A Letter to the Town Magistrates#
Following the laying of the foundation stone in August 1854, with the Prince Regent and the Bishop of Winchester in attendance, the construction of the new St Thomas Church was well underway by Autumn, 1855.
But in the streets and lanes around St. Thomas Square, as we have already seen, street life continued.
Loitering and fighting, September 1855
Isle of Wight Observer - Saturday 08 September 1855
Borough sessions.
Monday.—Before Dr. Wavell, and E. Way, Esq.
…
Jane Snudden was fined 10s. and 5s. costs for loitering about the streets in the middle of the night on Wednesday last for the purpose of prostitution, and in default of payment committed to hard labour in Winchester gaol for 14 days.
Fanny Gutteridge, Martha Linnington, and Martha Denness, three common prostitutes, were charged by P.C. Stubbs with fighting in the street on Saturday night, at half-past 12 o’clock. Reprimanded and discharged.
Loitering with a soldier, September, 1855
Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 08 September 1855
BOROUGH COURT. Monday.— Magistrates present:- R. M. Wavell, and E Way, esqrs.
A girl of loose character, named Jane Snudden, was brought up by Police constable Stubbs for an offence against the bye laws, being found by him loitering about the town with a soldier at midnight. She was fined 15s, including costs, and in default of payment, to be committed for fourteen days’ hard labour.
An unfortunate young woman, stealing a beer-glass, September 1855
Portsmouth Times and Naval Gazette - Saturday 29 September 1855
County Petty Sessions, Saturday.— Before Captain Hamond, R.N. (Chairman). Captain Kerr, A. J. Hamborough, and F. W. Popham, Esqs.
Jane Snudden, an unfortunate young woman, was charged with stealing a beer-glass the previous Saturday evening in the Coopers’ Arms, Coppins Bridge. She expressed a wish to have the proceedings taken summarily by the provisions of the new statute, and was found guilty, but as she had been locked up for week, she was admonished and discharged.
Attempting a rescue, October 1855
Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 13 October 1855
NEWPORT
BOROUGH COURT
Monday.— Magistrates present:- Dr. Wavell, and Thomas Cooke, esq.
Drunken Cases
Charles Simmonds was fined 5s, and 5s costs, for being drunk and disorderly at the Swan Inn, on Saturday night, and assaulting Mr. Inspector Grapes in the execution of his office.
James Underwood was also fined 10s, and 5s costs, for a similar offence, at the Old King’s Arms, and assaulting Police-constables Lockhart and Stubbs ; and in default of payment, committed for twenty-one days’ hard labour
…
A prostitute, named Fanny Vines, was fined a similar sum [5s. and 5s. costs], for drunkenness, and attempting the rescue of the man Underwood, before mentioned, and in default, to be committed for fourteen days.
The following report suggests some confusion in the reporting of names.
Hard labour for being drunk and creating a disturbance, October 1855
Isle of Wight Observer - Saturday 13 October 1855
BOROUGH SESSIONS.— Before R. M. Wavell, esq., and Thomas Cooke.
Fanny Vince was fined 5s. and 5s. costs, and in default committed for 14 days to hard labor, for being drunk and creating a disturbance in the street Saturday night.
Drunk and riotous, November 1855
Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 17 November 1855
NEWPORT
…
BOROUGH COURT. Thursday. — Magistrates present :- Dr. Wavell, and F. Pittis, esq.
Charlotte Honeybunn, Elizabeth West, and Julia Vine, were committed for twenty-one days each hard labour, as common prostitutes, and being drunk and riotous in the streets at twelve o’clock at night.
Despite being assaulted, it seems that working girls could well be prosecuted along with their assailants:
A batch of disorderlies, December 1855
Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 15 December 1855
ISLE OF WIGHT PETTY SESSIONS. BOROUGH COURT.
Monday.— Magistrates present : The Mayor (J. H. Hearn, esq.). Dr. Wavell. and E. Way. esqrs.
A Batch of Disorderlies.— Edward Howes, the landlord of the Tontine, a notorious house in Cosham-street, was charged with assaulting Ellen Cribb, by striking her, making her nose bleed, and also tearing her clothes. He was fined 5s. and costs.
The last complainant’s sister, who gave her name as Rosannah Oates, wife of a Serjeant of the 44th Regiment, preferred a similar charge against the defendant Howes. She admitted that she just stepped into the house with a soldier when a whole lot of them were fighting, and just after she had left, and had got into the middle of the road, the defendant came out and struck her. He accused her, too, of belonging to the opposite shop, and getting the soldiers away from his house to the “ Red, White, and Blue.” He was once more fined 5s. and 5s. costs.
The above two girls were now in their turn charged by the police with an offence against the bye-laws, by using obscene language on the occasion of the assaults above referred to, and were fined 5s. each, without costs, which they paid.
Two disreputable girls, named Jane Dyer and Georgiana Lush, were charged by the police with being in the streets at midnight with several officers of the Garrison, laughing, hallooing, and romping with them. They were committed to Winchester Gaol for a fortnight, as idle and disorderly persons.
By Autumn 1855, the progress being made on the new Church perhaps triggered a renewed sense of both moral mission and civic pride. At the end of September, a combined delegation “consisting of the clergymen of St. Thomas’ Church, the ministers of the different dissenting congregations and others” felt the need to raise their concerns about the public exhibition of disorderly behaviour to the local Magistrates.
In particular, they questioned whether more might be done to regulate disorderly groups gathering on the major public thoroughfares who were “frequently conducting themselves in a manner most offensive to virtue”. They also called for a closer eye to be kept on lodging rooms, public houses, and beershops “where attractions are held out to make them the rendezvous of persons whose antecedents create a suspicion that they will prove nurseries of vice”.
It’s not clear what we can read into their assertion that “they are not seeking any class legislation; their object being the purification of the borough from the social evils which unhappily abound within it” and that “it is their wish to see every offender, whatever be his grade in life, made amenable for his conduct” ? Were they just protecting themselves from claims of attacking what they would see to be the lower orders of society, or were they also sending a message to certain otherwise upstanding members of society who might be engaging in less than virtuous behaviour?!
Warning
I have not yet found a list of the names of the “memorialists” who put their name to the letter.
Appeal to Newport magistrates, October, 1855
Isle of Wight Observer - Saturday 06 October 1855
During the last week a deputation, consisting of the clergymen of St. Thomas’ Church, the ministers of the different dissenting congregations and others, presented the following memorial to the magistrates at the Townhall respecting the social condition of the borough, in the hope that means may be taken to prevent a continuation the present exhibition of indecency and open prostitution which now disgrace its thoroughfares :—
“To the worshipful the Mayor and the Magistrates of the borough of Newport, Isle of Wight.
“The memorial of the undersigned inhabitants of the said borough.
“Your memorialists beg respectfully to state that for some time they have, with many respectable inhabitants, had their attention turned to the moral aspect the borough of Newport.
“A few of the more serious part of the community are laboring, by appliances of a simple, but they trust efficient character, to rectify existing evils; but they fear that, without the cooperation which the municipal authorities can afford, their effort, however well intended, and however admirably conducted, will meet with counteractions too powerful, humanly speaking, for them to surmount.
“Without wishing to cast any reflection upon the municipal authorities, your memorialists request permission to suggest, whether the leading thoroughfares of the borough might not be kept more free from interruption, occasioned by individuals collecting in groups, and frequently conducting themselves in a manner most offensive to virtue — whether the By-Law No. 25 [‘Every common prostitute, or night walker, who shall loiter or in any thoroughfare or public place for the purpose of prostitution or solicitation, shall for such offence forfeit and pay the sum of ten shillings’] could not be put in force, so that by its rigorous execution obstructions to a course of immorality might be lawfully created — whether a stricter supervision could not be exercised over lodginghouses, lest they become the resort of characters for whose use they were not intended, and over public houses and beershops, multiplied, your memorialists fear, far beyond the wants of the borough, and where attractions are held out to make them the rendezvous of persons whose antecedents create a suspicion that they will prove nurseries of vice.
“In imploring the magistrates to exercise their authority for the prevention of crime as far as they can, your memorialists wish to be distinctly understood that they are not seeking any class legislation; their object being the purification of the borough from the social evils which unhappily abound within it, and it is their wish to see every offender, whatever be his grade in life, made amenable for his conduct. Any partial application of the law they would deprecate, for intelligent observers of passing events must see that ail efforts to cleanse the fountains of social life are invariably unpopular and fail, unless even-handed justice be administered all transgressors.
“In conclusion, your memorialists would observe that they address you, not as the organ of any political party, or of any religious denomination, but as inhabitants of the borough, deeply concerned for its highest welfare. Upon your aid they rely as invaluable auxiliary to the various benevolent agencies which are now operating for its social and moral improvement. Their aims, they are free to confess, partake of high and sacred character. On an arm more powerful than that which is human, and on means more effective than any legislation can afford, they depend for their ultimate attainment; but as the work is great, and hindrances from various causes multiply, they desire every kind legitimate of cooperation, and that which an intelligent and a vigilent magistracy can afford they appreciate too highly not to seek, and which, from the known character of the gentlemen who sit upon the beach, they feel persuaded they shall not seek in vain.
“And your memorialists respectfully subscribe their names hereto.”
Dr. Wavell, on the part of the magistrates, replied that the bench would do everything in their power to remedy the evils complained of.
The editors of the Hampshire Advertiser, apparently against their better judgment, also appear to have been entreated to print the memorial in full, finding it hard “to believe that there exists in the Isle of Wight a place so lost to Christianity, and so devoted to crime, beyond the crying evils of any other place in the kingdom” and that “such a social ulceration has been left to fester amidst the general moral healthiness of the island”. But that does not prevent them from repeating the words of their correspondent who comments on “the torrent of juvenile profligacy and prostitution, the streams of which literally choke up our principal thoroughfares of an evening”.
The Retrograding State of Morals in Newport, Hampshire Advertiser, Saturday 06 October 1855
Hampshire Advertiser - Saturday 06 October 1855
Newport, Saturday, October 6.
The Retrograding State of Morals in Newport.
We omitted last week the following memorial, lately presented by the Rev. G H. Connor and other gentlemen to the Magistrates of the borough on this momentous and anxious subject. We have been so earnestly solicited to print the document that we give it insertion against our own inclinations, being unwilling to believe that there exists in the Isle of Wight a place so lost to Christianity, and so devoted to crime, beyond the crying evils of any other place in the kingdom. We are unwilling to believe it. If true, it does not say much in regard to precept and example. The Question arises— how is it that such a social ulceration has been left to fester amidst the general moral healthiness of the island !— to such an extent, too, as thus to meet the severe condemnation of the immediate residents, who taboo the town, and will prevent strangers approaching its scenes of vice. Our correspondent says—” We trust all those of the town who have thought seriously of the matter will exert them-selves in every way to stem the torrent of juvenile profligacy and prostitution, the streams of which literally choke up our principal thoroughfares of an evening:” This is a horrible picture, and is more out-spoken than the memorial.
[The memorial is then printed in full.]
The worshipful the mayor Dr. Wavell, and others of the authorities present, thanked the memorialists for their judicious suggestive hints, and were pleased in feeling that they had the willing co-operation of the respectable inhabitants of the borough.
Court reports in the local press do not appear to reflect any sudden change in the policing of disorderly conduct on the streets, so we might assume the magistrates simply noted the concerns raised for the moment and although they may have also started to discuss whether additional measures were required, and if so, what they might be.
But the concerns were still very much uppermost in the mind of a recent retiree to the Island, a certain Revd. W. Carus Wilson, who had made his home in Ventnor, who was to publish a tract in the early months of the next year that would cause offence to the members of Newport Town Council for the aspersions it cast upon their town.
What next?#
Following on from the memorial letter to the magistrates, an evangelical preacher recently retired to the Island published an even more vociferous attack on the low morals of Newport.