Child Sexual Abuse in Victorian England (Women's & Gender History)

221 Pages·2000·4.5 MB·English

by  Louise Jackson

The Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey. Photo: M. J. S. Jackson.

Child sexual abuse in
Victorian England
Women’s and Gender History
General Editor:
June Purvis
Professor of Women’s and Gender History, University of Portsmouth
Published
Lynn Abrams and Elizabeth Harvey (editors)
Gender relations in German history: power, agency and experience from the sixteenth to the
twentieth century
Paula Bartley
Prostitution: prevention and reform in England, 1860–1914
Elizabeth Crawford
The Women’s Suffrage movement: a reference guide 1866–1928
Shani D’Cruze
Crimes of outrage: sex, violence and working women in Victorian England
Carol Dyhouse
No distinction of sex? Women in British universities, 1870–1939
Bridget Hill
Women, work and sexual politics in eighteenth-century England
Sandra Holton and June Purvis
Votes for women
Linda Mahood
Policing gender, class and family: Britain, 1850–1940
Jane McDermid and Anna Hillyar (editors)
Midwives of the revolution: female Bolsheviks and women workers in 1917
June Purvis (editor)
Women’s history: Britain, 1850–1940
Wendy Webster
Imagining home: gender, ‘race’ and national identity, 1945–64
Barbara Winslow
Sylvia Pankhurst: sexual politics and political activism
Forthcoming titles include:
Elizabeth Edwards
Women in teacher training colleges: a culture of femininity, 1900–1960
Child sexual abuse in
Victorian England
Louise A. Jackson
London and New York
First published 2000
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001.
© 2000 Louise A. Jackson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form
or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-415-22649-X (Print Edition)
ISBN 0-415-22650-3 (Print Edition)
ISBN 0-203-00743-3 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-17345-7 (Glassbook Format)
Contents
List of figures viii
Acknowledgements ix
1 Introduction: ‘the children of the poor’ 1
2 Family, neighbourhood and police 28
3 The child savers 51
4 Signs on the body: the medical profession 71
5 ‘Witnesses of truth?’ Children in the courtroom 90
6 Masculinity, ‘respectability’ and the child abuser 107
7 Specialist homes for ‘fallen’ girls 132
8 Conclusion: from ‘corruption’ to ‘neurosis’? 152
Notes 156
Further reading 193
Name index 201
Subject index 204
Figures
1.1 Criminal cases tried on indictment in England and Wales in
relation to population, 1830–1910 4
1.2 Sexual assault cases tried on indictment in England
and Wales in relation to population, 1830–1910 5
1.3 Sexual assault cases tried at the Middlesex Sessions, 1830–1910 18
1.4 Sexual assault cases tried at the London County Sessions,
1890–1910 19
1.5 Sexual assault cases tried at the Old Bailey, 1830–1910 19
1.6 Sexual assault cases tried at the West Riding Quarter
Sessions, 1830–1910 20
1.7 Sexual assault cases tried at the Yorkshire Assizes, 1830–1890 21
2.1 Sexual assault cases tried on indictment in Middlesex and
Yorkshire in relation to population, 1835–1910 30
2.2 Relationship of defendant to victim where
known (sexual assault of children), 1830–1910 43
2.3 Middlesex: relationship of defendant to victim where
known (sexual assault of children), 1830–1910 44
2.4 Yorkshire: relationship of defendant to victim where
known (sexual assault of children), 1830–1910 45
Acknowledgements
The research and writing of this book would not have been possible without the
support of the School of Cultural Studies, Leeds Metropolitan University, where I
now teach and the Department of History at Roehampton Institute, London, where
I undertook my doctoral study from 1993 to 1997. The content of this book has been
influenced by discussions in a wide variety of seminar groups and conference sessions
and by conversations with individuals too numerous to mention. I am, however,
particularly indebted to Meg Arnot (who supervised my thesis on sexual abuse in
London, 1870–1914) and to Carolyn Steedman (who acted as moderator) for their
encouragement and inspired suggestions. I am grateful to Anna Davin, Simon Gunn,
Gordon Johnston, Peter King, John Seed, Heather Shore, Deborah Thom and Cornelie
Usborne for their constructive comments at various points in the research; also to
Lesley Hall for her proficiency as reader of the final manuscript. I should also like to
thank Ian Wakeling of the Children’s Society, Jewish Care, Nicholas Malton of the
NSPCC, Gordon Taylor of the Salvation Army, and the Wellcome Trustees for grant-
ing access to their archives, for help and advice, and for permission to publish
extracts from source material. The staff of the West Yorkshire Archive Service, the
London Metropolitan Archive, the Public Record Office and the British Library
have provided an invaluable service. Pat and Mike Jackson have been stalwart in their
support, encouragement and affection for more years than I can remember.
The names of all children, defendants and non-expert witnesses have been changed in
order to protect their identity.