Drink: The History of Alcohol 1690-1920

This exhibition has now finished

This exhibition traced the history of beer and spirits. It examined how successive governments have regulated the industry through taxation, and the attempts by Customs Officers to stamp out smuggling.

Many 19th century advertisements and brand labels were on display, testament to the significance of the drink business. The first ever trademark, registered by Bass, was included. The exhibition ended in 1920 after pub culture was undermined by legislation to control drinking, particularly among munitions workers, during the First World War.

Introduction to the Exhibition

Contemporary concern about alcohol reflects the long-running British tension between raising revenue and protecting the nation's health on the one hand, against traditions of liberty on the other. Historically, public policy has swung between encouraging and repressing drink. Alcohol was antiseptic, anaesthetic, preservative, and a valuable source of nutrients. Drinking British beer was sociable, patriotic and healthier than drinking water. But spirits, at first a remedy, were cheap, strong and addictive, causing medical criticism as early as 1726.

After William III imposed high taxes on all drinks, smuggling flourished. From the 1690s the government's revenue was bolstered by excise duties and licences. By 1800 industrial-scale brewing and distilling and a large colonial drink trade had developed. From the 1830s temperance movements polarised British politics. Restricted drinking hours introduced during the First World War were lifted within living memory.

The exhibition is divided into four themes: Consumption, Regulation, The Trade and Health. A selection of some of the documents on display in the museum exhibition can be viewed below.

Consumption

Tankard or Tot?

Beer was drunk daily at home, work, school and on ships until about 1840. Every occasion was accompanied by beer or punch. Convivial drinking in local taverns, Masonic brotherhoods, colleges and clubs was central to social and working life until the early twentieth century. Each tavern had its own set of pewter or stoneware mugs and tankards, and most kept punch bowls, ladles and glasses where tots were drunk. The bare walls, crude fittings and clumsy glasses of gin cellars were far removed from the comfortable interiors of taverns.

Regulation

Smugglers and Customs

Along the coast of East Anglia, the West Country and Scotland, smuggling was rife. Many foreign luxuries were smuggled in to avoid Customs duty and when William III imposed high taxes on alcohol, smuggling became profitable. There was no full time coast guard and private contractors were employed by the Customs. They ran fast boats or 'cutters' and intercepted smuggling runs, splitting proceeds from the seized goods and boat with the Crown. Locals, benefiting from the proceeds often turned a blind eye. After 1816 the Customs service, short of men during the Napoleonic wars, became more professional and naval officers manned the revenue cutters. The new system had become much more effective and by 1824 a House of Commons Committee reported on massive seizures of brandy, whisky and gin.

The Trade

Distilling

Distilling concentrates the strength and flavour of alcohol by heating. As the water content reduces, the condensed steam becomes spirit. The secret was known to early Christians, although the term alcohol is Arabic. Distilling was first used to produce 'aqua ardens', water of life, cordials or 'hottwaters', all types of medicinal spirits prepared by apothecaries. The distilling of aqua vitae, also known as London redwater, was enhanced in 1639 by a colouring and flavouring process consisting of the addition of poppy petals and aniseed. By 1831 experiments to improve the distilling process resulted in a new process. An Irish Excise man, Aneas Coffey, working in Scotland patented the columnar still for whisky and gin. This new distilling process consisted of a continuous still which reduced the loss of alcohol.

Industrialising the Process

Because customers expected stable prices for spirits and beer, small distillers and brewers had to compete with larger concerns with access to credit and money to merchandise the production process. From the 1770's London brewers invested in massive storage tanks or 'tuns' for porter. In 1784 the first Boulton and Watt steam engine was installed at the Red Lion Brewhouse, Wapping. By 1820 seven large London distilling firms made three quarters of the spirits sold. By the 1880's, when the drink trade had industrialised, Scottish distillers using grain from East Anglia and from North America, dominated the British spirits trade.

Health

Temperance and Abstinence

Drink was highly political. Temperance reformers criticised spirit drinking but accepted that beer was healthy and necessary for working men even though alcoholism was recognised as a disease in 1800. Abstainers took a hard line, forbidding alcohol. Many temperance societies were founded from 1830 against a backdrop of increases in spirit sales and rising crime. In addition the factory system demanded a disciplined workforce and Wesley's religious revival emphasized self-control.

Advertising Alcohol

The exhibition includes a display of posters from an extensive collection comprising COPY 1 material held here, at The National Archives. They originated from the records of the Worshipful Company of Stationers, London which acted as the copyright office and were later transferred here around 1924.

After advertising duty was removed in 1853, advertising expanded rapidly. In 1860 the Spirits Act permitted the sale of single bottles of spirits, wine and beer. Enterprising drink manufacturers exploited colourful labels and brand images to stimulate the British market for branded products. Commercial artists devised a new art form, the pictorial poster. Patriotic symbols and historical references were popular as well as wholesome women and nurses depicting drink's health-giving properties