Horsham’s Temperance leading light

Many people across the UK will be taking part in ‘Dry January’. After the festive period, with office parties and general merry-making it’s a way of taking a break from alcohol.

Of course, there’s a very serious side and the whole Dry January concept which is backed by Alcohol Change UK, a group that also aims to help those struggling to cut down or quit drinking.

Back in the 19th Century there was a growing trend to promote a healthy lifestyle; one that would not include ‘the demon drink’.

The 18th Century ‘gin craze’ had left its scar on many who saw it as a working-class problem, resulting in drunkenness and anti-social behaviour.

In the following years various organisations were formed to combat the use of alcohol, such as the Band of Hope, while the Methodist Church also aligned itself with the temperance movement.

In was in this climate that Methodist Jury Cramp, who had set up a jewellers and opticians shop in Horsham years before, opened Cramp’s Temperance Hotel in Market Square in 1898.

It was advertised in the local West Sussex County Times as a ‘Home from Home’ for visitors, cyclists and travellers.

You could get a bed for the night, have a hot or cold bath for 6d and even stable your horse. You could enjoy a nice tea or groups could hold their committee meetings there.

The local ‘tent’ (group) of the Independent Order of Rechabites was one such organisation that held meeting at the hotel. The Rechabites were one of a number of Friendly Societies set up from the late 18th century to provide working class people with health insurance and death benefit. The founders were a group of Manchester Methodists, and one of the founding principles was total abstinence from alcohol for all members.

The Temperance Movement was given a boost when the Great War began. Pub hours were restricted and extra tax was put on beer.

However, the failed attempt in the United States of America to clampdown on alcohol during the Prohibition meant that temperance in the UK was unable to continue its momentum.