Record Masterclass
Countless adults and children formally promised to avoid alcohol. Annemarie McAllister explains how to find out if your relative was among them
Both adults and children signed pledges promising to abstain from alcohol. Was your relative among them?
Millions of our ancestors committed to changing their lives in the 19th and 20th centuries by signing a pledge to abstain from alcohol. They might have been encouraged to do so by one of the many organised groups, such as the Independent Order of Rechabites, the Sons of Temperance, and the Band of Hope, but the earliest pledges were simply signatures below a statement promising to abstain from alcohol as a beverage. Alcohol was still widely used medicinally in the 19th century, but the rise of alternative treatments enabled later pledges to state “all alcohol”, with no reservations. When seven men signed the first such pledge in Preston, on 1 September 1832, it began the total abstinence movement (known as ‘teetotalism’ from 1833), which swept the UK by the mid-1800s and led to the word ‘temperance’ generally
‘The total abstinence movement swept the UK by the mid-1800s’
meaning moderation or selfrestraint when it came to the consumption of alcohol.
A Big Decision
The movement was spread by working men and women as advocates, and represented a chance for ordinary people to make a life-changing decision that would save them precious money and improve their lives in many other ways. Indeed a pledge was often considered the most important document of someone’s life, and would be carefully preserved as long as the promise was kept. Often pledges were framed and hung on walls, as reminders as well as proof of commitment.
As the 19th century wore on, millions of pledges were printed and signed, with more produced at the onset of the First World War for young men called up for service. Temperance persisted strongly well into the 20th century in Scotland, Wales and Ireland, as well as in both urban and rural areas of England.
However, if your family archive includes a pledge preserved by your ancestor,
then you can count yourself lucky: most were discarded as the movement became unfashionable in the second half of the 20th century. Otherwise, although religious belief was not an essential part of temperance, churches preserved copies of many pledge records, and those that survive may now be found in the local archives. Specialised archives such as the Livesey Collection at the University of Central Lancashire supply more complete examples, but they have been collected randomly so the odds may be against you. Sadly, few collections have been digitised so far.
Pledges include the person’s name and location, and the date of the pledge. In the case of members of juvenile groups such as the Band of Hope, the Junior Rechabites and the