Temperance in the Victorian era: why did people stop drinking?

In September 1832, seven men in Preston signed a pledge of total abstinence from alcohol. It was one several shows of publicity in a movement that would ultimately see millions of people worldwide give up the so-called ‘vice’.

In this bonus episode accompanying the HistoryExtra podcast series The Tiger Tamer Who Went to Sea, David Musgrove speaks to Dr Annemarie McAllister of the University of Central Lancashire about the temperance movement’s aims, successes and failures.