Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hoyle, William
HOYLE, WILLIAM (1831–1886), temperance reformer, fourth child of poor parents, was born in the valley of Rossendale, Lancashire, in 1831. By constant and severe labour he succeeded in 1851 in starting a business as a cotton-spinner in partnership with his father at Brooksbottom, near Bury, Lancashire. In 1859 he married, and removed to Tottington, where a large mill was built. He died on 26 Feb. 1886.
On reaching an independent position Hoyle threw himself with great energy into the temperance movement. In 1869 he published a pamphlet by 'A Cotton Manufacturer,' entitled 'An Inquiry into the long-continued Depression in the Cotton Trade,' which, revised and enlarged into a book, was published in 1871 as 'Our National Resources, and how they are wasted,' 8vo. This volume made Hoyle at once a recognised authority on the statistics of the drink question. He followed it up by many short publications, and by an annual letter to the 'Times' on the 'drink bill' of successive years. In 1876 appeared 'Crime in England and Wales in the Nineteenth Century.' Hoyle was an ardent supporter of the policy and proceedings of the United Kingdom Alliance, and interested himself also in the introduction into England of Good Templarism. In connection with these organisations he wrote many pamphlets and letters. His 'Hymns and Songs for Temperance Societies and Bands of Hope' have had a large circulation.
[Manchester Guardian, 1 March 1886, p. 8; Ch. of Engl. Temperance Chron. 6 March 1886; Temperance Record, 4 March 1886.]