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© F.Coakley , 2026
[from A.M Harrision's Descriptive List of Insular Societies]
In 1822 there were 443 public-Houses, or about one to every 90 of the population, so that the statement of an observer, who wrote about the period between 1825 and 1840, that most Manxmen got drunk with great regularity need not cause any surprise. But, fortunately, there was a growing sentiment that such a condition of things was intolerable, and this led in October, 1830, to the establishment of a temperance society, which was the forerunner of so many others that they gradually included among their members a considerable portion of the population.
For once A.W.Moore, in volume II of his History of the Isle of Man, notes the formation of an association , and sets the scene for the cause which eventually divided the Island into two distinct camps. The Isle of Man Temperance Society, based in Douglas , was first founded on the basis of abstention from spirituous liquors,quite soon replaced, in the revised rules of the society,dated c.1836, by teetotal abstinence from ale, porter, wine, ardent spirits and all intoxicating liquors . Apart from the rules, no records of the first society are known to exist, but the newspapers report the doings and state of the society with premises in Thomas Street, near the Wesleyan Church for several years. The Manx Sun of 13 December 1833, reported that 'A coffee-house under the patronage of the Isle of Man Temperance Society will, in the course of a few days , be opened in King Street under the superintendence of Mr. Maxwell' and the Manx Sun of 14 November 1834 published an account of the Annual meeting of the Society 'when it was reported that there were 200 members in Douglas, 274 in Castletown and 170 in Ballaugh'.
M.N.H.L. Rules of the Isle of Man Temperance Society, c. 1836, M.M.Mss.1235A;
Isle of Man newspapers ut supra et passim Publications:
A.W.Moore, History of the Isle of Man, vol II (1900), p.580,582
The Ballaugh members are, I suspect, those mentioned in the printed account, submitted by the Rev Hugh Stowell to the Manx Sun, Friday, 6th June 1834;
SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BALLAUGH TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.
It is gratifying to mark the rapid progress of Temperance Societies in all the different parts of the world. The seedling which was planted in America, about seven years ago has grown up into an immense tree. Fostered by the beams of " the Sun of righteousness," and watered by the dews of heaven it has spread Its branches far and near, and shed its precious fruits over the cities, towns, and villages of that vast continent. More than a million and a half of the inhabitants of the Western World are reposing under its shade. Scions from the parent stock have been ingrafted into the British Oak, and "like trees planted by the rivers' side" are now flourishing in all directions, "sending out their boughs unto the sea, and their branches unto the river."
A sprig from the tree of Temperance has been planted in the Isle of Man and although the soil appears not altogether congenial to its nature, nor the climate favourable to its growth, yet under the divine blessing, it is gradually acquiring strength, and begins to put forth buds, and "to blossom as a rose." With grateful acknowledgments to him who alone "giveth the increase" the managers of the small branch of the Temperance Society in the Parish of Ballaugh have the pleasure of reporting that during the last year it has made considerable advances, and promises to flourish more and more. The number of Members at present amounts to 138 a great majority of them adorn the Temperance cause by a regular and consistent walk. They testify to all around them the benefits which the Society conveys by the improvement which has taken place in their health, and in their circumstances, by the increase in their domestic comforts, and by the advancement of their temporal and spiritual interests. At every monthly meeting of the Society, each of the members receives a small book consisting of the publications of the Parent Society. These are received with eagerness, and read with avidity, they materially tend to keep alive and interest in the cause and to diffuse information relative to its progress.
The society have to lament the loss of one of its most efficient members, by the removal of a benevolent medical gentleman from the parish. They feel it incumbent on them to record the essential services which he rendered the Institution by so often advocating the cause "with thoughts that breathed, and words that burned." Long will his powerful appeals be remembered in which he so forcibly described the fatal effects of intemperance on the bodies of men, and the fearful train of diseases which he himself had witnessed occasioned by this fell destroyer. He again and again denounced ardent spirits as evil spirits, as deadly poison, and as the fruitful parent of gouts and dropsies, of brain fevers and apoplexies, of shattered nerves, and broken constitutions and of insanity and death. This true philantropist recommended the use of pure water as the best of all beverages, as most effectually promoting digestion, as most favourable to cheerfulness, and as most conducive to health of body and mind. What he thought he practiced. He scrupulously abstained from intoxicating liquors of all kinds, and thus was enabled to advance the cause of Temperance by example as well as by precept, by his life as well as by his tongue. May many such advocates of the Temperance Society arise amongst us, and spread the heavenly flame from breast to breast, from house to house, from parish to parish, from town to town, till, by the blessing of the Most High, all the inhabitants of our highly favoured country enrol their names in the records of Temperance, and exhibit to the surrounding nation the beautiful spectacle of a sober, pious, and happy population.
Then may we hope that "The Lord of Hosts will be with us, and the GOD of Jacob to be our Refuge,"
Rev. HUGH STOWELL, President.
JAMES T. CREGEEN, Secretary.
Ballaugh,4th June, 1834.
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