Heavy drinking among the working classes was causing so many criminal and social problems during the 19th century that a temperance movement became active throughout the country and soon commanded widespread support. Various societies and organisations sprang up to spread the gospel of abstinence and public meetings were held urging people to sign the pledge not to drink alcohol.

Guest speakers were engaged to address these meetings and many toured the country to preach the message, among them Dr Ralph Barnes Grindrod, a physician and charismatic speaker who soon became known as the medical apostle of temperance, a man who attracted very large audiences.

Grindrod (1811-1883) was the son of a Manchester publican who spent a fortune on promoting the temperance movement and is thought to have been the first medical man in England to sign the total abstinence pledge in 1833, perhaps having observed the damage drink could do to customers at his father's public house.

It was then a significant coup for the Bourne Temperance Society to secure his services in the spring of 1845, the organisation having been experiencing such poor support that dedicated members were becoming disillusioned with their cause. “The society had been in a state a great depression”, reported the Stamford Mercury on Friday 18th April. “The few friends who had long laboured under great discouragement began to despair of much success. Indeed, the visit of the doctor was regarded as a sort of forlorn hope of resuscitation. Here were, however, a few firm believers in the truth of abstinence doctrines who strenuously laboured to secure the assistance of the English apostle of the cause but after repeated applications, this object was gained.”

Society members were thrilled by his acceptance and booked the Town Hall for a series of lectures on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th April. Unfortunately, the first meeting was thinly attended but as the fame of the doctor spread throughout the town more people flocked to hear him and by the third evening the hall was packed to capacity. An additional evening was therefore arranged and this time the most influential inhabitants of the town turned up while the neighbouring villages also contributed to swell the ranks of the highly respectable audience.

 “So great was the interest excited that the doctor could not withstand the promptings of his heart to deliver a supplementary lecture for the especial benefit of the operative classes who should be admitted free of charge”, reported the Stamford Mercury the following week. This, the fifth evening lecture, was delivered on the following Thursday and the hall was again densely crowded and the newspaper was most eloquent in its description of the occasion.

“It is not our purpose to attempt any analysis of these highly interesting lectures; suffice it to say that they were replete with information on almost every branch of the subjects announced: while the physiological effects of alcohol was the leading subject of discourse, many other topics of vital interest to health and longevity were brought under review, including diet, air, exercise, habits and customs etc. The questions proposed by the audience elicited much interesting information; and the ready replies of the learned doctor proved him to be thoroughly master of his subjects in all its branches.”

In addition to the evening lectures to mixed assemblies, the doctor gave two afternoon lectures to children, and one to females. In all, eight meetings were held which resulted in the teetotal pledge by upwards of 400 persons, consisting of about equal numbers of children and adults, fifteen years of age being considered the line of demarcation.

Among the pledges taken were the names of many of the most influential tradesmen in the town and neighbourhood and so powerful and effective was  the doctor’s reasoning on temperance that one gentleman, learned in law and holding offices of high respectability, said on leaving: “I am like Felix of old, almost thou persuades me.” The doctor, amid the hearty responses of the audience, rejoined: “I would to God that thou wert not only almost, but altogether such as I am.”

“The effect of his labours is not measured by the number of pledges taken”, reported the newspaper. “This, though astonishing, is trifling compared with the deep moral impression made on the minds of the people in favour of abstinence principles. Many who were formerly strongly impressed with a sense of moral obligation to sign the pledge for the sake of example to their fellows, but who feared the sacrifice might possibly be attended with physical injury, have had the fears dispelled and have heartily enrolled their names. Others have had their prejudices removed, asperities have been softened down, and, judging from the appearance of the people and their conversations with each other, it would almost seem as though the town was half teetotalled.”

Before the last of the meetings closed, several resolutions were passed by society officials who had arranged them:

(1) Thanking Dr Grindrod particularly for the interesting, varied and favourable information communicated by his lectures, information on topics of vital interest to the health, peace, comfort and general welfare of the community;

(2) That as an advocate of long-neglected and frequently despised principles of true temperance, the learned doctor claims a place in the first rank of temperance reformers, and that his uniform urbanity, benevolence, candour and impartiality entitle him to the warmest gratitude and admiration of all classes;

(3) That the inhabitants of this town and neighbourhood owe a debt of gratitude to those abstainers who, through evil report and good report, have steadily adhered to their principles and that those who have been instrumental in bringing Dr Grindrod to Bourne and arranging for the delivery of these lectures are especially entitled to the thanks of this meeting.

The doctor left to attend similar temperance gatherings at Gainsborough, Brigg and Market Rasen. “Never could a gentleman coming amongst a people as a perfect stranger, and especially as the advocate of an unpopular cause, win more universal esteem”, commented the newspaper.

Apart from his dedication to temperance, Dr Grindrod was a man of many interests including the cause of social and industrial reform and a fascination with fossils which earned him an international reputation as a palaeontologist. In 1850, he moved to Malvern, Worcestershire, and set up his practice at Townshend House where he wrote books, promoted the education of the children of the poor, analysed local water supplies and was a member of the town board but is best remembered as a leading practitioner in water cures.

WRITTEN FEBRUARY 2014

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