Alcoholism In The Victorian Era

The Victorian Era is synonymous today with a strict moral code, enormous personal responsibility, and almost suffocating conformist social pressure. Alcohol and drug use, seemingly without question, would therefore be antithetical to Victorian values. In fact, that was in many ways not the case. Drug use, and even abuse, was widespread in the English upper classes, and had few social consequences. Alcoholism was seen as a vice, and at times the Temperance Movement was a real force against drinking alcohol in general, but there was never a cross-class anti-alcohol consensus, as evidenced by the fact that Britain never experimented with Prohibition like their American counterparts.
The two most popular, and illicit (by modern standards) Victorian

In the same way someone today might take advil for a headache, the Victorians would drink laudanum: “[Opium] was used, or recommended, at one time or another, to treat every disease or condition imaginable … Society in general had no particular fears about their use.” Until the 1860s, opium was bought and sold with no restrictions, like any other good. Post-1868, only licensed apothecaries or pharmacies could fill prescriptions, but it was not until 1916 that the “Defense of the Realm Act” began to outlaw the overall sale of narcotics. Victorians were not, however, totally blind when it came to the effects of these drugs. Opium Dens, which became popular towards the end of the century, were held in disgust and deep abhorrence by the public. The most significant indicator for the effect addiction would have on a man’s reputation was his social class. For members of the upper and middle class, the so called medical uses of drugs provided sufficient cover. The perceptions of the effects of drug use on the lower classes were a different story: “Anxiety about opiate use … found expression in the establishment of myths about working-class habits such as the widespread belief that … working people were accustomed to use opiates for ‘stimulant’ or ‘recreational’ purposes, as an alternative when drink was too expensive—a fundamental distortion of popular

Temperance was based on the fundamentally Victorian idea of self-control as being essential to the respectability of a man. Someone under the influence of liquor, having lost control of their judgement, was someone undeserving of high status. There were three main phases of the Temperance Movement. The first was marked by its moderation. It focused not on abolishing drink, but rather curtailing harmful or public drunkenness. In 1830 Parliament passed the “Beer Act” which eliminated taxes on and allowed anyone to sell beer, as it was seen as a better alternative to the gin and hard liquor generally consumed by the working class. However, these measures failed to successfully solve the problem, and so the Movement changed their approach. Temperance advocates began to from “Teetotaler” groups, which required members take a pledge not to consume alcohol. These were popular, especially because joining came with an economic incentive: many groups asked that members only conduct business, if possible, with other members. These groups were reasonably successful, but many of the working class resented that they were treated, not as partners, but as children who needed to