J.J. Buchanan, Commander in Chief, Knight Templars of Temperance.
In the 1840s, a new form of temperance society spread to Canada from the United States. This was the temperance lodge, and the first and largest of them was the Sons of Temperance. In the case of that lodge, Canadian branches came to dominate the American parent, and some pioneered the spread of lodges to Britain. There were many other lodges, such as the Independent Order of Good Templars and the British American Order of Good Templars, but all were basically similar. Their main purpose was to encourage members to remain temperate and to agitate for temperance legislation. As this picture illustrates, some also offered the attractions of military drill, camp-outs, and uniforms. Lodges were important centres of social life in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and many a Canadian politician first made a name for himself and sharpened his debating skills and organizing abilities at lodge meetings. membership declined sharply, and many lodges disappeared shortly after 1900.
Courtesy: Knight Templars of Temperance, Records, Institution and First Annual Reviews including Supreme Regulations and Pension Law (1888) Collection of the author
