THE NOTORIOUSLY DISSOLUTE FEMALES
INTRODUCTION
Nineteenth century society recognised two types of women – the weak
“Angel of the House” in need of protection and support and the woman of
dissolute character. This view of women impacted upon the lives of
women in Waterford in many different ways and often dictated how
women were treated.
Songs of Innocence William Blake Title Page 1789, reprinted 1831
Today we live in a society that strives towards gender equality. However,
the society we live in today is a product of our past and this exhibition is
an exploration of the impact of nineteenth century views of women and
raises the question of how these views may still impact on the lives of
women in Waterford today.
The nineteenth century was a time of great change and these changes
often generated both demands for further change and for life to stay the
same.
At a time when greater industrialisation meant that more and more
women were working away from home in factories, the domestic role of
women became increasingly idealised. In 1854 The Angel in the House a
poem by Coventry Patmore was published extolling the virtues of a
woman devoted to her husband and meek in all things.
Man must be pleased; but him to please is women’s pleasure; down the
gulf
Of his condoled necessities
She casts her best, she flings herself.
How often flings for nought, and yokes
Her heart of an icicle or whim,
Whose each impatient word provokes
Another, not from her but him;
While she, too gentle even to force
His penitence by kind replies,
Waits by, expecting his remorse,
With pardon in her pitying eyes;
And if he once, by shame oppress’d,
A comfortable word confers,
She leans and weeps against his breast.
And seems to think the sin was hers;
Or any eye to see her charms,
At any time she’s still his wife,
Dearly devoted to his arms;
She loves with love that cannot tire;
And when, ah woe, she loves alone,
Through passionate duty love springs higher,
As grass grows taller round a stone
Interestingly, today books such as The Surrendered Wife by Laura
Doyle are re-visiting the idea that Man must be pleased; but him to please
is Woman’s pleasure.
Unidentified Family. Image Courtesy of Waterford County Museum
THE NOTORIOUSLY DISSOLUTE FEMALES
THOSE UNFORTUNATE FEMALES
Women as Angels were considered the moral guardians of society but
this role carried with it the responsibility for any lapse in morality. A
number of efforts were made in the nineteenth century to control the
spread of venereal disease. This was a particular concern of the military,
given the spread of the disease among young men throughout their ranks.
British Military at Grattan Square, Dungarvan. Image Courtesy of Waterford County Museum
Prostitution was often a feature of garrison towns where a large supply of
custom could be found among the young men stationed there. Dungarvan
in County Waterford was a garrison town and on 24 th September 1877 the
Dungarvan Town Commissioners:
Resolved, that our attention having been called by the inhabitants
of Bridge Street to the state in which the street is kept by being
made the resort of prostitutes whose conduct is such that the
inhabitants have to remove from the front rooms of their houses to
the rear so as to avoid hearing the fearful expressions of those
unfortunate females, we request the attention of the Constabulary
to the removal of such a fearful state of the locality DUDC/1/5
In response to the spread of venereal diseases the government introduced
between 1864 and 1869 the Contagious Diseases Acts. These gave the
authorities the right to declare any women living in certain garrison towns
prostitutes and forcibly examine them for venereal disease.
The authorities continued to look towards the treatment of women in the
prevention of the spread of venereal disease and in 1918 re-affirmed this
policy in Regulation 40d Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) which
prompted the Irish Women’s Franchise League to protest vehemently
against the introduction of the compulsory medical examination of
women which they felt was an attempt to:
“make vice safe for men…and is…an outrage against the liberty,
honour and integrity of every woman and as a deliberate attempt to
perpetrate the evil double moral standard”
WCC/GNA/92
THE DISSOLUTE FEMALE
Given the weak nature of the Angel in the House it was believed that
women should be protected from their fallen sisters – the dissolute.
Adam and Eve – Women by nature potentially dissolute
The Boards of Guardians responsible for running the Workhouses in the
County were careful to ensure that the dissolute women would not mix
with the virtuous poor.
Resolved. That a classification of the female Inmates being deemed
necessary so as to separate the notoriously dissolute females from
those whose misfortunes compelled them to become inmates of the
House – a portion of the Workhouse be allotted to their use to be
called “The Dissolute Ward”
LISMORE UNION 1852
BG/LISM/11
Dissolute Characters – Master submitted a list of the Wet Nurses
now in the House, having illegitimate children with the view of the
Guardians selecting from amongst them those to be placed in the
Dissolute Ward
DUNGARVAN UNION 1855
BG/DUNGN/
The Dissolute Wards of the Workhouses housed, in particular, unmarried
mothers and prostitutes.
On the 17th January 1856 the Dungarvan Board of Guardians resolved
that:
…Anne Sullivan and Bridget Curreen – prostitutes; admitted this
day be sent to the Dissolute Ward
The price women paid for being regarded as Dissolute can be seen in the
courts. On 28 July 1841 the Waterford Mirror newspaper reported on the
Waterford Assizes where the Hon. Baron Pennefather and the Hon.
Justice Torrens, Judges of the Leinster Circuit arrived to hear the Assizes.
The newspaper reported on the direction of the Judge who said:
There were only 3 cases requiring any particular attention, which
were offences against females. They ought accurately to examine
the evidence in these cases and not find the bills if, they had any
serious doubt – he meant that all cases should be accurately
examined into, but these cases particularly so.
This concern on the part of the Judge is clarified by the newspaper which
provides the information that “The prosecutrix was a woman of uneasy
virtue…”.
The Awakening Conscience by William Holman Hunt 1853
These views of the place of women in society appear in all aspects of life
in the nineteenth century and can be seen in how women were treated in
poverty, in poor health and in violence.
WOMEN AND POVERTY
Women were not considered capable of controlling their finances and
properties and as a result they were particularly vulnerable to poverty in
the past in Waterford. Until the first Married Women’s Property Act of
1870 a husband could take legal control of all of his wife’s properties and
she had no right to property she herself may have inherited or indeed
purchased. Further, until the introduction of the Matrimonial Causes Act,
1857 a legally separated wife did not have the right to keep what she
earned and her husband could return at any point in time, take any money
she earned, and leave her again.
In Waterford the impact of this control of properties and monies held by a
husband over his wife’s interest can be seen in the case brought by
Richard Chearnley, esquire against Andrew English. Richard Chearnley
enquired of a barrister whether Andrew English could be compelled to
pay his wife Susan (Chearnley’s aunt) an annuity (annual sum of money),
which had been left to her by her father in his will. In response the
barrister stated that Andrew English was his wife’s “paymaster” and
could not be compelled by the trustees to pay the arrears of annuity due to
his wife.
The vulnerability of women to poverty can be seen in the Minute Books
of the Boards of Guardians for the Workhouses throughout Waterford.
These records show a consistently higher number of able-bodied females
than males in the Workhouses. Taking the years 1855-1858 and samples
from different Workhouses throughout the County there is a clear
indication that women were far more likely to enter the workhouse than
men.
Workhouse
Dungarvan
Date
29
September
1855
24
November
1855
26 January
1856
Kilmacthomas 7 July 1855
24
November
1855
Able-Bodied
Females
65
Able-Bodied
Males
29
83
36
184
84
106
60
13
16
Volume Code
BG/DUNGN/13
BG/KILTHOM/6
Lismore
Waterford
10 January
1857
27 June
1857
19
September
1857
27 March
1858
19 June
1858
18
September
1858
66
23
69
18
53
14
353
130
300
114
240
93
BG/LISM/20
BG/WTFD/20
In many cases, the men of the family remained outside the Workhouse
looking for work, often leaving the country and their families behind
them.
BG/LISM/31
11 April 1868
The Board admitted the wife and 2 children of a man named
Michael Brien of Deerpark, the family living in a state of utter
destitution though the man could not be induced to enter the
Workhouse
BG/LISM/31
The Boards of Guardians kept a close watch on this practice and pursued
any men they believed to have abandoned their family while he himself
was earning money that could be paid for their keep.
BG/LISM/31
Today women are not quite as vulnerable to poverty, according to the EU
Survey on Income and Living Conditions of 2005 from the Central
Statistics Office which reported that “While females were found to have a
higher risk of poverty than males in 2004, there was little or no
observable difference in 2005”. However, the same survey also found that
consistent poverty was higher among females than males.
Women in rural areas could generate money by participating in cottage
industries. With the advent of factory- produced goods in the nineteenth
century this source of income was not as readily available and families
had to either do without this income or do without the women who
worked in the factories.
People entering the Workhouse had no means of support at all and no
possibility of being able to support themselves. If it was discovered that
there was any means at all or possibility of any means of support then
they would be discharged from the Workhouse.
BG/DUNGN/57
On 28 February 1857 a member of the Board of Guardians in Lismore
made the following notice of motion:
Notice that on Wednesday next the 11th inst. I will move that all ablebodied women in the Work House not having more than 2 children be
discharged from the House
On 7th March 1857 the Board discussed this motion with the following
clarification:
The Board having received information from the Guardians of the several
Electoral Divisions to which they belong that the following paupers could
find employment at once if discharged from the Workhouse
A vote was then held and passed by 8 votes to 3 that a list of women
whose names were supplied by the Master would be discharged to find
employment. It was only on the further resolution of a board member that
the Relieving Officer was directed to “…make full enquiry as to the
probability of the parties named in the list proposed by the Master being
able to get employment in the event of their being discharged from the
Work House and that he do attend the Board with such Report at the
meeting of the Committee”
On 14th March 1857 the Committee having received the report of the
Relieving Officer recommended the following to be discharged from the
Workhouse
Bridget Grady and 1 child
Cathe Barry and 1 child
Mary Geary and 1 child
Mary Flynn and 1 child
Eliza Connell
Mary Carthy
Jane Kepple and 1 child (To remain in House until May next)
Nancy Mulcahy and 1 child (when latter is well)
Mary Anne Cunningham
Today, unemployment payments can be withdrawn if:
You refuse a suitable job offer including Community Employment or a
suitable FÁS course
While living in the Workhouse “inmates” (as they were known) were not
allowed to generate any income at all, they wore the clothes of the
Workhouse and had to apply to the Board for a suit of clothes if they ever
managed to get a position and leave the Workhouse. ‘Bridget Dunn’ and
‘Mary Reardon’ were reprimanded in 1862 for “clandestinely knitting
stockings” and their materials forfeited so any attempts to generate
income or indeed clothing beyond that supplied by the Workhouse were
prevented.
BG/DUNGN/27
BG/LISM/31
Today, it is possible to work for a stated number of days for a stated
maximum income while still allowing for claims of Jobseekers Benefit or
Allowance.
Within the Workhouses women were kept busy, where possible.
Report of the Visiting Committee to Waterford Union 5th April 1859
The exercising ground of the Unmarried mothers and their
children is always in a more or less dirty state, slops are still
frequently thrown on the grass instead of into the sink, which was
settled in my last report, some months ago. I think it would be
better, and more wholesome if it were all gravelled. The women
are I fear not sufficiently employed, at Industrial work. The
numbers in that Department are alarming
BG/WATFD/22
Women often worked in the wards of the Fever Hospital. Hospitals were
often staffed by prostitutes and the poorest of women as it was considered
a very menial job and it was not until after the Crimean War (1854-1856)
and the work of Florence Nightingale that efforts were made to establish
a qualified nursing profession. For some time the hospital wards and care
for the sick remained the duty of the lowest in society – the women of illrepute.
WOMEN AND HEALTH
Poor health is closely associated with poverty and poor living conditions
are a major cause of illness. In the nineteenth century many people
suffered from lung infections and other illnesses associated with the damp
and cold living conditions they endured. The Labourers (Ireland) Acts of
the 1880s onwards were introduced to provide better quality housing for
the labouring classes. The Boards of Guardians implemented this public
housing scheme and they were responsible for choosing the tenants of the
houses built under their direction.
On 19 April 1888 the Dungarvan Board of Guardians made the following
resolution
Resolved that no Labourers Cottage be let to a woman in this
Union
BG/DUNGN/59
Dungarvan Board of Guardians, 1901. Image Courtesy of Waterford County Museum
It would appear from this resolution that women in Waterford did not
have the same access to housing as men. They were dependant on a
husband or male family member to provide a home. Today, Waterford
County Council provides public housing based on a Housing Needs
Assessment that does not take into account the gender of applicants.
However, women did have access to medical services. The Medical
Charities Act, 1851 provided medical attention to more people, in
particular, to those unable to pay for the services of a doctor themselves.
Under this Act the Poor Law Unions were divided into districts and each
district had a doctor in attendance with a dispensary stocked with
medicine and medical appliances. As this system developed a network of
dispensaries provided healthcare throughout the County and patients who
visited the dispensary doctor could be given tickets to attend the Fever
Hospital for further treatment and on the recommendation of the Medical
Officer patients from the Fever Hospital could be sent for specialist
treatment to other medical institutions.
BG/WATFD/152
BG/DUNGN/27
BG/WATFD/20
On 7 April 1869 (BG/LISM/31) the Lismore Board of Guardians heard
the following report:
A woman named Ellen Walsh 52 years of age was admitted to the
Infirmary on Monday about 12 o’clock suffering from Influenza,
and she died next morning about 2 o’clock. She was brought to the
Workhouse in the van from Cappoquin Dispensary and she was
very cold as she had no covering on her and little straw under her.
The Master suggests that it would be desirable to procure a
mattress and bolster for the van for weak and sickly persons sent to
the Workhouse. The Medical Officer was sent for on her admission
and he saw her immediately and had everything done for her that
her case required.
Women as carers for children were often responsible for visiting the
dispensary doctor and as a result were often more likely to avail of
medical services than men. Today, according to Women’s Health in
Europe: Facts and Figures Across Europe women remain more likely
than men to come into contact with health care professionals and to use
their services.
Unidentified Woman and Boy Image Courtesy of Waterford County Museum.
In addition to providing a doctor the dispensary system also included the
services of a midwife for each Dispensary District. The nineteenth
century saw a number of advances in relation to childbirth, in particular,
chloroform began to be used for pain relief in childbirth. Initially, the idea
of a pain-free labour was objected to by religious traditionalists who
believed that mothers should fulfil what they believed to be the edict of
God to “bring forth children in sorrow”. The use of anaesthesia in
childbirth received a great boost of support when it was used by Queen
Victoria in 1853.
BG/LISM/32
However, childbirth still remained very dangerous and there are
numerous entries referring to “dangerous midwifery”, in the Board of
Guardians Minute Books:
15 December 1869
In compliance with a requisition from Dr. Luther, Cappoquin
Dispensary he procured the services of Dr. Flynn of Dungarvan to
assist him in a dangerous midwifery case on the 10th inst…Dr.
Luther was in attendance upon a Dispensary Ticket Dr. Flynn’s fee
is 2 guineas
BG/LISM/32
BG/LISM/64
The advent of greater medical attention at childbirth was initially more of
a hindrance than a help until it was realised that women giving birth in
the more hygienic conditions kept by convents and nursing hospitals were
more likely to survive than those in hospitals being treated by doctors
who failed to wash either their hands or instruments as they went between
patients. The discovery of germs and a greater understanding of
contagion improved the rates of survival greatly.
BG/WATFD/152
WOMEN AND VIOLENCE
Women as dependants on a husband or male relative were as a result
dependant upon the goodwill of that male authority figure. In 1840 a
judge upheld a man’s right to lock up his wife and beat her in moderation.
During the nineteenth century, legally, there were some improvements to
women’s domestic situation when in 1852 a judge ruled that a man could
not force his wife to live with him. However, in the 1857 Matrimonial
Causes Act a husband could divorce his wife for adultery but a wife had
to prove adultery aggravated by cruelty or desertion.
Women experiencing violence in the home had no alternative sources of
support. The Workhouses would not accept women and children if the
husband was capable of paying for their upkeep so any woman leaving
her husband could not find refuge in the Workhouse. Society also did not
interfere in these matters so there was often very little hope of assistance
from family, friend or neighbours.
Today, domestic violence is considered a crime. Organisations such as,
Women’s Aid campaign to raise awareness of this issue among the public
in an effort to overcome the affects of the long standing practice of
society of not interfering and of earlier legislation whereby it was
considered legal for a man to beat his wife in “moderation”.
According to the Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland Report by the
Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and Royal College of Surgeons 42% of
women and 28% of men reported some form of sexual abuse or assault in
their lifetime in Ireland. Centres such as the Waterford Rape and Sexual
Abuse Centre provide counselling and other services to those who are the
victims of rape and sexual abuse.
Victims of rape and sexual abuse in the nineteenth century had no access
to such services. Rape was a crime (provided it occurred outside of
marriage) and the newspapers in Waterford contain reports of a number
of cases of rape in Waterford.
On 8th March 1854 the Waterford Mail details the following case:
Denis Kelly, Nicholas Walsh and Thomas Power were placed at
the bar, charged with committing and assault on the person of
Bridget Foran, aged 18 years, at Bonmahon, County Waterford on
the 15th January. It appeared that there were ten persons
concerned in the outrage and only three could be identified. This
case occupied the Court for nearly the entire day, the evidence we
deem unfit for publication. The jury after an hour’s deliberation
returned a verdict of guilty against the three prisoners – Sentence
deferred
On 20th July 1842 the Waterford Mirror reported on a case in County
Court:
Daniel Coleman was found guilty of the violation of Ellen Daly,
at Tallow, on 21st March last. This trial occupied the Court for
several hours. John Hutchinson and James Morrissey were
indicted for a rape on Mary Connors on 26th March at
Ballyscanlon. The prosecutrix, an ill-looking beggar woman from
Clare, was examined at great length and detailed the injuries
sustained. A male child of hers, 11 months old, was with her and
the prisoners fractured some of the child’s limbs. Dr. Waters,
junior, corroborated the woman’s evidence so far as the
appearance of herself and the child went when submitted to him for
medical attention. Verdict – Guilty
It is interesting to note that in this instance the newspaper reports on the
fact that the prosecutrix was an “ill-looking beggar woman” and as such
her evidence was corroborated “…so far as the appearance of herself and
the child went…” by the doctor.
The newspaper reports contain the sentence of death in a number of cases
for conviction for the crime of rape. A search of the Ireland-Australia
Transportation Database (1780-1868) returns 39 records for a search
under the terms of rape in Waterford. Among them is Daniel Coleman
found guilty above of the rape of Ellen Daly. His sentence of death was
commuted to 2 years imprisonment for this crime. John Hutchinson,
convicted of the rape of Mary Connors had his sentence of death
commuted to transportation for life.
BG/LISM/31
CONCLUSION
Life was very difficult in the nineteenth century particularly for the
notoriously dissolute females. However, this was also the time that
heralded great changes for women. A number of legislative changes took
place to provide greater rights to women.
The nineteenth century was also the century in which the right to vote
was enhanced and extended, first to disenfranchised men and finally to
women. In England the campaign for women’s right to vote began
towards the end of the nineteenth century, with the founding of the
National Union of Women’s Suffrage in 1897. Women in Ireland also
developed suffrage campaigns setting up organisations such as, the Irish
Women’s Suffrage and Local Government Association and the Munster
Women’s Franchise League. In 1903 the more militant Women’s Social
and Political Union was founded by Emmeline Pankhurst in England and
in Ireland the Irish Women’s Franchise League was established in 1908.
In England the suffrage campaign by women was interrupted by the
outbreak of war and many of the call by many of their members to
support the government in response. In Ireland, women had already
begun to campaign for nationalism and in 1914 Cumann na mBan was
established. Many women participated in the fight for nationalism in
1916 and beyond. With the introduction of the Representation of the
People Act in 1918 the right to vote was granted to women over the age
of 30 and Cumann na mBan campaigned heavily for the nationalist cause
in the General Election of 1918.
PP/HRYN/7
Today women and men enjoy the same right to vote. However, statistics
show that often neither men nor women choose to exercise this right that
was so hard won by those nineteenth century campaigns. Much has
changed for women today and many of these changes are a result of the
campaigns begun in the nineteenth century. Each year International
Women’s Day is held on March 8th to give women and opportunity to
celebrate the economic, social, cultural and political achievements for
women and it also presents women and men with the opportunity to
question how much has changed in society and whether women have
indeed found equal rights and an equal voice in the world.
The Lady of Shalott, engraved by J. Thompson published 1857
Further Information
This exhibition was prepared by Waterford County Archives Service.
Waterford County Archives Service is open to the public on:
Tuesdays 10-2 and Fridays 1-5 or at other times by appointment
If you have any photographs, letters or any other records about County Waterford and
would like to see them preserved and made accessible to the people of Waterford
please contact Waterford County Archive:
Waterford County Archives Service
Dungarvan Library
Davitt’s Quay
Dungarvan
Co. Waterford
Telephone: 058 23673
E-mail: archivist@waterfordcoco.ie
If you would like to research your family history in County Waterford please contact
us at: familyhistory@waterfordcoco.ie
This exhibition was funded by Waterford County Council and the
Heritage Council.
If you would like further information on the contents of this exhibition:
Publications:
Women in Ireland A Century of Change, Myrtle Hill
No Ordinary Women, Sinéad McCoole
Women’s Health in Europe: Facts and Figures Across Europe, European Institute
of Women’s Health
Out of Sight The Hidden Poverty of Women, National Women’s Council of Ireland
E.U. Survey on Income and Living Conditions, Central Statistics Office
Websites:
Waterford County Archives Service www.waterfordcoco.ie
Waterford County Library Service www.waterfordcountylibrary.ie
International Women’s Day www.internationalwomensday.com
Central Statistics Office www.cso.ie
Department of Social and Family Affairs www.welfare.ie
National Women’s Council of Ireland www.nwci.ie
Contacts:
Oasis House Women’s Refuge, Waterford 051 370367 24 Hour LoCall
Helpline 1890 264 364
Waterford Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre 051 873362 24 Hour
Freephone Number 1800 296296
Waterford Sexual Assault Treatment Unit 051 842157
Some of the images used in this exhibition are copyright and cannot be used without
permission. The County Archive has made every effort to acknowledge copyright owners and
the Archivist would appreciate it if any copyright owner not acknowledged on the exhibition
would get in contact so that this can be rectified.