The White Ribbon Association (WRA), previously known as the British Women's Temperance Association (BWTA), is an organization that seeks to educate the public about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, as well as gambling. [1]
The White Ribbon Association (WRA), previously known as the British Women's Temperance Association (BWTA), is an organization that seeks to educate the public about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, as well as gambling. [1]
The British Women's Temperance Association (BWTA) was founded following a meeting in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1876 featuring American temperance activist "Mother" Eliza Stewart. Margaret Eleanor Parker, a founding member, served as its first president. [2] The next president was Clara Lucas Balfour. Margaret Bright Lucas, who toured with Stewart during these meetings, succeeded as BWTA president in 1878. The BWTA achieved greater success under her successor, Lady Henry Somerset, but ultimately British temperance was destined to achieve less than its American counterpart. Lady Henry was succeeded by Rosalind Howard, Countess of Carlisle, known as "The Radical Countess" for her opposition to alcohol consumption. Lucas was however, an important link in the Anglo-American women's reform networks as well as being a pioneer in British women's temperance.
In 1885, the association was affiliated to the World Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WWCTU), of which body Lucas was the first president. The pledge of the BWTA was, "I promise by God's help to abstain from all intoxicating drinks, and to try to induce others to do the same." [3]
The association's internal organisation consisted of:
The departments of the association were: Organization; Speakers' Bureau; "Y" (Young Women's) B. W. T. A. ; Temperance Legions; Evangelistic; Bible Lessons and Study : Unfermented Wine at the Sacrament; Preventive; Social Purity; Social; Drawing-Room Meetings; Facts: Educational; Health and Hygiene; Adult Schools; High Schools and Private Schools; Legal; Brewster Sessions; Police Matrons; Women as Poor Law Guardians; Members of School Boards, etc.; Work Among Women Municipal Voters; Political; Literature and Press; Inebriate Women; Native Races; Traveling.
In the year 1893-94, 1,500 meetings were held by members of the National Executive Committee, and 2,000 in all were reported to headquarters; 300 new societies were formed; 8,500,000 pages of literature were issued, including the organ, The Women's Signal, which had a circulation of 16,271 per week. [3] Temperance clubs worked to provide public drinking fountains, sometimes called a "temperance fountain" which were often placed opposite public houses to provide alternatives to alcohol. In response to a call by Lady Somerset in 1896, the White Ribbon Children's club funded the construction of a fountain with a bronze portrait of a "Cold Water Girl" mounted on a granite base. The fountain is now placed in the Eastern Victoria Gardens near to Victoria Embankment in London. [6] During the World Wars, the branches and county unions set up kitchens, mobile canteens, recreation and refreshment rooms for military personnel. [7]
After a contentious annual meeting in 1893 during which Lady Somerset led the change in club policies to include the support for women's suffrage, the organization split. A new group was formed, the Women's Total Abstinence Union (WTAU), which focused solely on temperance, electing former BWTA officers Lucy Ann Brooks, Docwra, and Martha Holland as WTAU officers. [8] The BWTA was re-named the National British Women’s Temperance Association [9] and its honorary secretary was Jane Aukland. [10]
The Association supports a whiteribbon (publishing) company, an industrial farm home, a retreat for inebriate women, St. Mary's Training Home for Girls Alpha House, a preventive and rescue home. A Scottish Christian Union independent but affiliated to the British Women's Temperance Association was organised in 1876 -9, [3] and had grown to 80,000 members, 332 branches by 1908. [5] One of its members, Eliza Wigham became a vice-president of BWTA. [5] In 1915, Christina Marshall Colville was elected president of the BWTA Scottish Christian Union. [11]
The BWTA ran many successful and lively girls' groups, known as Y-branches (for youth). These were often associated with Methodist and other non-conformist churches, and organised all kinds of activities as well as weekly meetings. One of their most successful was a "Masque of Noble Women", which was performed by dozens of branches all over Britain from 1915. A box of costumes was bought and lent out to branches along with copies of the script. Probably modelled on the suffragette "Pageant of Great Women", it featured popular heroines including Florence Nightingale, Queen Victoria, Boadicea and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. [12]
After the BWTA became aroused to the fact of the alarming increase of inebriety among women, it studied the subject and, under the leadership of its president, Lady Henry Somerset, started in 1895, the Duxhurst Industrial Farm Colony, a voluntary in-patient residential treatment center for habitual alcoholic women. Situated about 4 miles (6.4 km) from Reigate railway station, the 180 acres (73 ha) "Village" contained home-like cottages, a church, the chaplain's lodge, farm buildings, a hospital, and a large dining and recreation hall. [13] [14] [15]
In the 1990s a Mobile Education Unit would set up exhibits at festivals or shopping centres to raise awareness about the organization and its goals. [7]
BWTA women often wore white ribbons as a symbol of the Temperance cause, and thus their organ was named the White Ribbon. [16]
A permanent office for the National British Women's Temperance Association (NBWTA) opened in 1923 at 104 Gower Street, London. In 1952 the organisation moved to 23 Dawson Place in London, and in 2006 the headquarters were moved to 341 Tanworth Lane, Solihull. [7]
In 2004, the organisation was re-named the White Ribbon Association. Today, the White Ribbon Association offers free services and resources focusing on health education and a variety of topics for children's displays. The White Ribbon Association welcomes visitors to the Archives where they have archived many products and records from the 19th and early 20th century. [17]
Margaret Bright Lucas was a British temperance activist and suffragist. She served as president of the British Women's Temperance Association (BWTA), the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), and the Bloomsbury branch of the Women's Liberal Association.
Matilda B. Carse was an Irish-born American businesswoman, social reformer, publisher, and leader of the temperance movement. With Frances E. Willard and Lady Henry Somerset, Carse helped to found the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
Sidlow is a mainly rural, lightly populated village in the parish of Salfords and Sidlow, in the south of the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England.
Isabella Caroline Somerset, Lady Henry Somerset, styled Lady Isabella Somers-Cocks from 5 October 1852 to 6 February 1872, was a British philanthropist, temperance leader and campaigner for women's rights. As president of the British Women's Temperance Association, she spoke at the first World's Woman's Christian Temperance Association convention in Boston in 1891.
Margaret Eleanor Parker (1827–1896) was a British social activist, social reformer, and travel writer who was involved in the temperance movement. She was a founding member of the British Women's Temperance Association (BWTA) in 1876, and served as its first president. Born in England, Parker resided in Scotland. She was a delegate to the 1876 International Organisation of Good Templars (IOGT) meeting which led to the formation of the BWTA. She was also instrumental in founding the World Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WWCTU). In 1881, she founded another type of women's association, one which focused on horticulture and supply, but it did not flourish. Parker described her travels in the Eastern United States in Six Happy Months amongst the Americans (1874).
Lady Griselda Johanna Helen Cheape was a British anti-suffrage campaigner.
Mary Shuttleworth Boden was an activist in the British temperance movement. She was affiliated with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, British Women's Temperance Association, British Temperance League, Girls' Friendly Society, Women's Union Church of England Temperance Society, Bands of Hope, and the Woman's Auxiliary Union. She donated land to Derby on Bold Lane in memory of her husband which was equipped with sixteen swings as an area for girls, boys and small children to play.
Frances Julia Barnes was an American temperance reformer. She served as General Secretary of the Young Woman's Branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
Clara Cleghorn Hoffman was an American educator and temperance reformer. She became identified with the white-ribbon movement in Kansas City, Missouri, giving up her position as principal of a school to enter the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She served as President of the Missouri WCTU for 25 years. Within the National WCTU, she lectured across the U.S, was chosen Assistant Recording Secretary, and Recording Secretary, succeeding Lillian M. N. Stevens.
Lucia Faxon Additon was an American writer, music teacher, and Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) official. In addition to being a pioneer in WCTU work on the Pacific Coast, she was known as a leader in philanthropic, education, and religious work. Additon was also a clubwoman, being the founder and president of the Woman's Press Club of Oregon, and State chair of Industrial Relations in the Oregon Federation of Woman's Clubs.
Women's Total Abstinence Union (WTAU) was a British women's organization active during the temperance movement in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters were at 4 Ludgate Hill, London. In addition to a president, there were 41 vice-presidents. The general committee met four times a years and consisted of members of the Executive Committee and 40 others elected annually from the council meetings of delegates. The Executive Committee consisted of the officers and 23 elected members. There was a sub-committee for junior work.
Helen Morton Barker was an American social reformer active in the temperance movement. For twelve years, she served as treasurer of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
Cold Water Army was an American temperance organization for children. It was established in 1839 by Rev. T. P. Hunt, who was affiliated with the American Temperance Society (ATS). In its day, hundreds of thousands of children belonged to the society. The movement attained its height in 1843, but interest was diminished by the Washingtonian movement, whose members absorbed almost the whole attention of the temperance movement community. Yet for several years, these youthful organizations continued to exist in various locations. Even as late as 1862, some of these societies were known to be active.
Duxhurst Industrial Farm Colony was a British voluntary in-patient residential institution for the treatment and cure of habitual alcoholic women. It was founded in 1895 at Duxhurst, near Reigate, Surrey, England, by Lady Henry Somerset. Lady Henry was the first woman in England to pay attention to the inebriety of women, and she founded, at Duxhurst, the first industrial farm colony for alcoholic women. Using gender-specific religious treatment, Duxhurst was the largest of the retreat institutions in England in its day. It was funded by Lady Henry with contributions from the National British Women's Temperance Association (B.W.T.A.) and the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.WC.T.U.).
Jane Ferguson Gemmill, was a Scottish temperance activist who founded the Whiteinch Band of Hope and the Partich Branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.). She was also affiliated with the British Women's Temperance Association (B.W.T.A.) and the Scottish Temperance Alliance. Gemmill was the only woman candidate in the municipal election of 1907 in the Glasgow district.
Jane Munday Aukland was a British temperance campaigner who was the founding honorary secretary of the British Women's Temperance Association.
Deborah Knox Livingston was a Scottish-born American lecturer associated with temperance and suffrage movements. She spent much of her life in service to the National and World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), as well as the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), Federation of Women's Clubs, League of Women Voters, and World League Against Alcoholism (WLAA). In Maine, she served as the chair of the state's Suffrage Campaign Committee, while in Rhode Island, she was President of the state's WCTU. In addition to the textbook, Studies in Government (1921), Livingston was the author of several treatises and articles.
Ann Watt Milne was a Scotch temperance leader who served as president of the British Women's Temperance Association (BWTA).
Ólafía Jóhannsdóttir was an Icelandic teacher and temperance worker. She traveled and lectured in different countries on behalf of the International Organisation of Good Templars (IOGT) and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), being proficient in English, Danish, Norwegian and German, in addition to her native Icelandic. She was an author, magazine editor, and textbook translator. It was Olafia's ambition to bring the women of Iceland to a position of equality with men.
Elizabeth Weir McLachlan was a Scottish-born Canadian temperance reformer. For eighteen years, she was recording secretary of the Dominion Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She also served as editor of the White Ribbon leaflet, the monthly official organ of the Quebec Provincial Union.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain . This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain . This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain . This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain . This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain . This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain :Bliss, William Dwight Porter (1898). The encyclopedia of social reform: including political economy, political science, sociology and statistics (Public domain ed.). Funk & Wagnalls company.