Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 2, Number 45, DeMotte, Jasper County, 23 March 1933 — Pioneers in Movement for Total Abstinence [ARTICLE]

Pioneers in Movement for Total Abstinence

The year 1932 marked the centenary of the seven men of Preston (Lancashire). These men were pioneers of the modern total-abstinence movement. Joseph Livesey drafted the first total-abstinence pledge in England in September, 1832, and its terms, and those who signed their names to it,” are as follows: “We agree to abstain from all liquors of an intoxicating quality, whether ale, porter, wine, or ardent spirits, except as medicines: John Gratrix, Edward Dickinson, John Broadbelt, John Smith, Joseph Livesey, David Anderton, John King.” These are the historic Seven Men of Preston. To Preston also belongs the origin of the word “teetotal.” At one of Livesey’s meetings an intemperate, illiterate man, Dick Turner, wandered in, and before the meeting ended had signed the new pledge. He became ah evangelist and a popular advocate of the cause. Speaking at a meeting in the celebrated Preston “cockpit,” he coined a new word to suit his purpose, saying “I’ll be reet down and out t-t-total for ever.” The phrase immediately caught on, and the name for the new movement was born.