Probation and the Policing of the Private Sphere in Britain, 1907-1962

257 Pages·2022·2.892 MB·English

by  Louise Settle

Probation and the Policing of the Private
Sphere in Britain, 1907–1962
History of Crime, Deviance and Punishment
Series Editor: Anne-Marie Kilday, Professor of Criminal History, Oxford
Brookes University, UK
Editorial Board: Neil Davie, University of Lyon II, France
Johannes Dillinger, University of Maine, Germany
Wilbur Miller, State University of New York, USA
Marianna Muravyeva, University of Helsinki, Finland
David Nash, Oxford Brookes University, UK
Judith Rowbotham, Nottingham Trent University, UK
Academic interest in the history of crime and punishment has never been greater
and the History of Crime, Deviance and Punishment series provides a home for the
wealth of new research being produced. Individual volumes within the series cover
topics related to the history of crime and punishment, from the later medieval to
modern period and in both Europe and North America, and seek to demonstrate
the importance of this subject in furthering understanding of the way in which
various societies and cultures operate. When taken together, the works in the
series will show the evolution of the nature of illegality and attitudes towards its
perpetration over time and will offer their readers a rounded and coherent history
of crime and punishment through the centuries. The series’ broad chronological
and geographical coverage encourages comparative historical analysis of crime
history between countries and cultures.
Published:
Policing the Factory, Barry Godfrey
Crime and Poverty in 19th-Century England, Adrian Ager
Print Culture, Crime and Justice in Eighteenth-Century London, Richard Ward
Rehabilitation and Probation in England and Wales, 1900–1950, Raymond Gard
The Policing of Belfast 1870–1914, Mark Radford
Crime, Regulation and Control during the Blitz, Peter Adey,
David J. Cox and Barry Godfrey
The Italian Prison in the Age of Positivism, 1861–1914, Mary Gibson
Life Courses of Young Convicts Transported to Van Diemen’s Land, Emma D. Watkins
Fair and Unfair Trials in the British Isles, 1800–1940, eds. David Nash and
Anne-Marie Kilday
Photographing Crime Scenes in Twentieth-Century London, Alexa Neale
Combating London’s Criminal Class, Matthew Bach
Forthcoming:
Sex and Violence in 1920s Scotland, Louise Heren
Mothers, Criminal Insanity and the Asylum in Victorian England, Alison Pedley
Feminist Campaigns against Child Sexual Abuse, Daniel J. R. Grey
Crime and Criminal Justice in Early Modern Ireland, Coleman A. Dennehy
Male Suicide and Masculinity in 19th-century Britain, Lyndsay Galpin
Probation and the Policing of the
Private Sphere in Britain, 1907–1962
Louise Settle
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
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are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in Great Britain 2022
Copyright © Louise Settle, 2022
Louise Settle has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identified as Author of this work.
For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on p. ix constitute
an extension of this copyright page.
Cover design: Terry Woodley
Cover image © Home Again,1884, Frederick McCubbin.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Settle, Louise, author.
Title: Probation and the policing of the private sphere in Britain, 1907-1967 / Louise Settle.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic, [2022] |
Series: History of crime, deviance and punishment | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021028692 (print) | LCCN 2021028693 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781350233454 (hardback) | ISBN 9781350233461 (pdf) | ISBN 9781350233478 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Probation–Great Britain–History–20th century. |
Law enforcement–Great Britain–History–20th century. |
Social control–Great Britain–History–20th century.
Classification: LCC HV9345.A5 S48 2022 (print) |
LCC HV9345.A5 (ebook) | DDC 364.6/30941–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021028692
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021028693
ISBN: HB: 978-1-3502-3345-4
ePDF: 978-1-3502-3346-1
eBook: 978-1-3502-3347-8
Series: History of Crime, Deviance and Punishment
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For Lilja and Kip
vi
Contents
List of tables viii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 Marriage menders: Probation and marriage reconciliation
in England and Wales 29
2 Stopping domestic violence: Probation and wife assault 71
3 A safety net for the suicidal: Probation and attempted suicide in
Britain, 1907–61 105
4 Probation and male sexual offences: Gross indecency, indecent
assault and indecent exposure 131
5 Recusing ‘fallen women’: Prostitution and probation 173
6 Conclusions and reflections 207
Bibliography 225
Index 239
Tables
1.1 Manchester Probation Committee matrimonial cases 50
1.2 Liverpool Probation Committee matrimonial cases 51
1.3 Bristol Probation Committee matrimonial cases 51–2
2.1 Results of probation in cases of wife assault for the years 1909,
1917, 1918, 1919 92
3.1 Disposal of persons aged 21 and over summarily dealt with, according
to criminal statistics, England and Wales, 1953 106
Acknowledgements
While undertaking the research for this book I have been very fortunate to have
spent time as a researcher at three institutes for advanced study in Scotland
and Finland. These wonderful academic environments have provided me with
the rare opportunity to focus on research and given me the necessary time and
funding to write this book. They have also allowed me to work alongside brilliant
colleagues from a wide range of disciplines, whose advice and feedback have
been invaluable. I would therefore like to thank all my friends and colleagues at
the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities in Edinburgh, the Institute
for Advanced Social Research in Tampere and the Helsinki Collegium for
Advanced Studies. I am also very grateful for my time as a researcher based at the
Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in The History of Experiences (HEX)
based at Tampere University. I would especially like to thank Pirjo Markkola
and my other colleagues at Tampere University for helping me to feel part of the
academic community in my adopted home of Tampere.
I would like to give special thanks to the following people for their expert
advice and feedback on various stages of draft chapters and for their help
with editing and proofreading: Pertti Ahonen, Roger Davidson, Gayle Davis,
Sofie Henriksen, Frances Houghton, Louise Jackson, Tuomas Laine-Frigren,
Zsuzsanna Millei, Sophie Lockwood, Vince Settle and the anonymous reviewers
at Bloomsbury. I would also like to give my thanks to the staff of the various
archives and libraries I have visited across the UK.
Completing this book whilst becoming a mother and living through a
pandemic has not been easy, so I would very much like to thank my friends
and family for all their love, friendship, support and encouragement. There are
too many to name them all individually, but particular thanks go to my parents
Linda and Vince Settle, Pertti Ahonen, Frances Houghton, Leanne Nield, Ulla
Oksanen and Hannah Parr.