Josephine Butler – radical campaigner for equality

She was inspired by a strong religious faith and is mostly remembered as the founder of the Ladies’ National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act and for her compassionate campaigning against sex trafficking. 

Josephine was born in 1828 in Northumberland. She enjoyed an idyllic countryside childhood. Although not formally educated, she was introduced early to her father’s mission to support famous anti-slavery campaigns led by William Wilberforce. 

These early lessons alerted Josephine to the suffering of others and remained central to her activism. In 1852 Josephine married George Butler and the couple moved first to Oxford and later to Liverpool in 1866. The couple adored each other and with George appointed the Principal of Liverpool College in 1865 Josephine began her rescue work. 

The tragic death of her little daughter Eva in 1864 was a major catalyst of Josephine’s mission. She routinely visited the Liverpool Workhouse and it was here that she heard the stories of young working-class girls who, through false promises of domestic work had been unwittingly sold into the sex trade. Josephine understood that these women were now ruined in the eyes of Victorian society, and had little choice but to live in poverty, the workhouse or turn to prostitution. She had always been deeply troubled by the unfair treatment of women especially those deemed outcasts of society. She fearlessly confronted, with great empathy, the mistreatment of so called ‘fallen women’, who existed outside of the ideals of Victorian femininity. 

As the antithesis of Victorian femininity, the fallen woman conjured very little public sympathy. In 1864, the first Contagious Diseases Act (CDA) was introduced in England with the aim of regulating sex work. As the spread of venereal disease among military men was thought to be the fault of women. Under the CDA any woman accused of prostitution could be detained and forcibly medically examined. If signs of infection were detected, or the woman refused the examination, she would be imprisoned without trial in a Lock Hospital to receive treatment until released with a certificate of cleanliness. 

Joesphine was incensed by the double standard, she considered the examination an outrage and fought relentlessly against a system of state sponsored prostitution – often at great personal cost. Later dubbed the Patron Saint of Prostitutes, Josephine spoke internationally on the treatment of women and their bodies at a time when the mere acknowledgement of an internal examination by a gentlewoman was near unthinkable! Nonetheless, Josephine recognised that all women, prostitute or not, were deprived of their safety under the Act and she would not be silenced. For her, the Act should be repealed by any means necessary! 

By 1885, George Butler had been appointed a canon of Winchester Cathedral and the family lived in the Close. Josephine established a ‘home of rest’ at Hope Cottage, Highcliffe and Hamilton House in Canon Street, Winchester’s own red-light district to continue her rescue work. It was at this time that Josephine met Rebecca Jarrett.

Rebecca had formerly been engaged in the sex trade dealing in virgins as the keeper of a ‘bad house’ in London. In 1885, Rebecca now reformed and wholeheartedly supported by Josephine, was living in Hope Cottage. For Josephine, Rebecca was the perfect candidate to help her associate, campaigning journalist W.T. Stead, expose the horrors of Victorian child sex trafficking. Stead, the Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, aimed through ‘The Secret Commission’, a group of social reformers including Catherine and Bramwell Booth of the Salvation Army, to reveal that it was possible to purchase a 13-year-old virgin to sell into the European sex trade. The Commission were banking on the power of the press and particularly the power of a sensational story to raise public consciousness. 

So, in 1885 Jarrett arranged for the purchase of 13-year-old Eliza Armstrong from Charles Street, Marylebone for £5. What happened next, is a truly bizarre tale! 
The Commission was assured that Eliza had been purchased from a world of vice a mother who knowingly sold her child to the sex trade and spent the exploits in the public house and although this would later be contested in court, the Commission believed Eliza to have been rescued. The ‘rescue’ of Eliza had involved a medical examination to guarantee virginity, a visit to a brothel, the administering of chloroform, travel to Paris and too many more twists and turns to include in this issue. By September 1885 after the publication of his expose both Stead and Jarrett had been arrested for abducting Eliza. 

Josephine although not officially named rushed to implicate herself in a published letter to the editor of the Hampshire Chronicle, in August 1885 stating: “I was allied from the first with members of the Secret Commission, that I worked with them, and that Rebecca Jarrett, at my own urgent request…undertook some of the most difficult tasks connected with the recent exposure.” 

In the letter she promised to set the record straight for the people of Winchester but ultimately Rebecca came off very badly at the Old Bailey. The events of the abduction had been debated but Rebecca was portrayed as a liar having lied, about aspects of her past to protect others whom she feared and was sentenced to six months. Stead although believed to have acted with good intentions, was thought to have been duped by Rebecca and sentenced to three months for his part in the abduction. 

After the trial had ended Josephine was free to speak, and she did not hold back in her defence of Rebecca Jarrett. For Josephine, the judgements cast upon Rebecca were crude and unforgiving. She openly criticised the Attorney-General for suggesting that she was weak for believing in Rebecca. Ultimately, the Secret Commission was right to believe in the power of a sensational story. The story quickened the passage of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 which raised the age of consent from 13 years-old - Eliza’s age to 16 years-old. 

In 1886, in no small part thanks to Josephine Butler the Contagious Diseases Act was totally repealed. Josephine’s story is remembered as one of determination and triumph. But it is also a very human story. Josephine, Rebecca, and Eliza were not simply characters in a tale but women who led complex lives. Their stories have become intertwined and Josephine’s work albeit understood through the lens of Victorian values offers us a way to engage with women like Rebecca whose voices are largely missing from the historical record – the very women Josephine fought to humanise.