Prostitution : considered in its moral, social, and sanitary aspects, in London and other large cities and garrison towns : with proposals for the control and prevention of its attendant evils / by William Acton.

  • Acton, William, 1813-1875.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Prostitution : considered in its moral, social, and sanitary aspects, in London and other large cities and garrison towns : with proposals for the control and prevention of its attendant evils / by William Acton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    to take to prostitution, and to tempt her to make away with her child either by her own hand or by means of baby farmers, thus giving rise to an amount cf crime fearful to contemplate, while if the chil- dren survive the neglect and ill-treatment of their early years, can it he hoped that they will do otherwise than swell the ranks of the pauper and criminal classes % The following letter from the Assistant Overseer of Marylebone, which appeared in the Daily Telegraph of the 24th of September, 1862, seems worthy of perusal from the ample experience of the writer. He says :— “ My attention having been drawn, both from the reports in your journal and from cases coming under my own observation, to the alarm- ing increase of child-murder, I am induced to offer a few remarks, in the hope that another session may not be allowed to pass without some Act to check, if possible, this fearful crime. It will be found that this offence has gradually increased year by year since the passing of the Act 7th and 8th Yic., c. 101, on August 9, 1844, which makes the mother alone responsible for a bastard child; and the 7tli section of which prohibits any board of guardians or their officers ‘ to conduct any application to make or enforce an order, or in any way to interfere as such officer in causing such application to be made, or in procuring evidence in support of such application, under a penalty of 40s.’ It too often happens that when a young girl finds herself pregnant her friends and relatives turn their backs upon her. She then, becoming destitute, applies to a parish, and all that can be done is to admit her into the workhouse, and there keep her and her offspring; and unless some friend assists her with the necessary funds for the summons, &c., the putative father entirely escapes, and leaves the burden on the rate- payers. “ The remedy for this appears to be to put illegitimate children, so far as parish relief is concerned, on the same footing as legitimate ones, giving power to boards of guardians to issue process and recover from the putative father (where the mother has sufficient corroborative proof) the cost of the confinement, maintenance, &c.—not the present absurd 2s. 6d. weekly, but at a rate which should be fixed by the magistrate according to the position of the father. Another precaution which ap- pears to be necessary is to enact that every unmarried woman who shall find herself pregnant shall, before the end of the sixth month of her pregnancy, register herself at an office to be appointed for that pur- pose in each parish, and her neglecting to do so should subject her to a penalty as for a misdemeanour. “ My experience, arising from numerous applications, s'fiows me the want of some institution where the ‘ first child ’ only of a young un- married woman could be received, so as to give the unfortunate mother an opportunity of regaining her position in society; the cost of the child s maintenance in such institution to be enforced as above-men- tioned against the putative father. It is a remarkable fact that in this mighty city of London there is only one so-called ‘Foundling’ Hos- pital, and there the first and principal rule is, ‘ that the mother shall make the application for the child’s admission.’ ”