All of their children campaigned for temperance and Mary's parents abstained from alcohol entirely although neither had when they married.
[1] She was a founder member of the British Women’s Temperance Association when it was founded in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1847.
[2] She would attend National meetings of the BWTA to represent the Kelvedon branch where her mother was the local President.
She became the lead for the project gathering together recipes during 1879 and "The Temperance Cookery Book " was ready for publication in March 1880.
Her involvement with the cookery book mirrored her increased profile at the national level.