A critical summary of the evidence before the Royal Commission upon the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1866-1869 / prepared for the National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, by Douglas Kingsford.

  • Kingsford, D. P. W. (Douglas P. W.)
Date:
[1869]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A critical summary of the evidence before the Royal Commission upon the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1866-1869 / prepared for the National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, by Douglas Kingsford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the police is constant observation of the accused, direct inquiry at the house where she lives, or a tentative order to her to attend for examination, supplemented by a request for her signature to the voluntary submission. Nature and mode The following cases illustrate the nature and mode of police age^ri^quS^’. espionage and inquiry:— (1.)—The police employed under the Acts, are regarded as “private inquiry” detectives. Thus a respectable woman having applied for employment at the dockyard of Devonport, 1898-1903 t^®se police made inquiries about her character, and her friends “ felt it very objectionable that her character and position should be the subject of inquiry by that class of policemen.” It is fair 2083-90, to add that the witness, a magistrate, had no proof as to the identity of the police who made these inquiries, though he and the woman’s friends, after inquiry made, believed that they were the special police. 11,166; 11,171-4 Sailors at sea have written letters to the police asking for reports as to the conduct of their wives in their absence, though the police have not supplied the information asked for. 7206-23 (2.)—The police called twice the same day at the house of a respectable working girl under 16 ; said that she must come up for examination, unless medical proof could be given that she ' was not diseased, and that they had been sent to look for a girl of her name. Neighbours remonstrated, but the police laughed saying that the “ young ones are often the worst.” The mother had her daughter examined by a private surgeon (name and address given), who reported that she was an innocent girl. The police afterwards met the girl in the streets and said that they had mistaken her for someone else. The errand of the police became public, and the girl suffered from suspicion and taunts. These and other details, on the statements of the grandmother and mother of the girl (well-known to the witness), were confirmed by the master and mistress and other people residing in the house, which was let out in parts to various tenants. The inspector of police of the district did not give any personal answer to this case though he had an opportimity. But ’ ' CaptainHan-isproducedareportofthe superintendent with respect to it, from which it appears that two constables of police called at the house and saw the girl, and finding that she was not the woman they wanted, asked to see her mother on the chance of 7ier being so. The police said and did nothing more. They had acted on information that a prostitute named Annie Brown had “communicated disease to a retired naval officer.” The girl