Julia Wightman

Julia Bainbrigge Wightman (23 January 1817 – 14 January 1898) , was a British philanthropist, writer and Temperance activist. She wrote sometimes as Mrs Charles Wightman. Her profits and the St. Alkmund's Total Abstinence Society paid for "Wightman's Hall" in Shrewsbury and her work was mirrored by other groups inspired by her example.

Life Wightman was the daughter of Mary (born Marshall) and lieutenant-colonel William James of the East India Company. The family home was Saltford House in Somerset, and they were in Cawnpore on 23 January 1817 when she was born.

She married the Rev. Charles Edward Leopold Wightman in 1842. Wives would meet their husbands on pay day to intercept the wages into the family purse before their men went to the pub.

She was pressed to write something to assist in the work. She gathered together copies of her letters and quickly assembled them into a book and sold 28,000 copies in just over a year. both in Shrewsbury, which were still active after her death. Many other women's groups formed to mirror her success and opened halls for working men. 1860 Photograph of Julia Wightman taken by photographer Groom in Shrewsbury In 1872, she was invited to speak at the conference of the National Temperance League. She told the story of Molly, a drunkard, who was received with kindness at her vicarage and in time signed the pledge. The future MP for Scarborough William Sproston Caine was brought up as a Baptist under the ministry of Hugh Stowell Brown. Caine would tell the story of how he sat down to drink sherry whilst reading a Temperance book by Wightman. He was so persuaded by what he read that he never drank again and became an advocate for Temperance. on 18 January 1898.