eliza and the midwife A story in human trafficking By JoAnn Streeter Shade Eliza and the Midwife A Story in Human Trafficking JoAnn Streeter Shade 2016 Frontier Press All rights reserved. Except for fair dealing permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced by any means without the permission of the publisher. Unless otherwise marked Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTER- NATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Shade, JoAnn Streeter Eliza and the Midwife A Story in Human Trafficking April 2016 Copyright © The Salvation Army USA Western Territory ISBN 978-0-9968473-4-6 Printed in the United States of America on recycled paper CONTENTS FOREWORD ix INTRODUCTION xi CHAPTER 1 | The Sinking of the Titanic 1 CHAPTER 2 | Lisson Grove 9 CHAPTER 3 | Setting the Stage 17 CHAPTER 4 | The Salvation Army Connection 29 CHAPTER 5 | Undercover Prostitute 37 CHAPTER 6 | The Scheme 47 CHAPTER 7 | Girl for Sale 59 CHAPTER 8 | There’s a Man in My Room 65 v vi CHAPTER 9 | Virgo Intacta 73 CHAPTER 10 | The Midwife 81 CHAPTER 11 | Off to France 89 CHAPTER 12 | Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon 99 CHAPTER 13 | The Purity Campaign 115 CHAPTER 14 | Give Us Back Our Daughter 127 CHAPTER 15 | Order in the Court 149 CHAPTER 16 | Florrie’s Diary 175 CHAPTER 17 | A Just Punishment? 193 CHAPTER 18 | Rebecca Remembers 203 CHAPTER 19 | Did It Make a Difference? 215 CHAPTER 20 | And the Midwife Died 233 CHAPTER 21 | And What of Eliza? 247 CHAPTER 22 | So What? 255 APPENDIX 261 BIBLIOGRAPHY 271 NOTES 277 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 286 WITH GRATITUDE I am especially grateful to Eliza, Jenny, Rebecca, Florence and Louise, whose voices, both actual and imagined, give life to these pages. The staff at The Salvation Army’s Eastern Territory College for Officer Training library provided encouragement and support when Eliza’s story was only a phrase jotted down in a notebook. Owen Mulpetre, who created the W. T. Stead Resource Site online, made much of the research accessible to me as I sat in the comfort of my own home, often in robe and nightgown, and brought me in touch with Eliza’s voice for the first time through the trial transcripts on the site. Dr. Judith McLaughlin has once again provided manuscript review, and is head cheerleader in my great cloud of literary witnesses in this world. vii FOREWORD LIZA AND THE MIDWIFE is wrapped with hope, deception, redemption and passion. We see the ills of society through the lens of the mid 19th century where poverty and wealth exhibit both tremendous opportunities and oppression. All through the centuries there have been people who love, people who abuse and those people whose lives are marked by the treachery of others. JoAnn Streeter Shade expertly tells the true story of a young girl of 13 who was used as a pawn to expose the underworld of prostitution and human trafficking in 19th century London. The Salvation Army rallied to help save the life of this young woman who was sold as a sex slave by her parents. This account will show that through the decades, the exploitation of the young has not decreased, but instead today is a billion dollar enterprise. All over the world, The Salvation Army is still deeply dedicated and armed for action as they continue to “rescue the perishing.” ix x JoAnn has fine detail of the facts in this account combined with a beautiful novelization of those facts not recorded. Conflict and contradiction flow through this story that ultimately affects the culture and laws of a country. Eliza and the Midwife challenges readers to take this story and battle the injustices they face in the communities where they live. May you be so empowered by Eliza’s story. Commissioner Carolyn Knaggs The Salvation Army USA Western Territory INTRODUCTION ORE THAN TEN YEARS AGO, I wrote down four words that have nagged at my storyteller’s heart ever since. “And the midwife died.” In 1885, a London newspaper editor, a religious leader, and a redeemed brothel owner took part in a covert action meant to draw attention to the ease at which children could be purchased for immoral purposes. Tucked away in the sensational account of that transaction, publicized as “The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon,” was the small role Louise Rose Mourez was asked to play. As a midwife, Madame Mourez assisted in all aspects of the reproductive lives of women, and so was asked to verify the virginity of Eliza Armstrong, the thirteen-year-old girl who was purchased. As a result of her minimal action, Mourez was convicted of assault and died in prison. The story surrounding Eliza and the midwife pretended to be an unfortunate yet familiar Victorian narrative. A laboring man’s daughter was abducted and seduced, sold or bartered, xi xii taken as a servant or drugged and dragged into a brothel where her virginity was stolen and her life forever changed. It’s likely this type of scenario occurred weekly or even daily in nineteenth century London. What turned the sad but common story of the procurement of Eliza Armstrong into a steamy national sensation was The Salvation Army’s involvement in the purchase of the thirteen-year-old girl and the revelation that a prominent newspaperman was alone with her in the brothel room when she awakened. The story of Eliza Armstrong has been captured on the pages of Salvation Army history under the title of the “Maiden Tribute.” Eliza’s is a true story, a sensational scheme meant to draw attention to the societal problems of child prostitution and trafficking that plagued London, Great Britain, and the European continent in the 1880s. This account, partially described through the eyes of Eliza herself, as well as others who were involved, is an attempt to bring the historical event to life. The underlying issue of the day was that the law, as it stood, set the age of consent at thirteen years. This meant, a man having sexual relations with a child thirteen years or older could claim the child consented, and therefore, he could not be charged with a crime. In contemporary language, this would be described as the age when an adult could no longer be charged with statutory rape. These pages speak to the reader through a historical review of the events of 1885, but also through the voices of five women whose lives and actions are integral to the storyline. Eliza Armstrong, the purchased child, tells us her story, aided by Jenny Turner (a Salvation Army lass turned undercover prostitute), Louise Mourez (the midwife), xiii Rebecca Jarrett (the procuress), and Florence Booth (an early Salvation Army leader). Is there some fiction on these pages? Yes. Little detail is known for certain about Eliza’s experience or her family, so the account of her life prior to June 1885 is a product of my imagination. Initially, I thought I would only know the details of her story through the reports of others, but partway through my research I was thrilled to discover Eliza’s own words as recorded in her testimony at the trial. Therefore, details of the actions of June through November 1885 are factual and reflective of her experience, as described by herself and by others. However, her feelings about those days are my own invention. As for her life after the “Maiden Tribute”, there doesn’t appear to be any mention of Eliza Armstrong in Salvation Army literature after 1885, except for one minor note that The Salvation Army cared for her “more or less,” However, census data provides some clues as to Eliza’s later life (see chapter twenty-one). All of the characters on these pages are actual people, including Jenny Turner, a pseudonym for the Salvation Army woman who spent ten days undercover in a brothel as part of the investigation. As best as I can determine, Jenny’s true identity remains unknown. There is some suggestion that she might be the mysterious Mrs. X, who apparently was present during some of the actual procurement and was later identified as Major Mrs. Carolyn Reynolds. However, it is more likely Jenny was a younger woman, identity unknown. On these pages, her voice and actions, as reported in chapter five, are embellished around the minimal account in Bramwell Booth’s memoir, Echoes and Memories, and David Bennett’s biography of William Booth, The General, William Booth. xiv I suspect Jenny would have known Florence Booth, but their relationship is imagined as well. However, the chapter in the voice of Florence Soper Booth is based upon her own diary from those turbulent days, as written about so beautifully by Lt. Colonel Jenty Fairbank in For Such a Time. In later years, Florence’s husband became the second General of The Salvation Army. Florence’s early ministry to the young women of London develope into a worldwide network of ministry to women known as the home league. Rebecca Jarrett’s chapter speaks from her own 1928 autobiography, which is in manuscript form at The Salvation Army’s International Heritage Centre. Her words are supplemented by a biographical sketch of Rebecca as prepared by Josephine Butler, a Purity Campaign leader who aided Rebecca, as well as the War Cry report of her death.