CDAs - Which Groups and Individuals led the Opposition to the CDAs?

Question 1

The National Association for the Repeal of the CDAs - When formed and by who?

Answer 1

Formed in 1869 - Included businessmen, lawyers, clergymen and several MPs

Question 2

The National Association for the Repeal of the CDAs - Attitude towards female involvement?

Answer 2

Middle-class male movement, initially not even allowing women to join

Question 3

The National Association for the Repeal of the CDAs - Where founded and who supported by?

Answer 3

Founded at the Social Science Congress and strongly supported by the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, the organisation was supported by many leading jurists and academic economists

Question 4

The National Association for the Repeal of the CDAs - What were the org focused on?

Answer 4

The organisation was proposed by members who were Wesleyans and Quakers – initially they focused on preventing the spread of the acts in the North of England, but later extended to oppose the acts entirely

Question 5

The National Association for the Repeal of the CDAs - Journal published by the group

Answer 5

The organisation published a journal called The Shield

Question 6

Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the CDAs - When formed?

Answer 6

Formed a few weeks after the National Association

Question 7

Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the CDAs - Led by who and why?

Answer 7

Led by Josephine Butler – since the laws only affected women, Butler felt women should be involved in campaigning for their repeal

Question 8

Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the CDAs - How did they present their opinion?

Answer 8

Presented their opinion December 1869, with the ‘Women’s manifesto’ protesting the Acts which was published in the Daily News, signed by 128 influential women including Florence Nightingale – it declared that the laws had been passed without the knowledge of most of the country and even without MPs understanding them – it complained that it put women, whether innocent or guilty, under the power of the police and removed personal scrutiny – given that the Daily News had a circulation of 150,000, this would have been widely read

Question 9

Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the CDAs - How many signatures on the copy of the statement presented to P

Answer 9

A copy of the statement was presented to Parliament with 2000 signatures

Question 10

Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the CDAs - When did they campaign until?

Answer 10

They campaigned until the acts were repealed in 1886

Question 11

Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the CDAs - How did they draw attention to the issue?

Answer 11

They drew a lot of attention to the issue, since legislation and the discussion of sexual matters were not usually considered to be in the female sphere

Question 12

Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the CDAs - Examples of negative attention?

Answer 12

Not all the attention was positive, with the Sunday Review calling the movement a ‘shrieking sisterhood’

Question 13

Josephine Butler - Background

Answer 13

The wife of a headmaster in Liverpool, Butler had been involved in the Liverpool area supporting poor women and girls in a local poorhouse and as chairwoman for a committee on extending adult education

Question 14

Josephine Butler - Role

Answer 14

She was a forceful persuasive speaker who provided respectable leadership to a movement that was addressing a taboo subject – to have a female leader who spoke in public and discussed sexual health shook social expectations

Question 15

Josephine Butler - Who did she speak to, what did she argue, and what did she say in a speech to the royal commission in 1870?

Answer 15

She spoke to audiences in Liverpool, Manchester, London and other areas, as well as in Parliament and argued that the laws were unreasonable and unequal – in a speech to the Royal Commission in 1870 she said ‘let your laws be put in force, but let them be for male as well as female’

Question 16

Elizabeth Wolstenholme - Background

Answer 16

A personal friend of Butler, denied an education herself by a traditionalist father, she founded a school for girls and was a strong advocate for women’s rights

Question 17

Elizabeth Wolstenholme - Role

Answer 17

A founding member of the LNA, she took a direct role and was fond of petitions as a means of protest – she claimed to have personally communicated with 10,000 people and distributed 500,000 leaflets – her work can be connected to 90,000 signatures on petitions submitted to Parliament

Question 18

Elizabeth Wolstenholme - Examples of giving attention to other causes?

Answer 18

However, Wolstenholme also gave attention to other female issues of the day – she was a founding member the Kensington Society, an early female group which discussed Parliamentary reform and unsuccessfully pressured MPs to include female suffrage in the 1867 reform act

Question 19

Elizabeth Wolstenholme - Example of scandal

Answer 19

She also brought some scandal to the movement when she fell in love and became pregnant by a man that she lived with but was not married to – even after they married in 1874, she refused to take his surname or wear a wedding ring, which to a small degree discredited the LNA

Question 20

Support in P - Examples of MPs who supported the cause?

Answer 20

Although most support for the movement was extra-parliamentary, there were some MPs who gave support – William Fowler and later James Stansfeld, both Liberal MPs, spoke in favour of ending the laws, primarily because they essentially legalised prostitution –

Question 21

Support in P - What did Fowler say in P?

Answer 21

Howler complained in Parliament that the laws were unconstitutional for arresting women with only a suspicion an no requirement for evidence

Question 22

Support in P - What other big MP spoke out against the bills?

Answer 22

John Stuart Mill, famous for supporting female suffrage, also spoke out against the laws, however the number MPs was small

Question 23

The role of James Stansfeld - How was the question of leadership troubling for the LNA?

Answer 23

Although Butler was a formidable figure within the LNA, the question of leadership was often troublesome – James Stansfeld and Henry J Wilson were both responsible for organising the movement

Question 24

The role of James Stansfeld - Where did Stansfeld work and what did he do after this?

Answer 24

Stansfeld worked in Gladstone’s cabinet until the Lib election defeat in 1874 and was a leading radical MP within the gov – pre 1874, he took a dominant role in leading the national movement for the repeal of the CDAs – while Butler guided LNA policy, Stansfeld reshaped the movement into a more effective PG

Question 25

The role of James Stansfeld - What strategies did Stansfeld adopt and what effect did this have?

Answer 25

He continued to cultivate popular support, but adopted new strategies – he looked to develop specific scientific arguments against the Acts based on facts – this transformed the campaign from a moral venture into a pragmatic one

Question 26

The role of James Stansfeld - What did Stansfeld encourage the formation of and what effect did this have?

Answer 26

Stansfeld encouraged the formation of the National Medical Association in 1875, which enlisted medical professionals to campaign against the acts – this pressure paid off in 1879, when the Con gov agreed to establish a committee of inquiry into the acts

Question 27

The role of James Stansfeld - What happened when the Libs were voted back in in 1880?

Answer 27

This continued to gather info on the acts, and when the Libs were voted back into power in 1880, Stansfeld was appointed to this inquiry

Question 28

The role of James Stansfeld - How did his role create tension?

Answer 28

His role did create some tension with middle-class women in the LNA who felt he was too influential – women such as Butler felt threatened by men in the LNA and preferred to make alliances with working class men who were generally easier to manage – Butler relied on Stansfeld’s organisational skills, but felt his prominence in the movement was a threat – likewise she resented Henry Wilson’s belief that the repeal was not especially a problem for women, but for all of society

Question 29

The role of James Stansfeld - How were Wilson and Stansfeld influential to the group?

Answer 29

However, both Wilson and Stansfeld were central to the LNA’s success – Wilson in getting the Libs to support the repeal, and Stansfeld in eventually pushing through the final repeal in 1886 – unlike Butler, Wilson and Stansfeld were both eligible to become MPs, so had political influence in P