Report of Royal Commission upon the Administration and Operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts.
- Great Britain. Royal Commission on the Contagious Diseases Acts
- Date:
- 1871
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report of Royal Commission upon the Administration and Operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
805/952 page 707
![was so great that she was obliged to appeal to tlje police for protection. 19.549. What statement are you reading?—The statement of Mrs. Dodd herself, but tested as far as it could be by seeing her daughters and the neighbours. Of course, all those are statements which are open to observation. I can only say that I have taken great pains not to be imposed upon, and that my own con- viction is, that these statements are all substantially true. 19.550. The effect of that statement is, that the daughters of a decent woman were annoyed by the attempts of the police to bring them up for examina- tion ?—Yes. 19.551. I will ask you, have you many statements of a similar character, without going through them in detail ?—I have a great many; and perhaps I might be allowed to read one more. The next is the case of a woman who took the line upwards from prostitution, which is a very common line. The great majority of these girls, in the course of a certain number of years, cease to be prostitutes ; and the way in which they get into decent life is very commonly that they first of all go into keeping with some soldier or sailor, and then ultimately many the soldier or sailor; and this next cage is that of a woman who had taken that course. When I took down this statement she was a Mrs. Motter- shaw, and I may say, one thing that gives one, in quietly talking with them, reason to believe in their truth is, that I do not find that they in any way attempt to deny the fact that they have been prostitutes. This woman said at once, I was formerly a prostitute; I am now married to a soldier. In August last I was living at the ' Plasterers' Arms.' Several prostitutes lived there. I shall afterwards ask leave to call atten- tion to that which is a frightful system at the present time in our garrison towns, namely, the licensed houses being well-known brothels. 19.552. Licensed as public-houses ?—Licensed as public-houses. The name of that house was the Plasterers' Arms. Several prostitutes lived there. Two officers came and took all their names down, and said they would have to be examined or go to prison. The same men came to her again in January. She was then living in Euttington Lane cohabiting with Mottershaw, a soldier (now her husband) ; and they came to her frequently, 19.553. (Sir J. Paki?iffton.) Did I understand you, that Avhen she was living at the Plasterers' Arms she was married ?—No; then she was a prostitute. 19.554. That was before ? — That was before. From the Plasterers' Arms she was ta]-en into keeping by Mottershaw, the soldier, and then he afterwards married her. He lived in barracks, but came to her frequently, and she had discontinued having intercourse with any other men. The officer said she must go to Hawke's Lane for examina- tion. She went, and one of the officers put a paper before her to sign. He read part of it to her, and she signed it. She was then examined by the doctor. She was not aware that anything was the matter with her, and does not believe that there was. Mottershaw had no disease about him that she was aware of. The doctoi', however, gave a certificate that she was dis- eased, and she was immediately locked in a room with several other girls till six in the evening. This case also illustrates the entirely illegal practice which I believe has been now put a stop to in consequence of our interference, but when that began we found that the clause in the Act which permits women who are dis- eased to have an opportunity of going to the hospital voluntarily was habitually disregarded, and when the doctor found they were diseased they were at once imprisoned, locked in a room altogether, sometimes as many as seven, eight, or nine, and kept there until the next train went, and then they were sent off to the hospital. That practice, in consequence of our protest before the magistrates, has now, I believe, been discon- tinued. She was then taken in a cab with seven others to the railway station, and from thence to Dover, and thence to Shorncliffe Hospital. She did not arrive at Shorncliffe till half-past eight. She had had no food since the morning, and none was given her till she got to Shorncliffe. She did not refuse to go to the hospital. Some of the girls asked why they were locked in the room. The officer said You will soon see. Some of the girls asked to be allowed to go home, but the officers refused to let them do so. She was kept at the hospital for six weeks. She is quite satisfied that nothing was the matter with her. When she came out of the hos- pital the officers came to her again, but she told them she was going to be married, and declined to go to Hawke's Lane for examination. Mottershaw was greatly exasperated at her going there at all. She went there once afterwards, and got a certificate of release, but Mottershaw put it in the fire, Then she says, which may be true or not, she has seen the officers speak to girls in the street, and heard one of them ask a girl to take him home with her, and has seen them speak to respectable girls as avcU as to prostitutes. Now Avhether she was diseased or not, at the time she was sent off she was certainly not a common prostitute, and that illustrates what I was sayings that the system is applied to whole classes of women who could not be included in any definition, if there was a definition, I have a very considerable number of those cases, 19.555. I will just recall yovi to a question which I put to you just now, whether you have been engaged professionally in the conduct of the defence of any of the women charged by the police ?—Yes, it was in going or sending down to undertake the defence of the women Avbo were summoned that I had the oppor- tunity of taking all these depositions. 19.556. What was the result of the cases which were legally disposed of ?—The result has been exceedingly different. I was going to call the atten- tion of the Commissioners afterwards to the fact that it would necessarily be so from the loose and vague way the duty of the magistrate is described. The wording of the information under clause 16 of the Act of 1866 is, that the informant, generally the superintendent of police, has good cause to believe that the Avoman summoned is a common prostitute ; then a notice is served on the woman, which is really a summons, and it is curious, but consistent with the Avay in which the Act is worded throughout, that it is called a notice, although it is practically a police summons ; and then, when the woman goes up before the magistrates, the matter of the information is to be substantiated to their satisfaction. Now great dif- ferences of opinion have been expressed by magis- trates as to what that means. Some say the matter of the information is simply that the superintendent of police says on oath that he has good cause to belicA'e that the woman is a prostitute. Generally speaking, hoAvcA'er, they seem to haA'e given to it that Avhich is the reasonable interpretation, that it is their business to investigate the grounds of the superinten- dent's belief. 19.557, Do you think any doubt Avould suggest itself to the mind of a competent magistrate that such was his duty?—The doubt has been actually stated on the bench. If this provision had been Avorded as in any ordinary case, one would have expected it to declare that the justice must be satisfied on evidence that the woman was a common prostitute ; that is the real issue before him, but the Act does not say so ; and that makes a very great difference : if the magis- trate felt that it was his duty not to make the order until overt acts of prostitution had been proved, so as to satisfy his mind that the woman befoie him AA^as a prostitute, the woman would have the ordinary protec- tion of English law, but the Act avoids saying that is the duty of the magistrate, 19.558, But let me call your attention to the notice. It distinctly states that the Avoman is a common prostitute ?—Yes, the notice does, but the informa- tion simply says that the sujjerintendent has good cause to believe that she is so. A great difference of opinion has arisen as to the necessity of doing anything more 4U 2 FOUTT- FOURTH DATS Mr. W. 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