Student binge drinking dates back centuries

Binge drinking student are nothing new. File photo / Thinkstock

Binge-drinking is not a modern phenomenon but began in the 16th century among wealthy students, a Cambridge University historian has claimed.

Dr Phil Withington said that the explosion in education in the 16th to 18th centuries created a wealthy, classically educated set of young men.

Conversational skills consequently became an "art form" that could make or break their social lives, and alcohol helped loosen the tongue when indulging in witty, memorable social intercourse.

By contrast, the poor often couldn't afford to drink large quantities of alcohol.

The claim will surprise anyone who has seen engravings of alcohol-fuelled mayhem among the poor, such as in William Hogarth's Gin Lane in 1751.

Dr Withington said: "There's an assumption among historians that excessive consumption was the reserve of the common poor.

"But there's a huge amount of evidence that you needed to be affluent to indulge in vast quantities of alcohol and the new wave of educated elite led the charge.

"Students learned not just to study but to drink, which became integral to male bonding, camaraderie and rites of passage."

Drinking games became common, with 'initiation rites' created to welcome newcomers into drinking societies.

Dr Withington said gentlemen's clubs, taverns and ale houses sprang up to serve the wealthy young and educated men.

"Socialising became intrinsically linked with intoxication and drinking establishments and it became OK to be very, very drunk in public - attitudes we have inherited," he added.

- The Daily Mail