The National Prohibition Party was a minor party in the United Kingdom which advocated the prohibition of alcohol.
National Prohibition Party | |
|---|---|
| President | Harold Goldsmith (1900s-1940s) |
| First Secretary | Axel Gustafson |
| Founded | December 1887 |
| Dissolved | 1949 |
| Headquarters | London |
| Newspaper | The Prohibitionist |
| Ideology | Prohibition |
| International affiliation | World Prohibition Fellowship |
The party originated in 1887. In April, Axel Gustafson put an advert in the Christian Commonwealth magazine listing a manifesto closely based on that of the American Prohibition Party.[1] A preliminary conference was held in May, presided over by the Reverend G. Brooks and the Reverend Frederick Hastings.[2] The party was officially founded in December, and joined the World Prohibition Fellowship.[3]
The party maintained a low level of activity and did not run a candidate in a parliamentary election until the 1923 Whitechapel and St George's by-election.[3] S. M. Holden stood for the party in the by-election, and gained the backing of Scottish Prohibition Party Member of Parliament Edwin Scrymgeour,[4] but he took only 130 votes and lost his deposit.[3]
From 1933 until 1949, the party published the journal Prohibitionist. It dissolved in or soon after 1949.[3]
References
edit- ^ [untitled article], The Times, 7 April 1887, p. 9
- ^ "Proposed National Prohibition Party", The Times, 26 May 1887, p. 6
- ^ a b c d Craig, F. W. S. (1975). Minor Parties in British By-elections, 1885-1974. London: Macmillan Press. p. 70.
- ^ "Prohibition M.P. in Whitechapel", The Times, 6 February 1923, p. 7