The teetotalers and tea—Extravagance of ladies—Joseph Livesey—Reformed drunkards as water-carriers—One thousand two hundred persons at one tea-party—How they brewed their tea—How the Anti-Corn-Law League reached the people—Singing the praises of tea—Tea-drinking contests—"Tea-fights"—Hints on tea-meeting fare—Tea as a revolutionary agent.
How did tea-meetings originate? According to a writer in the Newcastle Chronicle, the teetotalers were the first to introduce these popular social gatherings. "Originally started as a medium of raising funds," he says, "they were conducted in a very different style from that so widely adopted at the present day. Our friends knew of no such thing as a contract for the supply of the viands at so much a head, and they had no experience to teach them how many square yards of bread a pound of butter could be made to cover. Our wives and sweethearts then undertook the purveying and management of our tea-parties. Each took a table accommodating from sixteen to twenty persons, and presided in person. And, oh! what hearty, jolly, comfortable gatherings we used to have in the old Music Hall in Blackett Street, amidst the abundance of singing hinnies, hot wigs, and spice loaf, served up in tempting display, tea of the finest flavour served in the best china from the most elegant of teapots, accompanied with the brightest of spoons, the thickest of cream, and the blandest of smiles! It is much to be regretted that this excess of gratification should have produced an evil which ultimately changed the character of these pleasant assemblies. A spirit of rivalry among the ladies as to who should have the richest and most elegantly-furnished table became so prevalent that their lords and masters were obliged to protest against the excessive expenditure; and thus the ladies, not being allowed to have their own way, declined to take any further share in the work. This was a great misfortune, as the proceeds considerably augmented the resources of the Temperance Society."
No such fate met these popular gatherings in other towns. They were conducted on a scale of great magnitude, especially in the birthplace of the temperance movement in England, the town of Preston. Here lives Joseph Livesey, the patriarch of the movement, now in his ninety-first year. The third tea-party of the Preston Temperance Society in 1833, at Christmas, is thus described:—
"The range of rooms was most elegantly fitted up for the occasion. The walls were all covered with white cambric, ornamented with rosettes of various colours, and elegantly interspersed with a variety of evergreens. The windows, fifty-six in number, were also festooned and ornamented with considerable taste. The tables, 630 feet in length, were covered with white cambric. At the upper and lower ends of each side-room were mottoes in large characters, 'temperance, sobriety, peace, plenty,' and at the centre of the room connecting the others was displayed in similar characters the motto, 'happiness.' The tables were divided and numbered, and eighty sets of brilliant tea-requisites, to accommodate parties of ten persons each, were placed upon the table, with two candles to each party. A boiler, also capable of containing 200 gallons, was set up in Mr. Halliburton's yard, to heat water for the occasion, and was managed admirably by those reformed characters. About forty men, principally reformed drunkards, were busily engaged as waiters, water-carriers, &c.; those who waited at the tables wore white aprons, with 'temperance' printed on the front. The tables were loaded with provisions, and plenty seemed to smile upon the guest. A thousand tickets were printed and sold at 6d. and 1s. each, but the whole company admitted is supposed to be about 1200; 820 sat down at once, and the rest were served afterwards. The pleasure and enjoyment which beamed from every countenance would baffle every attempt at description, and the contrast betwixt this company and those where intoxicating liquors are used is an unanswerable argument in favour of temperance associations."
A tea-party at Liverpool, in 1836, was attended by a greater number, and the account shows very clearly that the early temperance gatherings will contrast favourably with the large Blue Ribbon meetings held at the present time:—
"The great room where tea was provided was fitted up in a style of elegance surpassing anything we could have imagined. The platform and the orchestra for the band were most tastefully decorated. The beams and walls of the building were richly ornamented with evergreens and appropriate mottoes. The tables were laid out with tea-equipages interspersed with flower-pots filled with roses. When the parties sat down, in number about 2500, a most imposing sight presented itself. Wealth, beauty, and intelligence were present; and great numbers of reformed characters respectably clad, with their smiling partners, added no little interest to the scene, which was beyond the power of language to describe."
In 1837 the Isle of Man Temperance Guardian reported a tea-meeting at Leeds, at which nearly 700 persons sat down; another at Bury, where "500 of both sexes sat down." A tea-party at Exeter is thus described:—"The arrangements were very judicious, and nearly 400 made merry with the 'cup that cheers, but not inebriates,' among whom were numbers of highly respectable ladies and citizens of Exeter. This novel feature presented a most interesting and gratifying sight, from the spirit of cordiality and good-feeling which pervaded it, and cannot but have the most beneficial effect upon society." For the benefit of societies which had not adopted this new and successful method of reaching the public, the secretary of the Bristol Society gave the following account of a Christmas tea-party:—"The tables were provided with tea-services, milk, sugar, cakes and bread and butter, and one waiter appointed to each, who was furnished with a bright, clean tea-kettle, while the tea, which was previously made, stood in a corner of the room in large barrels, with a tap in each, from which each waiter drew his supply as required, and filled the cups when empty, without noise, confusion, or delay." The following receipt for tea-making was given in the Preston Temperance Advocate, of July, 1836:—
"At the tea-parties in Birmingham they made the tea in large tins, about a yard square, and a foot deep, each one containing as much as will serve about 250 persons. The tea is tied loosely in bags, about ¼lb. in each. At the top there is an aperture, into which the boiling water is conveyed by a pipe from the boiler, and at one corner there is a tap, from which the tea when brewed is drawn out. It may be either sweetened or milked, or both, if thought best, while in the tins. Being thus made, it can be carried in teapots, or jugs, where those cannot be had. Capital tea was made at the last festival by this plan."
Considering the high price of tea and of bread at that time, it is scarcely credible that a charge of 9d. per head for men and women, and of 6d. for "youths under fourteen," was found sufficient to defray the cost, as well as to benefit the funds of the Temperance Society. The value of such gatherings to the temperance movement it is impossible to estimate. Weaned from the use of fiery beverages, the reformed drunkard needed a substitute which would be at once harmless, as well as stimulating. In tea he found exactly what he wanted. He needed, moreover, company of an elevating kind; and in the tea-party he found the craving for the companionship of men and women fully satisfied. It was by this agency chiefly that the converts to teetotalism were kept together and instructed in the principles of total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors; and we are not surprised that the consumption of drink fell off largely in consequence. Dr. J. H. Curtis, writing in 1836, contended that the introduction of tea and coffee into general use had done much towards reducing the consumption of intoxicating drinks; and, although the expenditure upon intoxicating drinks still remains a formidable amount, there can be no doubt that the general use of tea has lessened the consumption of alcohol.
These gatherings continue very popular, but do not draw such large numbers as in the early days of the movement; but it is open to question whether the time spent upon them might not be more profitably employed. A writer in the Band of Hope Chronicle (January, 1882) calls attention to this aspect of tea-meetings:—"There should be," he contends, "moderation even in tea-drinking, and when we hear of four or five hours at a stretch being spent over this process at public gatherings, as it seems the good folks do in some parts of the Isle of Man, one cannot but feel there is need for improvement. What would be thought if the time were occupied with the consumption of stronger beverages than tea. There would be little prospect of orderliness in the after-proceedings then; so, anyhow, the tea-drinkers have the best of it even when they are at their worst."