In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

History Workshop Journal 58 (2004) 246-253



[Access article in PDF]

The Conversion of Rebecca Jarrett

[Rebecca Jarrett's Narrative]

Click for larger view
Figure 1
Rebecca Jarrett, Illustrated Paper and Illustrated Times (London), September 1888. By permission of the British Library (shelfmark 6421.85800n).
[End Page 246]

Click for larger view
Figure 2
Rebecca Jarrett in old age. With the kind permission of the Salvation ArmyHeritage Centre, London.

Rebecca Jarrett (c.1850-1928), prostitute and brothel keeper, would have remained unknown to her contemporaries and to historians but for an encounter with the Salvation Army. A key figure 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. Thousands of unauthorized copies were distributed inter-nationally.1 Meanwhile, the child's mother recognized her daughter in the details of Stead's story and applied to the Police Court to have the child returned to her care. This initiated an investigation which resulted in Stead, Jarrett, and four others facing 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 a notorious woman: her likeness was reproduced in newspapers and crowds mobbed her outside court. Eventually jailed, she served six months with hard labour. [End Page 247]

Jarrett's life was at once commonplace and extraordinary. A poor Londoner, a heavy drinker, working in the sex trade, and occasionally in unskilled work such as laundry, she was like many women of her generation. But her decision to leave that life and join the Salvation Army was decidedly unusual. Her involvement in the 'Maiden Tribute' case made her famous but soon after it she retreated into the Army's rescue work where she remained for the rest of her life. Her autobiography, reprinted below, reveals the very ordinary aspects of her life as well as her memories of the tumultuous events she helped create.

Jarrett first encountered the Salvation Army in January 1885. Her situation was not unlike what Victorian social commentators predicted for a fallen woman. Ill from the effects of drink, poor, at thirty-five she was well past the age when most rescue organizations would accept her. She attended a Salvation Army meeting and in her desperate situation she agreed to enter an Army rescue home. It was a painful transition. She longed for her old life. Her mother continued to run the brothel they had once managed together and she contemplated returning to it. Florence Bramwell Booth, director of the rescue work, recorded in her diary that when she warned Jarrett that 'she would go to hell with her mother's soul and the souls of all the poor girls she would get into the brothel', she responded by vowing, 'I will give it up, and fell down on her knees sobbing. She prayed to God to save her'.2 She was sent to Winchester to live and work with social-purity feminist Josephine Butler at her rescue home. In this quiet setting it was hoped she would continue on the path the Salvation Army had set for her.

Not long after, Jarrett was taken by William Booth, General of the Salvation Army, and Florence Bramwell Booth to meet W. T. Stead, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette. Stead was convinced many young girls were sold into the white-slave trade each year and he was determined to expose this scandal. He would stage an abduction and then publish the story to garner public support for new laws to protect girls and women.3 Stead had approached the Salvation Army for help. The Salvation Army was...

pdf

Share