The Original Sailor's Rest

We too were scared out of our wits when we read one of the origins of "Sailor's Rest" and caught a glimpse of Miss Weston's stern visage.
Our pledge is the opposite of Miss Agnes Weston's. We will not ask for temperance at the Sailor's Rest in Niagara-on-the-Lake. In fact if anyone proffers a temperance card such as shown below we will attempt a cure of different sorts.

-the management

Agnes Weston (1840 -1918) and her friend Sophia Wintz (1847-1929) were two ladies who tried to save sailors from booze and brothels by providing non-alcoholic drinks in pleasant surroundings. Initially Sophia's mother allowed them to invite sailors from Devonport (Plymouth) to drop into the homely atmosphere of her kitchen. A deputation from HMS Dryad asking Agnes to set up a club, led to the purchase of an old Co-op shop which opened as an enlarged kitchen cum restaurant at Plymouth in 1876. Three sailors talked her into letting them sleep there just before it opened, and then sent her their photo with the inscription "The first birds to roost at The Sailors Rest"and Agnes adopted the name.

When HMS Eurydice was lost in 1878, Agnes came to Portsmouth to assist the families in a practical way. This resulted in her opening another Sailors Rest at Portsmouth in 1881. Each had a tea & food bar, games room, and reading/writing room with paper and envelopes supplied. Although she supported the temperance movement, she was not strait-laced, and had drunken sailors taken back to the Rests to sober up. The clubs also provided entertainment with stage acts and dancing. She went on to bank sailors' money, and help provide for their poor families.

When Dame Agnes died in 1918, she was the first woman to be accorded a full naval funeral, and Dame Sophia was treated the same in 1929. The two friends are buried together in Weston Mill cemetery. Their work is continued by the controlling trusts.

Niagara-on-the-Lake's version brings  a big improvement, we think.