The Conversion of Rebecca Jarrett

Rebecca Jarrett (c.1850–1928), whose unpublished memoir appears in this issue, was a poor Londoner and a heavy drinker, who worked in the sex trade as prostitute and brothel-keeper, and occasionally did unskilled work such as laundry. Her decision to leave that life and join the Salvation Army led to her involvement in the sensational events of the ‘Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon’ case – an 1885 newspaper exposé of London’s vice trade. Jarrett was persuaded by journalist W. T. Stead and several leading members of the Salvation Army to stage the procurement of a young girl to demonstrate how easily this could be accomplished. Stead published his account of the event in the Pall Mall Gazette and the response was immense. Crowds clamoured for copies of the paper and Members of Parliament called for Stead’s prosecution under the obscenity laws. Stead, Jarrett, and four others subsequently faced charges in Central Criminal Court for the abduction of a child under sixteen from her parents’ home and for indecent assault. Rebecca Jarrett was now notorious: her likeness was reproduced in newspapers and crowds mobbed her outside court. Eventually jailed, she served six months with hard labour. After this she retreated into the Army’s rescue work where she remained for the rest of her life. Her autobiography, introduced by Pamela J. Walker, reveals the very ordinary aspects of her life as well as her memories of the tumultuous events she helped create.

Art · Art history · Biography · Memoir · Newspaper · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Tribute · Cultural History and Identity Formation · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Law · Literature: history, themes, analysis

• Granny thinking what she is going to write in her book

  Lucinda Matthews-Jones•Women s History Review•2017

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• The Age of Consent

  Open Access•M Waites•Age of Consent•2005

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• City of Dreadful Delight

  Open Access•Judith R Walkowitz•City of Dreadful Delight•1992

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• Singing Birds as well as Soap Suds’

  Open Access•Louise A Jackson•Gender & History•2000

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• Precipitations of Theater

  Herbert Blau•New Literary History•1980

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• Helpless and Unfriended

  Martha Vicinus•New Literary History•1981

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