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. 275Blocker, 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