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  • Open Access
  • © 2018

Drinking in Victorian and Edwardian Britain

Beyond the Spectre of the Drunkard

Palgrave Macmillan

Authors:

  • Funded by the Wellcome Trust, this book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license

  • Presents a social history of drinking in Britain, focusing on consumers’ actions and attitudes rather than the problems of alcohol

  • Explores why people continued to drink alcohol throughout a period when it became increasingly difficult to do so in a socially acceptable way

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
  2. Introduction: Reframing Drink and the Victorians

    • Thora Hands
    Pages 1-10Open Access
  3. Drinkers

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11
    2. The Spectre of the Drunkard

      • Thora Hands
      Pages 13-24Open Access
    3. The Great Army of Drinkers

      • Thora Hands
      Pages 25-40Open Access
    4. The Secret Army of Drinkers

      • Thora Hands
      Pages 41-48Open Access
    5. Testing the ‘Character of Drink’

      • Thora Hands
      Pages 49-55Open Access
  4. Drinks

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 57-57
    2. Selling ‘the Drink of the Empire’: Bass & Co. Ltd

      • Thora Hands
      Pages 59-68Open Access
    3. Making Scotch Respectable: Buchanan and Walker

      • Thora Hands
      Pages 69-83Open Access
    4. Selling the ‘Illusion’ of the Brand: W & A Gilbey

      • Thora Hands
      Pages 85-91Open Access
  5. Drinking in Victorian and Edwardian Britain

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 93-93
    2. Doctor’s Orders: A Prescription to Drink

      • Thora Hands
      Pages 95-112Open Access
    3. Drinking for Health: Proprietary Tonic Wines

      • Thora Hands
      Pages 113-127Open Access
    4. Neither Carnival nor Lent: Everyday Working Class Drinking

      • Thora Hands
      Pages 129-143Open Access
    5. The Drinking Cultures of the Higher Classes

      • Thora Hands
      Pages 145-157Open Access
    6. Conclusions

      • Thora Hands
      Pages 159-164Open Access
  6. Back Matter

    Pages 165-195

About this book

This open access book surveys drinking in Britain between the Licensing Act of 1869 and the wartime regulations imposed on alcohol production and consumption after 1914. This was a period marked by the expansion of the drink industry and by increasingly restrictive licensing laws. Politics and commerce co-existed with moral and medical concerns about drunkenness and combined, these factors pushed alcohol consumers into the public spotlight. Through an analysis of public and private records, medical texts and sociological studies, the book investigates the reasons why Victorians and Edwardians consumed alcohol in the ways that they did and explores the ideas about alcohol that circulated in the period.  This book shows that they had many reasons for purchasing and consuming alcoholic substances and these were driven by broader social, cultural, medical and commercial factors. Although drunkenness may have been the most visible consequence of alcohol consumption, it was not the only type of drinking behaviour. Alcohol played an important social role in the everyday lives of Victorians and Edwardians where its consumption held many different meanings.


Keywords

  • Alcohol
  • Consumption
  • Drunkenness
  • Nineteenth century
  • Twentieth century
  • Licensing Act
  • Moral
  • Alcohol industry
  • Medical history
  • Social history
  • Temperance
  • Open access

Reviews

“Drinking in Victorian and Edwardian Britain makes a fresh contribution to the discipline across numerous fields. Cheers to that.” (Lacey Sparks, Victorian Studies, Vol. 61 (4), 2019)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Social Sciences, City of Glasgow College, Glasgow, UK

    Thora Hands

About the author

Thora Hands completed her PhD in History at the University of Strathclyde and is currently a Lecturer in Social Sciences at City of Glasgow College, UK.


Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Drinking in Victorian and Edwardian Britain

  • Book Subtitle: Beyond the Spectre of the Drunkard

  • Authors: Thora Hands

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92964-4

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

  • License: CC BY

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-92963-7Published: 29 June 2018

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-06558-4Published: 22 December 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-92964-4Published: 18 June 2018

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIV, 195

  • Number of Illustrations: 20 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: History of Britain and Ireland, Social History, History of Medicine, British Culture

Buy it now

Buying options

Softcover Book USD 31.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 31.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access