National Prohibition Party (UK)

The National Prohibition Party was a minor party in the United Kingdom which advocated the prohibition of alcohol.

National Prohibition Party
PresidentHarold Goldsmith (1900s-1940s)
First SecretaryAxel Gustafson
FoundedDecember 1887 (1887-12)
Dissolved1949
HeadquartersLondon
NewspaperThe Prohibitionist
IdeologyProhibition
International affiliationWorld Prohibition Fellowship
  • Politics of United Kingdom
  • Political parties
  • Elections

The party originated in 1887. In April, Axel Gustafson put an advert in the Christian Commonwealth magazine listing a manifesto closely based on that of the American Prohibition Party.[1] A preliminary conference was held in May, presided over by the Reverend G. Brooks and the Reverend Frederick Hastings.[2] The party was officially founded in December, and joined the World Prohibition Fellowship.[3]

The party maintained a low level of activity and did not run a candidate in a parliamentary election until the 1923 Whitechapel and St George's by-election.[3] S. M. Holden stood for the party in the by-election, and gained the backing of Scottish Prohibition Party Member of Parliament Edwin Scrymgeour,[4] but he took only 130 votes and lost his deposit.[3]

From 1933 until 1949, the party published the journal Prohibitionist. It dissolved in or soon after 1949.[3]

References
  1. [untitled article], The Times, 7 April 1887, p. 9
  2. "Proposed National Prohibition Party", The Times, 26 May 1887, p. 6
  3. Craig, F. W. S. (1975). Minor Parties in British By-elections, 1885-1974. London: Macmillan Press. p. 70.
  4. "Prohibition M.P. in Whitechapel", The Times, 6 February 1923, p. 7
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