Thomas Holliday Barker (6 July 1818 – 26 June 1889) was an English
temperance
Temperance may refer to:
Moderation
*Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed
*Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion
Culture
*Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...
and
vegetarianism advocate.
Biography
Thomas Holliday Barker was born in
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
on 6 July 1818.
[Cherrington, Ernest Hurst. (1925)]
''Standard Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem, Volume 1''
American Issue Publishing Company. p. 275[Blocker, Jack S. Fahey, David M; Tyrrell, Ian R. (2003). ''Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Enclyopedia, Volume 1''. ABC-CLIO. pp. 87-88. ] As a young man he was employed as a clerk for a wine merchant. He worked for Wood & Westhead warehousemen in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
from 1844 to 1851.
[Boase, Frederic. (1965). ''Modern English Biography: Containing Many Thousand Concise Memoirs of Persons Who Have Died Between the Years 1851-1900, Volume IV''. Frank Cass & Co. p. 267] Then he became an accountant and commission agent at an office on
Princess Street, Manchester
Princess Street is one of the main streets in the city centre of Manchester, England. It begins at Cross Street and runs approximately eastwards across Mosley Street, Portland Street and Whitworth Street until the point where it continues as Br ...
.
He suffered from poor health and became
teetotal
Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or is ...
.
In 1837, he signed an abstinence pledge and became secretary of the Spalding Temperance Society.
In 1843, he refused to drink the fermented wine at Wesleyan chapel in
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
. This caused controversy and he was disciplined by the church so severed his connection with them.
He appealed for support from
Frederic Richard Lees.
Barker was a founding member of the
United Kingdom Alliance
The United Kingdom Alliance (UKA) was a temperance movement in the United Kingdom founded in 1853 in Manchester to work for the prohibition of the trade in alcohol in the United Kingdom. This occurred in a context of support for the type of law ...
(UKA) and its secretary from 1853 to 1883.
He was paid £500 a year and became a well known temperance leader in Britain.
He married Millicent Bates in 1844, they had four sons.
Barker communicated with American temperance advocates such as
Edward C. Delavan Edward Cornelius Delavan (1793–1871) was a wealthy businessman who devoted much of his fortune to promoting the temperance movement. He helped establish the American Temperance Union; attacked the use of wine in Christian communion; established a ...
and
Neal Dow
Neal Dow (March 20, 1804 – October 2, 1897) was an American Prohibition advocate and politician. Nicknamed the "Napoleon of Temperance movement, Temperance" and the "Father of Prohibition", Dow was born to a Quaker family in Portland, Maine. ...
.
He was a founder of the Union and Emancipation Society. Barker was a vegetarian. In the 1850s, he served in the committee of the Manchester and Salford Vegetarian Association. He authored the vegetarian book, ''Thoughts, Facts and Hints on Human Dietetics''.
He was influential in converting
Francis William Newman to vegetarianism.
Barker was an early member of the
Vegetarian Society
The Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom is a British registered charity which was established on 30 September 1847 to promote vegetarianism.
History
In the 19th century a number of groups in Britain actively promoted and followed meat ...
.
[Forward, Charles W. (1898)]
''Fifty Years of Food Reform: A History of the Vegetarian Movement in England''
London: The Ideal Publishing Union. pp. 44-45
Barker died in
Fallowfield
Fallowfield is a suburb of Manchester, England, with a population at the 2011 census of 15,211. Historically in Lancashire, it lies south of Manchester city centre and is bisected east–west by Wilmslow Road and north–south by Wil ...
on 26 June 1889.
Selected publications
*''Thoughts, Facts and Hints on Human Dietetics'' (1870)
References
External links
Barker, Thomas H. (Thomas Holliday), 1818-1889(Digital Commonwealth)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Thomas Holliday
1818 births
1889 deaths
British vegetarianism activists
English temperance activists
People associated with the Vegetarian Society
People from Peterborough