Mary Bayly (née Saunders; 4 March 1816 – 13 December 1899), sometimes spelled Mary Bayley, was a British temperance activist and pamphlet writer.

Life

Bayly was born in

Market Lavington Market Lavington is a civil parish and large village with a population of about 2,200 on the northern edge of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, south of the market town of Devizes. The village lies on the B3098 Westbury–Urchfont road wh ...

in 1816, the daughter of Mary (née Box) and Amram Saunders. Samuel Saunders (1814–1908),

Alfred Saunders Alfred Saunders (12 June 1820 – 28 October 1905) was a New Zealand farmer, reformer, women's suffrage and temperance advocate and politician. He was Superintendent of Nelson Province and represented several electorate in the New Zealand Hous ...

(1820–1905), and

William Saunders William or Bill Saunders may refer to: Science * William Saunders (physician) (1743–1817), Scottish physician, first president of Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society * William Wilson Saunders (1809–1879), British entomologist * William Saund ...

(1823–1895) were her brothers. She married in Bath at the Argyle Congregational Chapel to George Bayly who was a

master mariner A master mariner is a licensed mariner who holds the highest grade of licensed seafarer qualification; namely, a master's license. A master mariner is therefore allowed to serve as the captain (nautical), master of a merchant ship for which natio ...

. George would work in the Merchant Navy and

Trinity House The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, also known as Trinity House (and formally as The Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Guild Fraternity or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity and of St Clement in the ...

and he was an amateur artist. In 1953 she started temperance meetings in North Kensington where mothers of different classes could meet and they could obtain religious and domestic advice. She felt that mothers could alleviate the effects of drunkenous. At the time 60,000 people a year had deaths ascribed to drinking. In 1861 she published ''Mended Homes and what Repaired Them'' concerning the effect of alcohol on men and the family. Bayly wanted women to concentrate on making their husband's homes comfortable and to avoid going out to work. Uncomfortable homes drove men to go out to drink she advised. She proposed that men should do the washing in machines so that women could stay at the fireside and avoid going to work in laundries where they too might take to drink. In 1861 Samuel Gurney and

Archibald Campbell Tait Archibald Campbell Tait (21 December 18113 December 1882) is an Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England and theologian. He was the first Scottish Archbishop of Canterbury and thus, head of the Church of England. Life Tait was born ...

(the

Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

) attended the opening of her Workmen's Temperance Hall where working men could meet and drink coffee and have a bath. The experiment only lasted until 1866 as the Baylys moved away in 1864 and the organisation soon floundered. In 1887 she published ''Danger Signals: how to Use them Wisely''. In 1892 she and her daughter,

Elisabeth Boyd Bayly Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth'' * Princess Elizabeth ( ...

(who was a published author) published ''Home Weal and Home Woe''. Bayly died in

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

in 1899.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayly, Mary 1816 births 1899 deaths People from Wiltshire English temperance activists Saunders family