The “Gateway to Adventure”: Women, Urban Space and Moral Purity in Liverpool c. 1908-c. 1957 A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the Faculty of Humanities 2012 Samantha Caslin-Bell School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Contents List of Images 5 Introduction 10 1. Female Sexuality and the Law in Early-Twentieth-Century 33 England The Prostitute as Other 39 Problems of Policing 45 The Public Places (Order) Bill and the appointment of the Macmillan 55 Committee Regulating the common prostitute 67 The case for moral regulation 79 Conclusion 89 2. Patrolling the Port: Female Morality and Rescue Work in Early- 93 Twentieth-Century and Interwar Liverpool Preventative Work 95 The Establishment of the LVA 101 The First World War: Women and Moral Anxieties in Liverpool 110 Moral Surveillance and the Liverpool Vigilance Association after the 116 Great War Conclusion 121 3. White Slavery, Female Vulnerability and the LVA in the Interwar 123 Period The LVA and the Earlier Purity Movement 128 Charity and Class 132 Internationalism and Expertise 141 Trafficking and Urban Femininity 147 Conclusion 154 4. Moral Interventions and Irishness: Irish Girls and the LVA 158 Female Purity and Irish National Identity 162 Irish Virtue and Urban Vulnerability 171 Conclusion 185 5. The “Port of Hope”: Finding Respectable Employment 188 Work, Poverty and Female Morality 191 Runaways: Case Studies 202 Conclusion 207 6. Old Discourses and New Protagonists: Prostitution and Female 211 Sexuality in the Postwar Period Prostitution in London and Liverpool 217 Morality and Working-Class Women 223 Managing Moral Vulnerability 226 Public versus Private 229 Conclusion 235 2 Conclusion 238 Appendices 248 Bibliography 253 Word count, excluding the bibliography: 67,687 3 Abbreviations LRO Liverpool Record Office LUA Liverpool University Archives LVA Liverpool Vigilance Association TNA The National Archives WL Women’s Library WPP Women Police Patrols (Liverpool) 4 List of Images Figure Page 1.1 Arrests and Convictions for Solicitation in Liverpool, 49 1922-1926. Source: Lionel Everett, Transcript of Evidence, Departmental Committee on Street Offences, 14 th January 1928, pp. 36-37, TNA HO45/12663. 2.1 LVA Badge. Source: LVA Annual Report 1916, 100 Unpublished, LRO M326 VIG/3 Box 2, p. 16. 3.1 Liverpool and the White Slave Traffic. Source: Daily 134 Dispatch , 5 th November 1908. Cutting preserved in Liverpool Vigilance Association: Newspapers, LRO M326VIG/5/1. 3.2 Nationalities of the ‘Young Women’ that the LVA 145 helped between 1916 and 1937. Source: LVA Annual Reports 1916-1937, Unpublished, LRO M326 VIG/3 Box 2. 3.3 “Stranded”: An LVA Illustration. Source: LVA Charity 150 Dinner Pamphlet, 1908. LRO M326VIG/5/1. 5 Abstract The “Gateway to Adventure”: Women, Urban Space and Moral Purity in Liverpool c. 1908-c. 1957 This thesis examines the regulation of women in public space in Liverpool between 1908 and 1957. It considers the complex relationship between the laws used to police solicitation, governmental debate about female prostitution and local purity campaigners’ concerns with the moral vulnerability of young, working-class, urban women. It is argued that the ways in which prostitution was understood and managed had an impact upon all women’s access to and use of public space, together with wider definitions of female morality and immorality. The thesis adds to historical understandings about the implications of prostitution regulation in the twentieth century, by moving away from London-focused histories to offer a detailed analysis of the ways in which national debates about vice were taken up at local level and with what consequences. I begin by exploring the problems with policing prostitution in the early- twentieth century and argue that increasing concern about the difficulty in differentiating prostitutes from ‘ordinary’ women provoked anxiety amongst law makers and government officials alike. It is argued that the debates canvassed by the 1927 Macmillan Committee indicate the degree to which moral codes about female sexuality informed official approaches to prostitution. The thesis considers the implications of these broad debates in Liverpool. Focusing on the work of the Liverpool Vigilance Association (LVA), it is proposed that fears about the moral threat of prostitution fuelled the organisation’s belief in the necessity of preventative patrol work centred on the moral surveillance of young, working-class women. This thesis shows that in interwar Liverpool, women’s movements were circumscribed first and foremost by their gender. Traditional, nineteenth-century ideas about women’s place within the domestic sphere created a sense among local purity campaigners that female morality was being threatened by women’s visibility in urban spaces. Other aspects of social status, such as class, race and employment experiences, heightened the interest of the LVA in targeting distinctive groups of women. The thesis demonstrates that in their efforts to regulate women’s movements through the city of Liverpool, local purists singled-out working-class and immigrant (especially Irish) women, as they believed them to be the most susceptible to corruption. This thesis draws on a wide range of archival sources, especially Home Office Records relating to the Public Places (Order) Bill and the establishment of the 1927 Macmillan Committee, as well as the LVA archive, in order to show how national and local policies on prostitution were both interdependent and distinct. 6 Declaration No portion of the work referred to in this thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. 7 Copyright Statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=487), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations) and in The University’s policy on Presentation of Theses. 8 Acknowledgements I would like to sincerely thank my supervisors, Professor Frank Mort and Professor Carol Smart, for all of their time, encouragement and advice over the last few years. They have read many drafts, offered advice and attended countless meetings, always showing great enthusiasm for this project. I would also like to thank Mike Savage for reading and commenting on drafts, as well as Selina Todd for her input on my ideas and interests. I would not have been able to complete this thesis without the support of the University of Manchester and the ESRC, who funded my research. I am also grateful to the librarians and archivists at the Liverpool Record Office, the Sydney Jones Library, the National Archives and the Women’s Library for their help. I would like to thank all of the staff who taught and inspired me during my undergraduate studies at the University of Liverpool. Particular thanks go to Andrew Davies and Matt Houlbrook, whose work encouraged my interest in the ideas explored in this thesis. I am also grateful to Paul Jones, Steve Miles, Stuart Wilks-Heeg and Peter Millward for the many discussions about urban sociology, social theory and for their general guidance and support. Thank you to my family and friends for listening and advising during the course of completing my thesis, particularly during the writing-up. James Milton has been a constant source of reassurance and good humour and Kirsty Johnson has offered more time and understanding than I ever expected. I am grateful to Elizabeth Pybis, an irrepressible Liverpudlian lady whose stories first inspired my interest in Liverpool women’s history. My parents Paul Caslin and Amanda Pybis have always supported me and encouraged me to reach my goals. My biggest thanks go to Duane and Alexander. They have supported my work and put up with my distractedness for so long, always with patience and understanding. Thank you. 9 Introduction WORK AT THE LIVERPOOL LANDING STAGE & LIME STREET STATION Here our workers are on duty, wearing the Badge of the Association, at six o’clock every morning to meet the Irish boats and Holyhead train, and are privileged by the Shipping and Railway Companies to interview the girls travelling and render help and service to all in need. The Atlantic Liners and special steamers from all parts are met in the same way. Night and day, Sunday and weekday, without any intermission, this godly work is carried on. Girls seeking situations, girls passing through to foreign parts, girls decoyed under false pretences are met, advised, helped and encouraged; should they be in want they are cared for and housed, and when occasion arises they are taken from the hands of the enemy and saved.