Grandma and the Temperance League

I am still finding tiny mysteries amongst the family ephemera. Yesterday I was looking through the few books remaining from my grandma's library. In the fly leaf of one entitled "Cradle Songs" I found the following:

Lady Aurea was the daughter of Lady Rosalind Howard, Countess of Carlisle. Lady Rosalind was a leading light in the Temperance Movement and insisted that tenants on the family estates "take the pledge". My grandmother was one such, as was her sister. I have the certificates to prove it!

Lady Aurea was older than my grandmother by a number of years. The book was given to grandma just before Lady Aurea's first marriage. But it is the date which is puzzling. Grandma was a teacher of small children (primary school age), so the subject of the book is not surprising. It is full of poems and nursery rhymes for little people. But why 4th July? This wasn't my grandmother's birthday. It could be the date she took the pledge I suppose. I am familiar with the "people from The House" giving out Christmas gifts to tenants and servants, but again, the date is wrong. Grandma also taught Sunday School in the village which was part of Castle estate. But Sunday School gifts were usually given at Easter or Pentecost.

4th of July.

I wonder why?