Licensing Act 1904

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Licensing Act 1904[a]
Act of Parliament
coat of arms
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to amend the Licensing Acts, 1828 to 1902, in respect to the extinction of Licences and the grant of new Licences.
Citation4 Edw. 7. c. 23
Territorial extent England and Wales[b]
Dates
Royal assent15 August 1904
Commencement1 January 1905[c]
Repealed1 January 1911
Other legislation
Amends
Repealed byLicensing (Consolidation) Act 1910
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Licensing Act 1904 (4 Edw. 7. c. 23) was a controversial act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom regulating the closure of public houses (pubs) in England and Wales. It was introduced by the Home Secretary, supported by Prime Minister Arthur Balfour and passed by his Conservative Party.[1][2]

The issue helped the Liberal Party win the 1906 United Kingdom general election by a landslide.[3] The Licensing Act 1904 aimed to reduce the number of pubs. It proposed to compensate brewers for the cancellation of their licence, through a fund the brewers themselves would have to pay into.[4] This led many Nonconformists who adhered to temperance (see United Kingdom Alliance) to denounce it as a "brewers' bill". Meanwhile, the brewers themselves were generally dissatisfied, and they let their customers know.[5]

Subsequent developments

The whole act was repealed by section 112 of, and the seventh schedule to, the Licensing (Consolidation) Act 1910 (10 Edw. 7 & 1 Geo. 5. c. 24), which came into force on 1 January 1911.[6]

See also

Notes

  1. Section 10(1).
  2. Section 10(3).
  3. Section 10(2).

References

  1. Ruddock F. Mackay, Balfour: Intellectual Statesman (Oxford University Press, 1985), pp. 220–221 online.
  2. Paul Jennings, "Liquor licensing and the local historian: the 1904 Licensing Act and its administration", The Local Historian, 39 (2009), pp.24–37.
  3. A. K. Russell, Liberal Landslide: The General Election of 1906 (1973), pp.11–12, 80–88.
  4. Norman Lowe, Mastering Modern British History (3rd ed. 1998), pp.267–268.
  5. Paul Jennings, " 'Grasping a Nettle': The 1904 Licensing Act" in Biographies of Drink ed by Mark Hailwood and Deborah Toner (2015), pp.30–48.
  6. "Licensing (Consolidation) Act 1910", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, Edw7and1Geo5/10 c. 24

Further reading

  • Jennings, Paul. " 'Grasping a Nettle': The 1904 Licensing Act" in Biographies of Drink ed by Mark Hailwood and Deborah Toner (2015) pp. 30–48; online
  • Jennings, Paul. "Liquor licensing and the local historian: the 1904 Licensing Act and its administration", The Local Historian, 39 (2009), pp.24–37.
  • Jennings, Paul. A History of Drink and the English, 1500-2000 (Routledge, 2016).
  • Jennings, Paul. The local: A history of the English pub (The History Press, 2021).
  • Nicholls, James. The politics of alcohol: A history of the drink question in England. (Manchester University Press, 2013). pp 142–151.
  • Yeomans, Henry. Alcohol and moral regulation: Public attitudes, spirited measures and Victorian hangovers (Bristol University Press, 2014) online
  • Yokoe, Ryosuke. "Alcohol and politics in twentieth-century Britain." The Historical Journal 62.1 (2019): 267–287. online

Primary sources