Vagrancy and the Victorians : the Social Construction of the Vagrant In
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VAGRANCY AND THE VICTORIANS: THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE VAGRANT IN MELBOURNE, 1880-1907 SUSANNE ELIZABETH DAVIES RID THESiS, HISTORY DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, 1990 (This thesis does not exceed 100,000 words,) In Memory of my Father CONTENTS Page List of Figures 4 List of Illustrations 6 List of Abbreviations 9 Acknowledgements 10 Abstract 12 Introduction 15 Chapter One: A World of Difference 42 Chapter Two: The Evolution of the Vagrancy Laws 115 Chapter Three: Policing the Victorian Vagrancy Law 145 Chapter Four: Trial and Error 216 Chapter Five: Punishing and Reforming 274 Chapter Six: A System in Crisis $43 Chapter Seven: New Solutions for an Old Problem 397 Conclusion 450 Appendix One: Statistical Method 455 Appendix Two: Statistics relating to the Arrest and Imprisonment of Vagrants in Victoria, 1888-1907. 461 Appendix Three: Statistics relating to Vagrancy Cases heard by the Melbourne Court of Petty Sessions, 1 May 1888 - 30 April 1901. 468 Bibliography 478 4 FIGURES Page Figure 3.1: Vagrancy Arrests in Victoria, 1880-1907 161 Figure 3.2: Most Common Types of Arrests in Victoria, 1880-1905 162 Figure 3.3: Vagrancy Arrests as a Percentage of Total Arrests in Victoria, 1880-1907 163 Figure 3.4: '1 in 10' Sample - Vagrancy Cases heard by the MCPS, 1888-1901 167 Figure 3.5: '1 In 10' Sample - NVLMS/ILMS Cases as a Percentage of Total Vagrancy Cases, MCPS, 1888-1901 170 Figure 3.6: '1 in 10' Sample - Sex of Defendants in Vagrancy Cases, MCPS, 1888-1901 173 Figure 3.7: '1 in 10' Sample - Sex of Defendants in NVLMS/ILMS Cases, MCPS, 1888-1901 174 Figure 3.8: '1 in 10' Sample - NVLMS/ILMS Cases involving Medical Inquiry or Treatment, Remand and Discharge, MCPS, 1888-1901 197 Figure 4,1 : '1 in 10' Sample - Percentage of Accused Vagrants Imprisoned and Discharged, MOPS, 1888-1901 259 Figure 4.2: 'I in 10' Sample - Percentage of Accused Vagrants tried for NVLMS/ILMS and Imprisoned or Discharged, MOPS, 1888-1901 259 Figure 4.3: '1 in 10' Sample - Percentage of Male and Female Defendants Tried for Vagrancy and Discharged, MOPS, 1888-1901 261 Figure 4.4: '1 in 10' Sample - Percentage of Male and Female Defendants Tried for Vagrancy and Imprisoned, MOPS, 1 888-1 901 262 Figure 4.5: 1 in 10' Sample: Percentage of Male and Female Defendants tried for NVLMS/ILMS and Discharged, MCPS, 1888-1901 263 5 Figure 4.6: '1 in 10' Sample: Percentage of laie and Female Defendants tried for NVLMS/ILMS and Imprisoned, MCPS, 1888-1901 263 Figure 4.7: '1 in 10 Sample - Terms of Imprisonment imposed on Convicted Vagrants, MCPS, 1888-1901 264 Figure 4.8: '1 in 10' Sample - Terms of Imprisonment imposed on Defendants convicted of NVLMS/ILMS, MOPS, 1888-1901 265 Figure 6.1: Ratio of Vagrancy Cases heard by the MCPS per 10,000 Population, 1880-1901 348 Figure 6.2: Ratio of Vagrancy Arrests in Victoria per 10,000 Population, 1880-1907 349 Figure 6.3: Vagrants received into Victorian Gaols for Shelter and Medical Care 380 6 ILLUSTRATIONS Page 1.1 The New Tower of Babel (Melbourne Punch, 22 April 1880, p.165) 43 1.2 Melbourne 1880 (Illustrated Australasian News, October 1880, Supplement) 48 1.3 View of Melbourne from the Spire of Scots Church с.1875 (La Tribe Library Small Pictures Collection) 53 1.4 A Sad Want (Melbourne Punch, 29 January 1880, p,48) 57 1.5 Let Loose 66 (Melbourne Punch, 26 January 1882, р.35) 1.6 Jealous Maidens (The Hawk, 1 March 1894, p.2 in Chief Commissioner of Police Inward Correspondence, VPRS 807: Unit 4) 69 1.7 Yarra Bankers (Melbourne Punch, 19 December 1878) 72 1.8 Still on their Road to Paradise (Melbourne Punch, 26 February 1880, p.84) 92 1.9 The Casual Room at the immigrants' Home (Illustrated Australasian News, 11 July 1868, p.5) 100 1.10 Missing the Point (Melbourne Punch, 12 September 1872, p.88) 105 1.11 Incidents in the Life of a Street Boy (Illustrated Australasian News, 5 August 1885, p.121) 108 3.1 The Piratical Bobbies (Melbourne Punch, 16 June 1 881 , p.245) 148 3.2 Hussey Malone Chomley (Jahn Sadleir, Recollections of a Victorian Police Officer, George Robertson & Co., Melbourne, 1913, facing p.265) 150 7 3.3 John Sadleir (Sadleir, Recollections, facing p.88) 153 3.4 How Money is Made (Melbourne Punch, 5 September 1872, p.77) 183 3.5 Kate McEvoy (Central Register of Female Prisoners, VPRS 516: Unit 8: p.156) 187 3.6 Their Victims (Illustrated Australasian News, 1 September 1893, p.17) 189 3.7: Melbourne Beggars (Illustrated Australasian News, 18 June 1872, p.128) 213 4.1 The Melbourne Magistrate's Court - Old Supreme Court (La Tribe Small Pictures Collection) 219 4.2 Joseph Anderson Panton (Sadleir, Recollections, facing p.67 and The Australasian, 18 October 1890, p.765) 225 4.3 Gordon Lawrence (Central Register of Male Prisoners, VPRS 515: Unit 40: p.408) 247 4.4 Annie Hicks (Central Register of Female Prisoners, VPRS 516: Unit 10: p.442) 267 5.1 View of Melbourne by Nettleton, c.1880 (La Tribe Small Pictures Collection) 276 52 The Women's Penitentiary at Coburg (New Idea, 6 January 1905, p.617) 280 5.3 Corridor of Cells in the Women's Penitentiary (New Idea, 6 January 1905, p.619) 282 5.4 Homeless Arabs (Leaflet of the La Tribe St Ragged School Mission and Boys Home, in the Chief Commissioner of Police Inward Correspondence, VPRS 807: Unit 91) 308 5.5 Picking Oakum in the Morning at the Immigrants' Home (Illustrated Australasian News, 11 July 1868, p.5) 327 8 6.1 Among the Workless - Feeding the Hungry (Illustrated Australasian News, 1 July 1892, p.1) 360 6.2 The Labour Market in Australia: The Unemployed who are not Anxious for Employment (The Graphic [London), 18 June 1892, p.712) 373 9 ABBREVIATIONS COS: Charity Organization Society MCPS: Melbourne Court of Petty Sessions NVLMS/ILMS: No visible lawful means of support/ Insufficient lawful means of support. VDPAS: Victorian Discharged Prisoners Aid Society VPD: Victorian Parliamentary Debates VPP: Victorian Parlamentar" Papers VPRS: Victorian Public Records Series 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the assistance and support of many people. My inspiration for it stemmed partly from my father's rage and extraordinary determination, and partly from the teaching of Pat Grimshaw, Donna Merwick and Greg Dening during my undergraduate years. The latter, in particular, taught me it was not the reader's responsibility not to be bored, but the historian's responsibility not to be boring. In hope 1 have achieved that. Throughout the course of the thesis, David Philips has done all that a supervisor could be expected to do. He has suffered my appalling handwriting, been eager to offer suggestions and constructive criticism, and has displayed unwavering faith in the project. Charlie Fox proved to be an' enthusiastic supervisor in David's absence, although I am eternally grateful that I did not follow his recommendation and go to the State Library on the day of the Russell Street bombing. Lloyd Robson also provided invaluable advice and encouragement when I found myself in a statistical quagmire. Various individuals provided me with records relating to vagrants. Dr Warren White of the Victorian Health Commission granted me access to the records of Victoria's lunatic asylums long before they were available at the Public Records Office. The Victorian Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders gave me permission to use the records of the Victorian Discharged Prisoner's Aid Society, and Al Thompson allowed me to use the Scott Collection. Paul Hicks, Bruce Scates and 11 Terry Sawyer told me about the vagrants who crossed their paths, and Andrew McClean willingly went in search of the ADB index for me. Tony Caruse convinced me that 1 could use a computer and provided invaluable advice and instruction. The staff of the Victorian Public Records Office, the University of Melbourne Archives, the Charles Brothers Museum, the State Library, and the History Department Office at the University of Melbourne also provided constant assistance. On a personal level, I have amassed some debts that I could never possibly repay. Anne Williams, Teresa D'astoli and Margaret Bullen, cuddled, cajoled, castigated and consoled me at appropriate moments, and told me to get the bloody thing finished. Mark Peel proved a patient and reassuring listener, tolerated my innumerable interruptions, and told me that it would be done. My mother kept a concerned eye over me, fed me when 1 was too thin, lent me money when 1 was too poor, and eventually gave up asking how long it would take. Andrea Hodgetts, who has lived with this thesis almost as long as I have, has provided me with support and encouragement for which I will always be grateful. To her, I owe special thanks. 12 ABSTRACT In Melbourne between 1880 and 1907, the construction and propagation of a vagrant stereotype and its manifestation in law, constituted an important means of controlling the behaviour of individuals and groups who were perceived to be socially undesirable or economically burdensome. The construction and application of this stereotype, designated particular individuals as lazy, cunning and immoral, and was inextricably connected to the inter-related hierarchies of class and gender. Men and women who were categorised and condemned as vagrant were almost exclusively members of the working-class, while those who shaped and applied the vagrant label were almost invariably members of the bourgeoisie and/or representatives of the state.