From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Licensing Act of 1904 was a controversial Act of the British Parliament regulating the closure of
public houses (pubs) in England and Wales. It was introduced by
the Home Secretary , supported by
Prime Minister
Arthur Balfour . and passed by his
Conservative Party .
[1]
[2]
The issue helped the
Liberal Party win the
1906 United Kingdom general election by a landslide.
[3] The Licensing Act of 1904 aimed to reduce the number of pubs. It proposed to compensate brewers for the cancellation of their licence, through a fund the brewers themselves would have to pay into.
[4] This led many
Nonconformists who adhered to
temperance to denounce it as a "brewers' bill". Meanwhile, the brewers themselves were generally dissatisfied, and they let their customers know.
[5]
See also
Notes
^ Ruddock F. Mackay, Balfour: Intellectual Statesman (Oxford University Press, 1985), pp. 220–221
online .
^ Paul Jennings, "Liquor licensing and the local historian: the 1904 Licensing Act and its administration", The Local Historian , 39 (2009), pp.24–37.
^ A. K. Russell, Liberal Landslide: The General Election of 1906 (1973), pp.11–12, 80–88.
^ Norman Lowe, Mastering Modern British History (3rd ed. 1998), pp.267–268.
^ Paul Jennings, " 'Grasping a Nettle': The 1904 Licensing Act" in Biographies of Drink ed by Mark Hailwood and Deborah Toner (2015), pp.30–48.
Further reading
Jennings, Paul. " 'Grasping a Nettle': The 1904 Licensing Act" in Biographies of Drink ed by Mark Hailwood and Deborah Toner (2015) pp. 30–48;
online
Jennings, Paul. "Liquor licensing and the local historian: the 1904 Licensing Act and its administration", The Local Historian , 39 (2009), pp.24–37.
Jennings, Paul. A History of Drink and the English, 1500-2000 (Routledge, 2016).
Jennings, Paul. The local: A history of the English pub (The History Press, 2021).
Nicholls, James. The politics of alcohol: A history of the drink question in England. (Manchester University Press, 2013). pp 142–151.
Yeomans, Henry. Alcohol and moral regulation: Public attitudes, spirited measures and Victorian hangovers (Bristol University Press, 2014)
online
Yokoe, Ryosuke. "Alcohol and politics in twentieth-century Britain." The Historical Journal 62.1 (2019): 267–287.
online
Primary sources
External links