| Description | Following an appeal from Yearly Meeting, a group of women Friends from Birmingham Meeting set up Birmingham Women Friends Temperance Association in 1874. Initial members of the Association's Committee included Anna S. Southall, Mary Ann Smithson, Mary Cadbury, Mary Pumphrey, Margaret Kenway, Priscilla Pumphrey, Caroline Barrow, Hannah Maria Hoyland and Mary Little. In later years, Florence Barrow, Ellen Sturge, Marian Priestman, Geraldine Cadbury, Ada Gibbins, A. B.Cudworth, Emma Cadbury were involved, among others.
From 1897, Warwickshire Monthly Meeting suggested that there should be a joint temperance meeting of men and women Friends working with separate committees and from December that year the Warwickshire North Monthly Meeting Temperance Association was established. This combined way of working was successful for a while, but by 1914, it was found that it had become increasingly difficult to initiate or undertake temperance work. According to the Association, this was due to the greatly increased number of Preparative Meetings which had sprung up since the turn of the century, and which were undertaking their own temperance work and the fact that some Friends were involved in temperance work outside the Society of Friends. In addition, young Friends, particularly men, had become less interested in adult school work by this time and were less likely to come into contact with people whose lives had been affected by excessive consumption of alcohol and therefore were less aware of the issue of temperance. The impact of this on the Association was the decision in 1914 to not nominate any men to the Joint Committee but to continue with the women Friends already active on the Committee who were principally members of Bull Street and George Road Preparative Meetings. In 1915 the Association changed its name back to Women Friends Temperance Association, and divided its 21 members into 9 sub-committees each responsible for a specific area of work. One these was an Executive Committee of 4 members who oversaw the work of the other sub-committees. This arrangement lasted until 1919.
The Association selected tracts, leaflets, circulars and pamphlets which were then distributed to homes where it was deemed they were most needed, and they undertook poster campaigns. To increase awareness of the subject of temperance to Friends and the wider public, they arranged or gave talks and lectures on subjects such as 'Prosperity and Adversity As Affected by our Drinking Customs', 'Temperance in its Medical and Educational Aspects', 'Personal Responsibility Concerning the Temperance Question', 'Temperance Legislation, the Next Step'. In later years they organised and appointed a lecturer to visit secondary schools across Birmingham to teach children about the problems caused by alcohol and further lectures were arranged for adults, particularly in the Women's Adult Schools and at Mothers' Meetings. They participated in and supported Bands of Hope which were temperance groups for children under the age of 16 which aimed to encourage them to sign a pledge to lead alcohol-free healthy lives and teach them about the problems caused by alcohol. They were involved in Bands of Hope at Severn Street and Priory schools, Marston Green Cottage Homes, Sir Josiah Mason's Orphanage, Harborne Kindergarten Blind Asylum, Windsor Street, Shenley Fields and Weoley Castle among others. They also undertook regular visits to boys schools such as Staniforth Board School and Gem Street School, made quarterly visits to Shustoke Reformatory, visited the women's workhouse and vaccination stations, and worked with the Hospital Nurses League. Parcels of clothes were regularly collected and donated to the Temperance Hospital Guild and Temperance Hospital, London. They worked with other temperance organisations across Birmingham.
For Friends Temperance Association Women's Branch, see SF/SF/2/1/1/15/1
For Warwickshire North Monthly Meeting Temperance Association minutes, see SF/SF/2/1/1/15/2 |