Chronography of Alcohol Regulation
and Prohibition
Page last
modified 16/8/2022
See
also Morals and Fashion
See also Alcoholic Drinks
"I
can't think of anything worse after a night of drinking than waking up next to
someone and not being able to remember their name, or how you met, or why
they're dead." - Laura Kightlinger,
US actress
1400 BC, An Egyptian papyrus of this date warns �Do not get drunk in the taverns in which
they drink ale, for fear that people repeat words that may have gone out of
your mouth without you being aware of having uttered them�.
1/6/2008, Boris Johnson, Mayor of London,
introduced a ban on drinking alcohol on the London Underground.
21/8/1988, British licencing laws were relaxed to allow
pubs to open for 12 hours a day.
1/4/1985,
The UK Government imposed an alcohol ban on selected football grounds.
1980, In the US,
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was founded.
Alcoholics Anonymous
24/1/1971, Bill W, US co-founder of Alcoholics
Anonymous, died.
15/7/1948.
Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in
London, having been in existence in America since 1935.
1937, British
pubs began introducing the saloon bar.
This was to appeal to those wanting bourgeouis comfort rather than a �spit and
sawdust� public bar, but who did not want the formal sophisticatiojn of a
cocktail bar.
12/5/1935,
A chance meeting between two alcoholics, Dr Robert Smith and William Wilson, which led to the
founding of Alcoholics Anonymous.
30/1/1932.
Finland
in a referendum vote chose to end
prohibition of alcohol.
12/6/1931. Al Capone
and 68 henchmen were charged with 5,000 offences regarding breaching the USA Prohibition laws.
31/10/1929, Nova Scotia
voted to repeal Prohibition. This left Prince Edward Island as the only �dry�
region in Canada.
1928. Under Prohibition, over 1,500 Americans
went blind each year through drinking bad liquor, and bootlegger wars killed
hundreds more. Enforcing Prohibition was costly, and had by no means halted
alcohol consumption.
13/7/1923, Britain
made sales of alcohol to under-18s illegal.
30/4/1923. The US
only permitted alcohol consumption on ships 3 miles or more out at sea.
6/10/1922.
Alcohol was banned on all US ships in port.
23/11/1921, In the
US, President
Harding banned doctors from prescribing beer.
4/12/1920. An attempt to introduce Prohibition to
Scotland failed.
6/10/1919. Norway
adopted alcohol Prohibition.
11/4/1919, In a
referendum, New
Zealand rejected Prohibition.
Prohibition, USA
5/12/1933. Prohibition Laws repealed in the USA, by the 21st
Amendment, after over 13 dry years, leaving individual States free to determine
their known drinks laws. See 16/1/1920.
Utah was the last state to ratify the 21st Amendment, which
nullified the 18th Amendment of 1919 prohibiting the manufacture
sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors. Prohibition had not stopped
alcohol consumption, but merely driven it underground into the criminal world.
America celebrated so much that 1.5 million barrels of beer were drunk the
first night. Towns ran dry, and were drunk dry again the next night too. Prohibition had simply created enormous
opportunities for organised crime.
11/8/1932, US President
Hoover said it was time to scrap
Prohibition.
16/1/1920. Prohibition began in the USA (18th
Amendment), and the sale, manufacture, or involvement with alcohol was banned.
See also USA for more Prohibition dates.
16/1/1919, The US
ratified the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the sale of intoxicating
liquors after one year. See 16/1/1920.
18/12/1917, The
United States Congress submitted Prohibition legislation to the states. The 18th
Amendment was known as the Volstead Act, after its chief sponsor, Andrew
Volstead of Minnesota. It took a further 13 months for the necessary three
quarters of US states to ratify the Act for it to become law, see 16/1/1919.
2/7/1916. The US
States of Michigan,
Montana,
Nebraska,
and South
Dakota brought in Prohibition, bringing the number of states banning
alcohol to 24.
7/11/1915, 40,000
people protested in Chicago, USA, at a new law closing bars on Sundays.
6/11/1911, The US
state of Maine
banned alcohol.
11/9/1910, An
attempt to repeal Prohibition laws in Maine failed.
21/1/1909. Tennessee adopted
alcohol prohibition.
26/5/1908. The US
State of North
Carolina introduced Prohibition,
banning alcohol.
1/1/1908. The US
state of Georgia
introduced prohibition, banning
alcohol.
18/11/1874. In the
USA, the National Women�s Christian Temperance Union was founded. Women would
invade saloons and sing hymns and pray; the
point being that drunkenness and ill-treatment of women often went together.
4/7/1855. New York became the
13th state to ban the production or sale of alcoholic beverages.
1852, The US States of Massachusetts, Vermont
and Louisiana
brought in Prohibition.
1851, Maine became the first US State to ban the sale of alcohol.
6/4/1915, In Britain,
the King ordered a Prohibition on alcohol in all the Royal Households.
9/6/1911, Carry Amelia
Nation, US campaigner for abstention from alcohol, died aged 64.
18/1/1909. New Zealand brewers
abolished barmaids and banned women from buying alcohol in bars.
10/3/1903, The
Academy of Medicine, Paris, issued a report denouncing alcohol as detrimental
to health.
12/5/1902, The Court of Appeal reversed the legal
decision of 22/4/1902, and allowed barmaids to work in pubs, following protests
by pub landlords, barmaids and the public.
22/4/1902,
Magistrates in Glasgow ruled that female barmaids must be replaced by men,
because of the moral hazards of pubs. Pubs employing female staff would not
have their licences renewed. See 12/5/1902.
24/10/1900, In London, the
National Union of Women Workers held a meeting about drunkenness and illness.
2/10/1897, Neal Dow, US Temperance campaigner, died (born 20/3/1804).
1893, The Anti-Saloon
Leauge was established in the USA, to promote the end of alcohol use
through legislation. The Leauge continued to exist during and after
Prohibition, and became part of the National
Temperance League in 1950.
30/12/1887, A petition
signed by over one million women was presented to Queen Victoria, asking for pubs to be closed on Sundays. The petition failed.
1874. UK �pubs
were now forced to close all night, between 12.30 an and 5am, under new
Licxencing Acts 1872 and 1874. Sunday nigtht closure was now brought forward to
11 pm. See 1855.
1870, The American Association for the Cure of Inebriates
(AACI) was founded.
1846, London pibs were now also forced to close
between 1am and 4am, to curb prostitution in areas such as Haymarket. See 1855.
See also 1874.
8/12/1856, Theobald Mathew,
Irish Temperance preacher, died (born 10/10/1790).
1855, London pubs were now also forced
to close from 3 to 5pm on Sundays. See 1839. See also 1864.
1854, In Britain the 1854 Sale of Beer Act limited pub
Sunday opening hours. There were riots,
and the UK never attempted the level of Prohibition
that was enacted in the USA.
1839, Up until now, London pubs were
allowed to open all hours pf the day and night, excepting Sunday mornings
during church services. From this time the Metropolitan Police., alarmed by
Saturday night disorder, forced a closure from midnight Saturday to 1pm Sunday.
See 1855.
2/2/1830, The first
Temperance Society in Britain was formed, in Bradford, Yorkshire, by Mr Henry Forbes.
13/2/1826, The American
Temperance Society was formed.
10/10/1790, Theobald Mathew,
Irish Temperance preacher, was born (died 8/12/1856).
1735, In England, distillers were producing
5.4 million gallons of gin annually � 1 gallon per man, woman and child.