Butler Josephine

JOSEPHINE BUTLER

I first came across the name, Josephine Butler, when I stayed at a college which bore her name, in Liverpool. It was my ordination retreat, prior to being ordained a priest, in 1965.

The college was used for the training of what were then called, Moral Welfare workers, for the Church of England.

However, it was not until last year, when l read A N Wilson's book, The Victorians, that I began to appreciate the significance of Josephine Butler in the life of the UK and, in particular, her contribution to the emancipation of women, arising from her Christian faith.

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Josephine Butler was born into a prominent Northumberland family on the 13th April 1828, the seventh child of John and Hannah Grey. It was essentially an evangelical family.

She married George Butler in 1852 and he was ordained a priest two years later. At first he became an Examiner of Schools in Oxford, before becoming Principal of Cheltenham College, and finally, Headmaster of Liverpool College in 1866.

Two particular experiences in Josephine's life, were to have a profound impact upon her and determine the future course of her life.

The first experience concerned a young woman abandoned by her upper-class lover, and convicted of killing their illegitimate child. Josephine's husband, George, suggested that once this woman was discharged from prison, she should come and work for them as their servant, rather than be left to become a prostitute, which was the fate of so many unsupported women. Josephine agreed and took her into their home, showing her the utmost kindness,

The second experience that was to have a profound influence upon her was the death of their daughter, Eva, when she fell over the bannister of their Cheltenham home on the 20th August 1864, aged five years. This resulted in a sort of spiritual crisis for Josephine, who wrote in her diary that she was unable to 'go to the Sacrament' on Easter Day or even to visit Eva's grave. As a result, she resolved to reach out in her own suffering to help others. She wrote, "l had no clear idea beyond that, no plans for helping others; my sole wish was to plunge into the heart of some human misery, and to say to the affected people: ”I understand. I too have suffered”.

It was not long before she came face to face with “some human misery”. Shortly after this, they moved to Liverpool, and whilst her husband and sons were at school, she busied herself by visiting the local workhouse on Brownlow Hill. At first she was terrified, but through perseverance, she overcame her initial fear and began to understand the conditions of working class women, and especially those of prostitutes.

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In 1869, she was horrified to learn that the third Contagious Diseases [Women] Act had been quietly passed by Parliament. The Act extended the provision of earlier Acts which sought to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in garrison towns and seaports, by compelling women suspected of prostitution, to submit to regular examination and, if found to be diseased, to undergo compulsory treatment in special "Lock" hospitals.

Josephine saw red. She concluded that it was a man's world. The law viewed the behaviour of those who visited prostitutes as, 'the irregular indulgence of a natural impulse'. In other words, the law excused the men by saying it was 'natural' but punished the woman. The men, as far as Josephine was concerned, were of greater danger to the general good of the community by virtue of their greater number.

In 1870, she argued that irresponsibility of fathers of illegitimate children is one grand cause of the murder of babies, and that it was "wickedness" that made the mother alone bear the shame and burden of caring for such children.

It is hard for us, nowadays, to appreciate the courage of Josephine Butler, in bringing this scandal to the attention of the public. After all, women did not talk about sex in public - still less sexual diseases, or the double standards of men, especially legislators.

For the next sixteen years she toured the country campaigning for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts and endured much criticism ''Have these ladies no better occupation?” thundered one newspaper, commenting that they indulged in "a hobby too nasty to mention”. Meanwhile, parliamentarians referred to her as ‘a woman who calls herself a lady’, whilst another said: ‘I look on those women who have taken up this matter as worse than the prostitutes’.

William Gladstone , who believed he had a divine calling to rescue such women, was slow to realise the sheer hypocrisy of the situation, whereby the prostitutes were presumed guilty before the law – whilst their clients were let off. It was indeed a man's world!

Gradually, the Abolitionists, as they called themselves, began to receive support. In 1876 there was a resolution passed in their favour by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, 700 Wesleyan ministers in conference, and 1500 Anglican clergy, but no bishop came to her support! ln 1883, the compulsory examination of suspected prostitutes was condemned in a private motion in the House of Commons, and the acts repealed three years later.

Even in her widowhood, Josephine Butler continued to campaign for the dignity of women. She visited Pope Leo XIII who issued an encyclical against legalised brothels. She supported Catherine Booth in Geneva where the authorities claimed that the Salvation Army was emptying brothels. She went to Brussels and exposed the kidnapping of British children and young women for use in Belgian brothels, and as a result of the action, the legal age of consent was raised from 12 years to 16 years. She also campaigned for the closure of Army brothels in India.

In Liverpool she often took sick and dying prostitutes into her home to be cared for in the last months of their lives. She also set up a Home of Rest where destitute women, discharged from the workhouse or prison, could come for a period of rehabilitation and learn skills that would enable them to survive without resorting to prostitution.

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Now you are probably wondering why I have chosen to address the subject of Josephine Butler in my sermon today? The answer is very simple. This coming Tuesday (30 May), this devout Anglican woman, who did so much to improve the dignity of women, is remembered in the Church's calendar.

But before we push out our chests with pride, let me remind you that when it was decided to extend the list of saints in the Alternative Prayer Book, objections were made at General Synod that the new list contained hardly any women. According to Richard Symonds, after some spirited debate, Josephine Butler just scraped in as the only British post-reformation woman, to the accompaniment of 'some grumbling'.

Alas, even then, she was not recognised in her own right as a woman, but in recognition of the contribution made to the church by parsons’ wives.

So we still live in a male dominated world, or at least we did in the 1970s when the new calendar was drawn up.