First Secretary Axel Gustafson Headquarters London | Dissolved 1949 Newspaper The Prohibitionist | |
President Harold Goldsmith (1900s-1940s) Founded December 1887 (1887-12) | ||
The National Prohibition Party was a minor party in the United Kingdom which advocated the prohibition of alcohol.
The party originated in 1887. In April, Axel Gustafson put an advert in the Christian Commonwealth magazine listing a manifesto closely based on that of the American Prohibition Party. A prelimary conference was held in May, presided over by the Reverend G. Brooks and the Reverend Frederick Hastings. The party was officially founded in December, and joined the World Prohibition Fellowship.
The party maintained a low level of activity and did not run a candidate in a Parliamentary election until the Whitechapel and St George's by-election, 1923. S. M. Holden stood for the party in the by-election, and gained the backing of Scottish Prohibition Party Member of Parliament Edwin Scrymgeour, but he took only 130 votes and lost his deposit.
From 1933 until 1949, the party published the journal Prohibitionist. It dissolved in or soon after 1949.