Alice Brown Caine

Alice Brown was born in Liverpool, England, 21 February 1849. A daughter of Alice Chibnal Brown (nee Sirett; 1821-1863) and the Baptist preacher, the Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown (1823-1886), she developed a profound sympathy with the efforts against the liquor traffic. Caine had six younger siblings, Robert, Hugh, John, Dora, Bertha, and Eleanor.

She was educated privately in Liverpool.

File:W. S. Caine drawing room (The Abstainers' Advocate, 1898).png and Alice Caine at home (1898)]]

In 1868, she married William Sproston Caine, a prominent iron merchant and active temperance leader, and afterward Member of Parliament. A painting by Edwin Long of Mrs. Caine and her eldest daughter hung in the dining room of the family home in Clapham Common.

The couple devoted time, energy, and their substantial means to the cause. At Wheatsheaf Hall, a mission building opened in South Lambeth by Mr. Caine about 1884 and rebuilt in 1898 at a cost of {{GBP|5000}}, Mrs. Caine conducted a large mothers’ meeting there, and was otherwise unceasingly active at that Hall, including the Alice Caine Tent of the Independent Order of Rechabites,{{cite book | author = William Kent | date = 1938 | title = The Testament of a Victorian Youth: An Autobiography | publisher = Heath Cranton | page = 45 | oclc = 1008201700 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Oo5CAAAAIAAJ}}

Caine was introduced and spoke briefly at the Third Biennial Convention and Executive Committee Meetings of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union in London in June 1895, where she represented the Girls' Guild of Good Life.{{cite book |author1=World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union Convention |title=Minutes of the Third Biennial Convention and Executive Committee Meetings of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union |date=June 1895 |publisher=Woman's Temperance Publishing Association |location=London |pages=86, 118-19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7xx47uURVTUC&pg=RA2-PA118 |access-date=23 December 2022 |language=en |quote=spoke briefly 86}}

She was affiliated with a number of temperance organizations, becoming president of the Women's Total Abstinence Union, and also of the Auxiliary of the Free Church Council. Caine was also an active member of the Committee of the Young Abstainers' Union,{{cite journal |editor1-last=Skinner |editor1-first=J. Martin |title=Our Portrait Gallery |journal=The Abstainers' Advocate |date=January 1898 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=2-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DPkCHn-CAGMC&pg=RA3-PA2 |access-date=23 December 2022 |language=en}} besides holding membership and official relations in various other subordinate organizations; for example, Caine served as president of Deaconesses' National Total Abstinence League, federated to the Women's Total Abstinence Union.{{cite book |last1=Mitton |first1=Geraldine Edith |last2=Hubbard |first2=Louisa M. |last3=Janes |first3=Emily |title=The Englishwoman's Year Book and Directory for the Year ... |date=1899 |publisher=F. Kirby, Publisher |page=23 |volume=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oa8MAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA23 |access-date=23 December 2022 |language=en}} One of her most responsible positions was that of treasurer of the Anglo-Indian Temperance Association, of which her husband was the founder; and she assumed that additional office after his death in 1903.

An interesting and convincing lecturer, she also wielded influence in the various social circles where much of her effective work was done.

File:AliceBrownCaine (The Abstainers' Advocate, 1898).png

Mr. and Mrs. Caine had five children:{{cite web |title=Alice Brown |url=https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GQ42-467 |website=www.familysearch.org |access-date=23 December 2022}}

• Hannah Caine Roberts, who married John Herbert Roberts, M.P., Denbighshire
• Dorothea ("Dora") Caine, M.D., Medical Officer, Victoria Hospital for Children, Hull; honorary appointments in connection with the Royal Free Hospital and the New Hospital for Women, London
• Ruth Herbert Lewis, English temperance activist and collector of Welsh folk songs, who married John Herbert Lewis, M.P., Flintshire
• William Caine, author
• David Caine

Alice Brown Caine died in London, 28 January 1918. A memorial service was held in her honour at Wheatsheaf Hall on 10 February 1918.{{cite book | author = John Newton | date = 1907 | title = W. S. Caine, M.P.: A Biography | publisher = James Nisbet & Company, Limited | page = 3 | oclc = 1016336984 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5KUKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PT3}}

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Category:1849 births

Category:1918 deaths

Category:English temperance activists

Category:Activists from Liverpool