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ABSTRACT
This article analyses the consumption of alcohol amongst Canadian soldiers based in the East Sussex town of Hastings in 1917. It shows that more relaxed restrictions on alcohol in Britain to those in Canada, all provinces and eventually the federal government had prohibited alcohol by 1918, proved too much of a temptation for some Canadians, who were caught up in instances of drunkenness, disorder and petty crime. The wide availability of alcohol in the town coupled with poor administration and scattered billets provided a fertile environment for ill-discipline. This caused tension between some in the community and the Canadians. Another theme which started to emerge in Hastings was that Canada was more socially advanced than Britain. The motherland’s reluctance to completely ban alcohol was viewed as archaic and backwards. For some Canadians, this warranted a loosening of the attachment to Britain and the Empire in favour of Canada. The Canadian’s experience of alcohol in Hastings may, therefore, point to how Canada was moving away from Britain and the Empire and strengthening its own sense of self. This aspect warrants further research.
Notes
1 Jennings, “Policing Drunkenness in England and Wales,” 69–70.
2 Popham and Schmidt, Statistics of Alcohol Use and Alcoholism in Canada, 37.
3 Ibid.
4 See Yeomans, Alcohol and Moral Regulation; Yeomans, Providentialism, the Pledge and Victorian Hangovers; Yeomans, What Did the British Temperance Movement Accomplish?
5 Yeomans, Alcohol and Moral Regulation, 38.
6 Duncan, Pubs and Patriots, 14.
7 Ibid.
8 Greenaway, Drink and British Politics since 1830, 92.
9 see Greenaway, Drink and British Politics since 1830; Nicholls, The Politics of Alcohol, chapter 11; Berridge, The Art of Medicine, Moss, “Wartime Hysterics”? For a broader review of the alcohol debate and the literature which informs it, see Yokoe, Alcohol and Politics in Twentieth-Century Britain.
10 McAllister, The Enemy within.
11 Thompson et al. Olympic Britain, 53.
12 Berridge, The Art of Medicine, 1841.
13 Gutzke, Gender, Class and Public Drinking in Britain, 372.
14 Decarie, Temperance Movement in Canada; Cook, “Wet Canteens and Worrying Mothers,” 314–315.
15 see Boyer, The People's Mandate, 57–86; Dupré and Vencatachellum, Canadians and Prohibition; Dostie and Dupré, The People's Will.
16 Dupré and Vencatachellum, Canadians and Prohibition, 10.
17 For an in-depth history of prohibition in the provinces, see Bellamy, The Canadian Brewing Industry’s Response to Prohibition, 2.
18 Bellamy, The Canadian Brewing Industry’s Response to Prohibition, 2.
19 Malleck, Federal Prohibition (Canada), 229.
20 Davies and Morley, County Borough Elections in England and Wales, 419.
21 Statistics Canada, Canada Year Book 1911, 7–8.
22 Vance, Maple Leaf Empire, 38.
23 Cook, Wet Canteens and Worrying Mothers, 317.
24 For more on temperance in Hastings, see Russell, The Temperance Lobby in Hastings.
25 Jennings, Policing Public Houses, 59.
26 Jennings, Liquor Licensing and the Local Historian, 24.
27 Ibid.
28 Russell, The Pubs of Hastings & St Leonards, 11.
29 Tiernan, Eva Gore-Booth, 122.
30 thePublican, A Lesson from the Past? 16.
31 UK Parliament, Hansard – Licensing Bill.
32 Russell, The Pubs of Hastings & St Leonards, 11.
33 Hastings & St Leonards Observer, “Enthusiasm in Canada,” 5.
34 Canadian War Museum, Tommy Canuck: The Infantry Soldier.
35 Cozzi, When You’re A Long, Long Way From Home, 46.
36 Granatstein, Canada.
37 Jenner, A Voice from Canada, 5.
38 Cash, Yukselir, and Johnson et al., “Time Machine”.
39 See Flanagan, Bexhill-on-Sea 1917–1919.
40 Vance, Maple Leaf Empire, 78.
41 Cozzi, When You’re A Long, Long Way From Home, 46; Canadian War Museum, Tommy Canuck: The Infantry Soldier; Holt, Filling the ranks.
42 Vance, Maple Leaf Empire, 88.
43 It has been widely documented that Canadian soldiers were paid better than their British counterparts – see Cook, Wet Canteens and Worrying Mothers, 317; Vance, Maple Leaf Empire, 98.
44 Cook, Wet Canteens and Worrying Mothers, 317.
45 Cozzi, When You’re A Long, Long Way From Home, 46.
46 Cook, Wet Canteens and Worrying Mothers, 317; Cozzi, When You’re A Long, Long Way From Home; Flanagan, Knights of Columbus Catholic Recreation Clubs.
47 Cook, Wet Canteens and Worrying Mothers, 320.
48 Ibid.
49 Johnson, Thomas William Letter: 1917 January 3rd.
50 Curtis, William Howard, M.M. Letter: 1914 December 6th.
51 Ministry of Overseas Military Forces of Canada, War diary of Headquarters Canadian Troops, Hastings, April 1917.
52 Hastings & St. Leonards Observer, “The Future of Hastings,” 4.
53 Ibid.
54 Ministry of Overseas Military Forces of Canada, War diary of Headquarters Canadian Troops, Hastings, April 1917.
55 The long, long trail, Command Depots.
56 Ministry of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada, Instructions for dealing with casualties, 1–2.
57 Ibid.
58 See Flanagan, Canadians in Bexhill.
59 Vance, Maple Leaf Empire, 86.
60 Ministry of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada, File 5-1-22, 1.
61 Hastings & St. Leonards Observer, “Welcome for Canadians,” 5; Hastings & St. Leonards Observer, “Canadians and the Girls,” 5.
62 Ministry of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada, Guide to arrivals at Canadian Command Depot, 1.
63 Ibid, 2.
64 An Assistant Provost Marshal is a rank within the military police below Provost Marshal.
65 Hastings command, Condition of the Troops.
66 Beer Drinker, Canada and Prohibition.
67 Ibid.
68 Hastings & St. Leonards Observer, “Town Council indicted by the Rev D.H. Rees,” 2.
69 Hastings & St Leonards Observer, “Hastings Police Court,” 8.
70 Hastings command, Condition of the Troops.
71 Hastings & St Leonards Observer, “The Murder Trial,” 2.
72 Major M. A Greene to Headquarters, Overseas Military Forces of Canada, December 9, 1916.
73 Lt-Col. H.H Matthews to Lt-Col Godson, January 15, 1917.
74 Major M. A Greene to Headquarters, Canadians, Brighton Area, December 9, 1916.
75 Ibid.
76 Lt-Col. H.H Matthews to Lt-Col Spry, December 12, 1916.
77 Thomas, The Liquor Trade and the Sugar Argument, 7.
78 Hastings & St. Leonards Observer, “Drinks for soldiers,” unnumbered pages.
79 Ibid.
80 Hastings & St. Leonards Observer, “Canadian Sports Club,” 8.
81 see Fuller, Morale and Popular Culture, 90, 92; Horrall, Keep-a-fighting; Flanagan, Canadians in Bexhill, 139–140; Flanagan, Bexhill-on-Sea, 1917–1919.
82 Reed, The Rev. D.H Rees Retires, 7.
83 Rees, Town Council and Drink, 7.
84 Hastings & St. Leonards Observer, “Drinks for soldiers,” unnumbered pages.
85 It is assumed that this is the passage referred to: ‘the exhibition of furious yet impotent rage with which Councillor Reed closed his letter in your last issue, must have greatly amused your readers. His extreme ‘touchiness’ to even a passing reference to his anti-Christian propaganda is strange. When a man, mounted up his miserable hack, Agnostic, ride forth as a sort of modern Don Quixote to set the world right in matters religious, he should expect to receive hard knocks like his prototype the immortal Knight of La Mancha.’
86 Reed, The Rev. D.H Rees retires, 7.
87 Travis, The Liquor Traffic and the Sugar Argument, 7.
88 Ibid.
89 Rees, Town Council and Drink, 7.
90 Hastings & St. Leonards Observer, “No overcharging in Hastings: Canadians praise for local treatment,” 7.
91 For more on the concept of flappers, see Fowler, Youth Culture in Modern Britain; Gourley, Flappers and the New American Woman; Boyer, Flappers: A Guide to an American Subculture; Mackerell, Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation; Simon, Lost Girls.
92 West Hastings, “The ‘Flapper’ Again,” 7.
93 Fairplay, ‘Flappers:’ A Canadian replies to ‘West Hastings,’ 7.
94 Hastings & St Leonards Observer, Prohibition, 7.
95 see Flanagan, Canadians in Bexhill.