The story
Establishment
At its founding in 1874, the stated purpose of the WCTU was to create a "sober and pure world" by abstinence, purity, and evangelical Christianity. Annie Wittenmyer was its first president. Wittenmyer was conservative in her goals for the movement focusing only on the question of alcohol consumption and avoiding involvement in politics. The constitution of the WCTU called for "the entire prohibition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage."
Frances Willard, the second WCTU president, objected to this limited focus of social issues WCTU was addressing. Willard believed that it was necessary for the WCTU to be political in women's issues for the success, expansion, and implementation of the WCTU. From 1879, Willard was the president of the WCTU until her death in 1898. During her presidency, the WCTU grew significantly and established the relationship between temperance and suffrage. Despite advocating for women, WCTU did not challenge gender roles, rather they integrated elements of "protofeminism" into the organization.
Its members were inspired by the Greek writer Xenophon, who defined temperance as "moderation in all things healthful; total abstinence from all things harmful." In other words, should something be good, it should not be indulged in to excess; should something be bad for you, it should be avoided altogether—thus their attempts to rid society of what they saw (and still see) as the dangers of alcohol.
The WCTU perceived alcohol as a cause and consequence of larger social problems rather than as a personal weakness or failing. The WCTU also advocated against tobacco. The American WCTU formed a "Department for the Overthrow of the Tobacco Habit" as early as 1885 and frequently published anti-tobacco articles in the 1880s. Agitation against tobacco continued through to the 1950s.
Newfoundland
The Newfoundland chapter of the WCTU formed in September 1890. Early supporters included Reverend Mr. A.D. Morton, the Methodist minister of Gower Street Church, and local women such as Emma Peters, Lady Jeanette Thorburn, Jessie Ohman, Maria C. Williams, Elizabeth Neyle, Margaret Chancey, Ceclia Fraser, Rev. Mrs. Morton, Mrs. E.H. Bulley, Tryphenia Duley, Sarah (Rowsell) Wright and Fanny Stowe.
The WCTU agitated for women's suffrage in the Dominion especially in the wake of the sacrifices of WW1, but did not see this realized until 1925.
From Wikipedia’s article on Woman's Christian Temperance Union, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4