• DOI:10.1086/SHAD24020119
• Corpus ID: 158837534

Lord D’Abernon’s “Model Farm”: The Central Control Board’s Carlisle Experiment

@article{Duncan2010LordD,
  title={Lord D’Abernon’s “Model Farm”: The Central Control Board’s Carlisle Experiment},
  author={Robert Duncan},
  journal={The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs},
  year={2010},
  volume={24},
  pages={119 - 140}
}

• R. Duncan
• Published 1 June 2010
• History
• The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs

This article considers the Carlisle Experiment undertaken by the Central Control Board (CCB) during the First World War. The Board bought out the drink trade in Carlisle and managed to implement many of its most radical ideas in the city. This scheme was a test case for many controversial temperance policies and its popularity and success was important, as the Board later sought to introduce nationwide state purchase. The experiment is unique in the history of Britain and informs us just how seriously the drink issue was to the British government during the war. This article argues that the Carlisle experiment was an achievement for the CCB by virtue of the fact that it wasn’t a failure. The morass of varied opinion on the scheme makes the Carlisle experiment symptomatic of the debates that occurred over the wider struggle to control alcohol consumption during the First World War.