Anne Jane Carlile and Temperance
Anne Jane Hamill was born in 1775 in Rooskey House, near Monaghan town. Her family were Huguenot refugees who settled in Ulster. In 1800, Anne married the Rev. Francis Carlile and they had seven children. In, 1811, Francis passed away, followed by further tragedy when three out of Anne’s six daughters died within three years.
In 1822, Anne moved her family to Dublin and she became a member of the Female Gaol Committee. In 1826, her son died in a climbing accident near the Powerscourt waterfall. Anne gifted his share of her estate to sponsoring a missionary teacher in India for thirty years.
During her prison visits, Anne realised that many inmates were incarcerated due to alcohol abuse. In 1830, she opened the Mariners Total Abstinence Temperance Society in Poolbeg Street, Dublin, an area popular with sailors and ex-convicts. In 1834, Anne wrote of an experience giving a talk in Newgate prison, Dublin, where one woman told her that she and her fellow inmates drank whiskey because they couldn’t afford wine, unlike Anne. This led her to abstain from alcohol so she could preach by example.
In 1847, Anne was invited to Leeds to speak at a series of children’s meetings. She was convinced that children suffered because ‘strong drink’ was too readily available. She met a young Baptist minister, Rev. Jabez Tunnicliffe, who had promised a dying man to warn children about the dangers of drinking alcohol.
Anne and Jabez decided to start a regular children’s meeting in Leeds. Anne was quoted as saying, ‘what a happy band these children make, they are the hope for the future,’ a sentence that inspired the name for the Band of Hope Union that facilitated regular children’s meetings. Fifty years later, in 1897, the Band of Hope boasted 3.5 million children and adult members. Queen Victoria was its Jubilee patron, and it became part of the fabric of Victorian society and the Church.
Anne died on March 14 1864 aged 89 years and is buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery in Dublin.
XIV Temperance
Temperance offers us the chance to realign ourselves with our Higher Powers’ values to soothe any suffering we may have experienced. Temperance asks us to find healing and understanding in a situation; to access deeper parts of ourselves by letting go of greed and egoism to cultivate a sense of peace and stability.
In the words of John Hume: 'The basis of peace and stability, in any society, has to be the fullest respect for the human rights of all its people.' Anne’s ancestors fled persecution and violence in France to settle in Ireland, like the countless number of Irish people who made their homes in different countries under circumstances they didn’t choose – Karl Marx used the term ‘forced migrant’ to refer to the masses of Irish who migrated to the United States after the Famine.
Praying that the light of the Temperance archetype will prevail in what will become known as dark times of racism and bigotry in the island of Ireland’s history.
Regina- I'm unfamiliar with Anne's story and so this is a refreshing read. Hope you're well this week? Cheers, -Thalia