Victoria Temperance Hotel

 

"I saw a page in the Wilson Family Bible tonight that had more significance for me than I'm sure it did when I saw it before. There is a Temperance Creed signed by James and Florence Wilson. I remember in 1996 Aunt Iris telling us that her husband, Uncle Herb Wilson (mother's brother), would always say that James, his father, when talking of the Victoria Hotel where his wife's family lived, would emphasize it was a "Temperance Hotel." I've noticed in the Irish town directories that hotels are divided or distinguished by being "temperate" or not. I don't know the true significance of this "temperance" thing, but I feel it important to mention inasmuch as our family, our branch, has always believed that "no alcohol" is the Lord's way to live."

James and Florrie Wilson - 1907

Doing a quick internet search today, I found the 1910 City Directory for Castlederg online. It shows that the Misses Wilson were dressmakers and that William Wilson (Florrie's father) was proprietor of the Victoria Temperance Hotel. There was also a William Wilson listed as a carpenter, maybe they were one and the same.

Note: A Temperance Hotel was one that did not serve alcohol; it did not have a bar or pub on its premises.

Strabane, Co Tyrone, about 1914.

Photograph courtesy of the National library of Ireland.

Strabane is about 11 miles from Castlederg, so this isn't our family's hotel, but I imagine theirs might have looked similar.