge, 1995 ).
Bruce K. Murray, The People’s Budget 1909/10: Lloyd George and Liberal Politics (Oxford University Press, 1980) p. 56.
J. W. MacKail and G. Wyndham, Life and Letters of George Wyndham, 2 vols (London: Hutchinson, [1925]) vol. 2, p. 643.
Lord Riddell, More Pages from my Diary 1908–1914 ( London: Country Life, 1934 ) p. 10.
Ibid., p. 108; Joseph Rowntree and Arthur Sherwell, The Taxation of the Liquor Traffic, 2nd edn ( London: Macmillan, 1908 ); Gutzke, Protecting the Pub, pp. 175–6.
J. W. Gulland, Scotland Sober and Free (Glasgow, 1909 ) pp. 6–7.
J. A. Spender, The Life of the Right Hon. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, 2 vols (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1923 ), vol. 2, p. 377.
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Greenaway, J. (2003). The High Water Mark of Party Political Controversy, 1902–14. In: Drink and British Politics since 1830. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230510364_5
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