Drink Maps in Victorian Britain

Kris Butler

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Hardback

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English

Bodleian Library
01 May 2024

History; British & Irish history; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900; Food & society; Cartography, map-making & projections

What is a ‘drink map’? It may sound like a pub guide, yet it actually refers to a type of late nineteenth-century British map designed specifically to shock and shame people into drinking less.

This book explores how drink maps of particular cities were published in an attempt to fight increasingly rampant alcohol consumption, from Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield to Oxford, London and Norwich. Featuring red symbols to indicate where alcohol was sold, these special street maps were posted prominently in public places, submitted as evidence, sent to Members of Parliament and published in newspapers to show just how inebriated a neighbourhood could be. They promoted the message that having fewer places to buy alcohol was the answer to reducing widespread crime, poverty and sickness. And they worked — at first. After consulting a drink map in one town, judges decided to close half the licensed shops because even then no one had to walk more than two minutes to buy a beer.

Illustrated with original maps, advertisements and temperance propaganda, the story of their brief history is told amidst a tangle of licensing laws, rogue magistrates, irate brewers, ardent temperance organizers and accounts of the complex role alcohol played across all levels of Victorian society.

By: Kris Butler
Imprint: Bodleian Library
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 228mm, Width: 176mm,
ISBN: 9781851245789
ISBN 10: 1851245782
Pages: 208
Publication Date: 01 May 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi i ONE THE DRINK PROBLEM 1 TWO THE DRINK TRADE & THE LAW 25 THREE THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT LEVERAGES A LEGAL VICTORY 54 FOUR THE DRINK MAP BOOM 89 FIVE DRINK MAPS IN MANCHESTER & NORWICH 113 SIX THE END OF THE DRINK MAP ERA 139 AFTERWORD KEEP ON THE LOOKOUT 161 APPENDIX DRINK MAPS BY LOCATION & DATE 163 NOTES 171 FURTHER READING 173 PICTURE CREDITS 176 INDEX 178

Kris Butler is a lawyer, past president of the Boston Map Society and currently serves on the board of the Washington Map Society.

Reviews for Drink Maps in Victorian Britain

"""A brilliant, intoxicating book about the alliance of maps and the temperance movement in Victorian England. Butler has produced a powerful and beautifully illustrated account of the power of maps and the scale of addiction in nineteenth-century England, and in the process has identified a whole new cartographic genre.""--Jerry Brotton author of ""Fifty Maps and the Stories they Tell"""