A Methodist Witnesses "Saturday's Orgies," 1st July 1916

Rev. Henry Dixon Longbottom described his horrified reaction to seeing young women, many he believed to be under-age drinking and smoking in Nottingham pubs on the evening of 1st July 1916.

“SATURDAY’S ORGIES.

“Minister’s Tour of Nottingham’s Drinking Dens.

“GIRLS INTOXICATED.

“On a recent Saturday night the Rev. H.D. Longbottom, minister of Queen’s-walk Congregational Church, Nottingham, accompanied by a well-known layman, made a tour of inspection of public-houses in the Sneinton district, and to [a] large congregation last night Mr. Longbottom described what he had seen.

“Inside one large public-house, he stated, there were quite 70 people, chiefly women of all ages, with a sprinkling of soldiers. “My friend’s order for lemonade attracted attention, and amused looks were directed at us,” said Mr. Longbottom. “I was able to take mental notes, and discovered quite a number of young men wearing the badge of the munition worker.”

“Leaving the busier part of Sneinton the minister and his friend next visited a beer-house in a quiet street. Again the order for soda-water created visible astonishment on the face of the landlady, who seemed quite a sympathetic soul. A painful feature was the presence of infants and bassinettes and other children not much older left outside while their parents sat drinking inside. Some seemed almost to forget their children.

“Temptation to Women.

“During the following week Mr. Longbottom visited two houses said to be frequented by soldiers’ wives. “I have no desire to libel a class,” he told the congregation, “because of the excess of some of its members, but I certainly came to the conclusion that drinking among women is on the increase. The temptation for these poor women is to drown their sorrow and anxiety in strong drink. Many a brave soldier will, I am afraid, come back to find his wife cursed by this evil habit.”

“Last Saturday they kept to the vicinity of the Market-place. Standing outside one house Mr. Longbottom and his companion counted 50 persons enter in less than a minute. He made the 51st.

“Most Painful of All.

“In another hotel “there must have been more than 200 people present,” said the preacher. ”A number of the women evidently belonged to that unfortunate class, and I was amazed at the laxity of our licensing justices in permitting screens, partitions, and other arrangements inside a licensed house which were such as to make it impossible for any police officer to observe all that was transpiring. But the most painful scenes of all were witnessed at the next house visited. We entered the house from an entry or yard, and here were to be seen youths and girls of fifteen or thereabouts under the influence of drink. Their behaviour was boisterous, and, coarse jokes were being bandied about. Inside, one saw girls who were, after all, only children, drinking ale and spirits. Girls of fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen were to be seen smoking cigarettes, laughing uproariously and foolishly. The language was indescribable. One girl with hair hanging down her back was leaning her head on a soldier who looked about 40. He was lighting her a cigarette. One shudders to think what the future of some of these girls may be.”

‘Nottingham Evening News’, 10th July 1916.