Victorian Temperance

George Burgess (1829-1905) became a teetotaller when he was about 21; in his diary he writes:-

"About the year 1850, in America, I examined and then adopted the principles of Total Abstinence from all intoxicating drinks."

Also, while in America, George Burgess starts to collect newspaper articles on subjects of interest him, including articles on Temperance; and when he returned to England in 1857 he continues to collecting newspaper articles and sticking them into his Victorian Scrapbook of newspaper articles ending up with a collection of over 500 Victorian Era Newspaper Articles.

George Burgess (my great-great grandfather) was born in Staple Hill, Bristol in 1829. He left school at 14 and at 16 went to Baltimore, Maryland, America with his brother-in-law (George Sperring) to continue their apprenticeship in stone cutting. George Sperring died there and was buried in Baltimore but George Burgess continued and finished his Apprenticeship in Marble Works in Philadelphia, America, returning to England in 1857. However, while in America he also learned about Phrenology and in 1861 started his own business in the Arcades in Bristol as a Phrenologist which he successfully ran until his retirement in 1901.

The Victorian Era newspaper articles below on Temperance (from England and America) are just a few samples from his Victorian Scrapbook on this subject. For further samples of Victorian newspaper articles on other subjects on Squidoo and to view the Full Victorian Scrapbook follow the links below.