Death of Mr John B. Gough

Feilding Star, Volume VII, Issue 115, 9 March 1886, Page 3

Death of Mr John B. Gough

A recent telegram reports the. death of the once famous temperance lecturer, John B. Grough. He was born at Sandgate, Kent, England, in August 1812, and was therefore 69 years old at the time of his death. In 1829 he emigrated to New York, learned the trade of a bookbinder, and fell into habits of intemperance. In October, 1842, he was induced to attend a temperance meeting. Here he took the pledge of abstinence, and soon began publicly to advocate tht» principle. His reputation as an orator spread through the United States and Canada, and reached Eugland. In 1853 the London Temperance League invited him to visit Great Britain. The visit, intended to last only six weeks, was protracted to two years, during which he advocated the cause of temperance throughout the island. He then resumed his labours in America. In 1875 he again went to England, and lectured with still greater success until 1860, when he returned to America. He then began to lecture; on other topics' with great success, acquiring a large income. In 1 846 he published his "Autobiography;" a volume of "Orations" in 1854; a collection of <- Temperance Lectures," 1879; "Sunlight and shadow, or Gleanings from My Life Work," 1880. In 1873 he announced that he was about to leave the field as a public lecture, but he has since appeared at intervals. In 1878 he again visited England. Since then he has been residing at Boylston, Massachussetts. More than one effort was made to induce Mr Gough to visit Australia. The last time, he pleaded growing old age as a cause for declining.