BRITAIN Contagious Diseases Act Flashcards
When was the Crimean War?
1853-56
When did the health of the British army become a national concern?
Crimean War
What established the link between the health of soldiers and venereal disease?
1857 Royal Commission on the Health of the Army
When were the frequent medical checks on soldiers abandoned because of humiliation?
1859
How many army hospital admissions were for venereal infections in 1860?
37%
What did the government establish in response to the 1857 Royal Commission?
1862 committee
Who was the central advocate of the 1862 committee?
Florence Nightingale
What did the 1862 committee propose?
Penalties for concealing, but not contracting, venereal diseases; lock hospitals
Who suggested that Britain’s prostitutes should be moderated like the French?
Sir John Liddell, a member of the 1862 committee
Who raised objections to the 1862 committee’s suggestions?
William Gladstone
Who was hereditary syphilis a big killer for?
Children under 12 months
What did syphilis cause if left long enough?
Blindness; deafness; insanity
What was prostitution regarded quietly by many as?
Social necessity
What specified that a man could divorce a woman on grounds of adultery?
Matrimonial Causes Act 1857
What did a woman have to prove, along with adultery, in order to divorce a man?
Cruelty; desertion
John William Acton (1813-75)
London surgeon of high reputation, specialising in the urinary and genital organs; did not consider prostitution to be a social evil but was concerned that the diseases it spread posed a considerable social problem
When did Acton publish his book?
1857
What did Acton make clear in his book?
Prostitution was a social necessity; danger of venereal diseases; need for state intervention
When did Acton declare that charity and religion had failed to prevent prostitution and a scientific government regulation was called for?
1860
When were there many organisations set up for the reform and salvation of prostitutes?
1850s
When was the first Contagious Diseases Act passed?
1864
Contagious Diseases Act 1864
Gave police within ports and garrison towns the power to arrest prostitutes for medical examination- if a woman was found to be diseased, she could be detained in a lock hospital until cured
What would happen if a woman failed to submit to examination, according to the CDA 1864?
Imprisonment
When was the second Contagious Diseases Act passed?
1866
Contagious Diseases Act 1866
Compulsory examinations introduced for prostitutes once every three months; examinations were to be performed on all suspected prostitutes within ten miles of a suspected port or garrison town
When was the third Contagious Diseases Act passed?
1869
Contagious Diseases Act 1869
This regulation extended to all garrison towns and allowed prostitutes to be held for five days before examination without trial; made it legal for prostitutes to be detained in a lock hospital for up to a year and subjected to fortnightly inspections
How many protected districts did the CDA 1869 establish across the country?
18
Who defended the CDAs?
Medical authorities like Acton and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson
How did the CDAs provide a stark lesson to women of all social ranks?
A parliament of men was more than capable of passing laws degrading to women and beneficial only to men
What found considerable evidence that the CDAs had improved conditions for prostitutes in protected areas?
1871 Royal Commission
Why did the CDAs increase the working life of women beyond the customary 3-4 years?
Frequent checks and timely treatment- legislation appeared to preserve their health and allow them to remain in their business considerably longer
What became a prized possession for prostitutes after the CDAs?
Health certificates
What did the 1871 Royal Commission find was the most popular aspect of the CDAs?
Reduced occurrence of scabies
How could prostitutes get their names removed from the registers?
If they married/entered full-time employment
How did the CDAs affect the hospital admission rates for syphilis?
In protected areas, 37/1,000 soldiers were hospitalised with the disease, compared to 194/1,000 soldiers in unprotected areas
What has to be remembered about the 1871 Royal Commission?
They only interviewed certain types of witness- bulk of evidence collected came from Anglican ministers, doctors and military officers
What did some of the new laws make harder for prostitutes?
Access to reform institutions for those who wanted help to leave their profession
Which reform institution refused to care for women from government hospitals as it was opposed to the Acts?
Rescue of Women and Children
How did the police feel about the CDAs?
Regulation of prostitution was an unnecessary distraction from preventing and detecting more serious crimes
What was another worry about official intervention and prostitutes?
Damaged relations between prostitutes and their local communities
Who argued that the impact of the CDAs on health was limited, as there were no checks on men within the armed forces?
Judith Walkowitz in 1980
What was the prevention of venereal disease also hampered by?
Lack of medical knowledge around the subject
Which VD was virtually untreatable?
Syphilis
What raised the public concern about the legislation that would eventually develop into a movement for its repeal?
Suggestion that they may be enforced nationally
Who reported in 1867 that further levels of state intervention would be needed to tackle the problem?
Harveian Society of London
Who was involved in the campaign to extend the Acts?
Church of England clergymen; politically liberal doctors
Which medical journal campaigned fiercely for the extension of the Acts?
‘The Lancet’
When did opposition to the Acts increase?
1868-69
Which notorious instrument would doctors use to carry out the medical checks?
Speculum
Who did Elizabeth Wolstenholme invite to lead a campaign against the Acts?
Josephine Butler
When did Wolstenholme invite a friend to lead a campaign against the Acts?
October 1869
When was a protest signed against the Acts and the formation of the Ladies’ National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts (LNA)?
31 December 1869
How many women were involved in the formation of the LNA?
Over 120
Who were some of the women involved in the formation of the LNA?
Josephine Butler; Elizabeth Wolstenholme; Florence Nightingale; Lydia Becker; Harriet Martineau
What did the number of signatures on the LNA petition quickly increase to?
Over 2,000
How many allegations did the LNA make against the CDAs?
8
What did the LNA include many of?
Quakers; Unitarians
When was the Social Science Association founded?
1857
What did the Social Science Association promote?
Public health; penal reform; industrial relations; female education
Who was a member of the Social Science Association in the 1860s?
Elizabeth Wolstenholme
Why could Wolstenholme not lead the LNA?
Too radical
Why did Wolstenholme agree to marry when she became pregnant?
To avoid damaging the campaign against the CDAs
Why didn’t Wolstenholme choose Nightingale or Martineau to lead the LNA?
Both were unmarried and childless
Who did Wolstenholme partner with in 1875?
Ben Elmy
Why was Butler a strong choice for leadership of the LNA?
Charismatic; strong-willed; fashionable; generally regarded to be beautiful; devout Christian
Why did Butler oppose the CDAs?
Appeared to be legalising prostitution and were therefore morally abhorrent
Why can Butler be viewed as a problematic leader?
Uncompromising
What did Butler completely block that delayed the repeal of the CDAs?
John Stuart Mill’s proposal at the 1871 Royal Commission that the existing regulation be replaced by a system of voluntary examinations in private clinics
What was James Stansfeld involved with before he joined the LNA’s campaign?
Worked in Gladstone’s cabinet until the Liberal election defeat in 1874
What did Stansfeld do for the LNA?
Reshaped the movement into a more effective political pressure group
What did Stansfeld encourage the formation of?
National Medical Association in 1875
When did the Conservative government agree to establish a committee of inquiry into the Acts?
1879
When did the Liberals return to power?
1880
When did the inquiry into the Acts continue to gather information until?
1882
Who did Stansfeld’s role in the LNA cause some tension with?
Middle-class women- they felt that men were too influential within the movement
Who did the middle-class women in the LNA prefer to make alliances with?
Working-class men, who were generally easier to manage
When did Stansfeld push through the final repeal of the Acts?
1886
Which different tactics did the LNA use?
Petitioning; interfering in elections; drawing attention to women mistaken for prostitutes; co-operation with prostitutes
What was a notable success for the LNA in interfering with elections?
1870 candidacy of Henry Storks for Newark- a new Liberal candidate was elected who opposed the Acts
Why was the Storks triumph short-lived for the LNA?
He stood again in 1870 for Colchester- when protesters entered their own pro-repeal candidate, it split the Liberal vote and handed the Conservatives victory
Henry Storks
Governor of Malta; enforced the CDAs rigorously across the island
What did Storks do in response to the LNA’s first attack on him?
Withdrew his candidacy on the day of the election
What was the problem with the LNA interfering with elections?
Protestors were almost entirely dependent on Liberal candidates and were unable to exert influence over Conservative MPs
Who won the 1874 general election?
Benjamin Disraeli’s Conservative Party
What did the LNA lose as a result of the 1874 general election?
Liberal MPs who were sympathetic to its cause
What is the most dramatic example of the LNA drawing attention to women who had been incorrectly identified as prostitutes?
Mrs Percy in Aldershot 1875; drowned herself while police were investigating her
What did the cases of women being mistakenly identified as prostitutes do?
Fuelled public fear that the CDAs risked the dignity of innocent women
What is one noticeable failure of the LNA in regards to the CDAs?
Its inability to mobilise working-class women against the Acts
When did it become clear that the LNA’s campaign had failed to sway public opinion in subjected ports and towns?
1882
Where did campaigners succeed in persuading prostitutes to resist the legal requirements of the Acts in the early 1870s?
Plymouth and Southampton
What was the ‘Siege of Devonport’?
Campaigners worked with prostitutes in resisting medical examinations; provided legal and financial support throughout trials
When did the ‘Siege of Devonport’ run out of steam?
1871
When did the prostitutes in Devonport become compliant with the Acts?
1872
What was an early sign that parliament took the demands of protesters seriously?
1871 Royal Commission into the effects of the legislation
When were the Contagious Diseases Acts suspended?
1883
What was the most successful tactic of the LNA?
Convincing large elements of society that the CDAs were immoral
What did Butler and her followers do while the HoC discussed the suspending of the Acts?
Held continous prayers next to parliament throughout the night
Why was the medical profession less enthusiastic about the continuation of the Acts?
New understandings of the long-term consequences of gonorrhea and syphilis persuaded many that regulation was no longer a viable option
What are some examples of the long-term health problems caused by VD?
Infertility; pelvic ailments
What did the medical profession move to promote rather than regulation?
Chastity; precaution
What did the CDAs become the ultimate embodiment of?
Sexual injustice allowed by a political system that excluded women
