A return to the past?
THIS IS A SHORT EXTRACT from a memoir by Captain Robert Thomas which he wrote on his voyage in 1883 to San Francisco. Because his time at sea left him little time with his family he wrote his memoir especially for his eldest daughter. This section deals with December 1864 which he recalled as his sixth Christmas afloat. He tells his daughter about Christmas in his childhood.
"You must remember that in those days [about 1840s] carol singing was very
popular about Christmas, for when I was a child there always was a service at
Llandwrog Church on Christmas morning, and composed mainly of carol singing,
but often attended with much riots, which put a stop to it. And then it was
held in the evening, and this again had to be stopped on account mostly of
riot, for in those days there was no limit to time of closing public houses.
Indeed it was common for people to make it a night of drinking and toffee
making and only went out to attend the church at 4 a.m. Carols were not sung by
whole choirs but by single individuals which very often I am ashamed to say
were half drunk."
Llandwrog is in Snowdonia in North Wales.
Like many others I am a little surprised that such liberal drinking occurred in North Wales. But it seems that unlicensed drinking was allowed until the Defence of the Realm Act of 1914 prohibited the making of soldiers or sailors drunk while they were engaged in the defence of railways, docks or harbours. It soon appeared advisable to extend the restriction to some of the civilian population such as those making munitions, and by 1916 the control had extended over the whole country. The authorities in the early twentieth century appeared to think that extended hours of drinking led to excessive drinking.
Nearly one hundred years later the Department of Culture, Media and Sport has decided that by extending the hours of drinking the amount of liquor consumed will decrease. Who is right and who is wrong? I think that as long as they restrict the "Toffee Making" then things will not be too bad.