Margaret McCurrey (1815-1886)
‘A total abstainer from all intoxicating liquors’.
Maragaret McCurrey Monument
Margaret McCurrey’s distinctive monument is a testament to her temperance. Margaret abstained from alcohol for 29 years, and her husband James for over 40.
Temperence Movement
The temperance movement took hold in Britain in the early 19th century, and was closely linked to the movement to give working class people the vote.
The idea was that sober people could be given the responsibly of voting.
The evils of drink
The temperance organisations used moral arguments to persuade people to abstain from ‘all liquors of an intoxicating quality’.
By contrast, the prohibitionists argued for a complete ban on selling alcohol, as happened in America. Passionate orators like schoolteacher James Raper travelled the country, speaking out in favour of avoiding alcohol.
Inscription on Margaret's grave
Many groups, including the Methodists, the Salvation Army and the British Women’s Temperance Society, educated people about the perils of drink and argued for restricting its sale.
Many, like Margaret and her husband, were persuaded of the benefits, and perhaps their long lives can be put down to such clean living.
