The Chartist movement originated in a London tavern, and countless local branches held their meetings in public houses. Yet there was also a strong teetotal element within the ranks urging total abstinence from alcohol.
In Teetotal Chartists, the Chartist Ancestors website looks at the reasons so many leading activists believed there should be a link between the two strands, and names more than 100 of those who were involved.
It also explains why Feargus O’Connor denounced Teetotal Chartism along with Christian Chartism and Knowledge Chartism as a dangerous distraction, and how Ernest Jones came to warn that Chartism could not be found “at the bottom of a glass of water”.
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