[1] The British Women's Temperance Association (BWTA) was founded in Newcastle in April 1876 following the National Convention of the International Order of Good Templars.
[2] The Manchester Women's Christian Temperance Association [MWCTA] was founded earlier in the same year but remained independent of the BWTA until in 1886 and even then retained its own name.
The Association was popular with middle-class ladies and they expanded their branches into Lancashire and Cheshire, with social gatherings entertained by music and recitations, where several girls expressed a desire to sign the pledge.
[6] The English police records for the period reveal that from 1860 to 1876 there was a dramatic increase in cases of drunkenness (and subsequent imprisonment) which accounted for over half of all crime in London and one which Harrison (1971) summarised as ‘the product of a particular socio-economic structure’[7] Within Manchester a similar picture emerged.
[9] McWilliams (1983)presents the missionaries of the PCM as the forerunners of the modern probation service, as they laboured to turn around and restore to moral and physical health, those women and girls they encountered.
[13] A penny pamphlet published in 1889 by the MWCTA & PCM entitled 'Civilisation and the Drink Traffic - A plea for the establishment of an Inebriate Home' invited the cooperation and donations of a benevolent public.
[16] At the AGM of the MWCTA in April 1890 it was reported that Herbert Philips Esq., J.P. had bought a house, namely ‘The Grove’ on Egerton Road, Fallowfield and had leased it to the committee on nominal terms.
[17] The Grove was situated in a desirable middle-class suburb noted for its beautiful grounds and bright and healthful surroundings and availability of skilful medical help.
Although suitable for reformable generally middle-class women the reformatories were ill-suited for the alcoholic or mentally ill patients often from the working-classes who, were regarded by some as having, ‘sabotaged or subverted the system’.