Born in Montreal, Harold Tuttle Allen came to Naramata, B.C. as a child in 1909. He graduated from UBC and served as a United Church minister from 1923 in pastorats around the province. He and his wife moved to Victoria in 1962. He relinquished his pastoral duties in 1967 but continued with community projects. In 1966 he was one of the main founders of the Greater Victoria Association on Alcoholism. As secretary and president of that organization, he was invited by the B.C. Historical Society to submit a paper on the Temperance Movement in British Columbia. This led to his self-published book in 1981, Forty Years' Journey: The Temperance Movement in British Columbia to 1900. He writes, "Cook had been preceded by the Spanish visit to the Nootka district in 1774, and it would not be long until liquor became involved either in fur trading or social intercourse, or both. The Indians, like others, did not take long to fall into the toils of alcohol. By 1792 its use had become an accepted fact of life with Chief Maquinna and his people, for Bodega y Quadra, entertained by Maquinna at Friendly Cove, relates that Maquinna had asked for wine and sherry, "being very fond of wine." According to historian F.W. Howay, the first liquor for trading was brought by sailing vessels in 1792. Alexander Mackenzie of the North West Company was among the many early explorers who encouraged the use of alcohol for trade.

Review of the author's work by BC Studies:
Forty Years' Journey: The Temperance Movement in British Columbia to 1900

BOOKS:

Forty Years' Journey: The Temperance Movement in British Columbia to 1900. (Self-published, 1981)

[BCBW 2003]