Striving for a world transformed by justice and peace - a TL from 1827

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'After I lost my job as a milk girl I heard that women were making good money as dolly mops, so I decided to do that.' Alice Nuttall told Alice Richardson. 'In the evenings I left home and walked, or got a bus, to the Strand. There I walked up and down wearing a low cut blouse which showed my boobies, and tight trousers which showed my bum. I took my customers to a house which I shared with other dolly mops. Most often the men shagged me, but sometimes I sucked them off, or tossed them off. I charged one pound ten shillings for a shag, one pound to suck a man off, and fifteen shillings to toss a man off. These prices were for fifteen minutes. For thirty minutes I charged half as much again. That was an extra fifteen shillings for a shag and so on.'

'Because I was young and pretty, and being black was exotic, I got lots of customers. Most of my them were swells and toffs, and I charged them the full price for my services. But I let working class men shag me for sixpence, or for less depending on what they wanted, for up to half an hour. They were men of my class. They were the kindest, most affectionate, considerate, and polite men. They called me honey, or love, or sweet, and asked me if I was enjoying it. When I was, I told them truthfully that I was. With those men I specially liked I enjoyed floods of bliss' (Victorian slang for orgasms). 'These men told me about themselves. How they were single, or their wives refused to have sexual intercourse with them. They were often lonely and craved women's touch.'

'Did the other dolly mops in the house charge the same prices for their services, with low prices to working class men?' Alice Richardson asked.

'We all did. We were a co -operative. We each owned a share in the house. The rooms were clean and tidy, with rugs on the floor and vases of flowers, for which we all paid towards, and we all paid a share of the rent I worked for four hours a night from seven to eleven o'clock. I had about ten customers a night.'

'Did you tell your sisters and your brother that you were working as a dolly mop?'

'I did. I wanted to be truthful with them. I told them that it was to earn money for us. Our mother had told us the facts of life.'

 

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'Every Saturday night, the women in the dolly mops house shared the money we earned that week, equally between us. We took it in turns to buy the flowers and clean the rooms.'

'It sounds like the house was based on good socialist principles.' Alice Richardson remarked.

'Towards the end of June 1885, Ann and Mary told me that, Mrs Wilkinson, the owner of the dressmaking salon where they worked, had said they must work till midnight, to finish an order for Lady So and So. They had been working all day. They said they weren't going back there. Ann was fourteen years old, and Mary was sixteen. They started working at home as seamstresses. When my younger brother John left school in July 1885, he got work as a telegraph boy.'

'I stopped working as a dolly mop on 30 January 1886, after nine months. I was sorry to leave the other women in the house. They were good mates. I went into business as a stall holder selling meat pies, eel pies, cakes and crumpets.'

 

[pipisme]

'My stall was on Piccadilly, near St. James'a Street'. Alice Nuttall told Alice Richardson. 'I had money saved up from my work as a dolly mop, so I used that to set up in business. That was in early February 1886. I enjoyed the work. I liked talking with my customers. Most of them were friendly, though a few made bigoted comments abour the colour of my skin. I did good business, usually making one to two pounds a week.'

'I had my regular customers. One of them was a handsome young man. We started talking and he told me his name was Paul Ellis, and he worked at the head Post Office in St. Martins. He was nineteen years old.

 

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'One morning on his way to work, Paul asked me if I would like to go to the music hall with him.' Alice Nuttall told Alice Richardson. 'I said I would. We became friends and fell in love. We held hands and kissed. Passionate kisses on the mouth. In July 1887, Paul moved in with me. I was living in the same two bedroom terrace house in Notting Hill, with my younger sisters and brother, that were living in with our mother since July 1871. When Paul moved in with us, he and I had one bedroom. while John had to move from his own room to Ann and Mary's room. We put a curtain up to separate his bed from the girls' bed. The two girls had shared with me.'

The first night Paul moved in with me. we shagged each other for the first time. He told me he was a virgin. I showed him how to give me pleasure. He was a passionate lover. I still had my stall on Piccadilly. In January 1888, I saw an advertisement for a shop assistant at Trentham's Department Store in Fulham. I answered it and got the job.'

'I had been using birth control with Paul, but I stopped because I wanted to have a baby. I told him and he seemed alright with it, though he wasn't enthusiastic about it. I fell pregnant. I was very happy about it. I gave birth to baby Tess on 15 September 1889. She was a beautiful healthy baby.

 

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'A few days after Tess was born, Paul walked out on me. He said he couldn't cope with being a father.' Said Alice Nuttall to Alice Richardson. I felt sad and low. I no longer felt that I loved Tess, and that I was a bad mother. I stayed in bed all day.'

'It sounds like you were suffering from After Birth Melancholy .' (Post Natal Depression in OTL) It is not unusual for mothers to suffer from it after giving birth.

'Mary and Ann came to the rescue and looked after Tess. Mary went to the charity workers office and told them about me. Next morning a posh woman came round to our house. She told me that I was not capable of looking after Tess. She said that she would speak to the Kensington Guardians about my situation. Two days later, she came round to our house with two men. They said they were from the Kensington Board of Guardians. The men asked me about Tess's father, and if I was married to him. I told them that Paul had left me, and I wasn't married to him.'

'They told me that I was unsuitable to be a mother to Tess. Also that it would be better for her if she lived with a white family. She was swarthy, but more white than black. They told me that a well off family in Hampstead wanted to adopt Tess. They put a sheet of paper in front of me and told me to sign it. I was still feeling sad and melancholy, so I signed it. There were two copies. The Guardians took one, and I kept the other. They lifted Tess out of her cot and took her away. I was too sad to get angry with them me. After a few days I was my old self again and I went back to work at Trenthams.'

 

[pipisme]

Alice Richardson leaned across the table in the restaurant, closed her hand around Alice Nuttall's hand, and squeezed it. 'Tess should never have been taken from you.' She said. 'You were not in a fit state to give your consent to her being taken away. But she is now legally the child of the couple who adopted her.'

'Mr and Mrs Burroughs. They are in their thirties and have no children of their own. They had been trying for a child for years. That's what the charity worker told me. Tess is a year old now. I breast fed her. I love her and always will. She is my daughter.'

'Do you know where Mr and Mrs Burroughs live?'

'I do. Their address is on the form I signed. I have not been round to their house though. I've not seen Tess since she was taken from me. I don't think she would recognise me. I want to make a new life. My mother told me her memories of living as a gypsy in Essex and Hertfordshire. when she was a child. It was wonderful. She was happy. I have gypsy aunts and uncles and cousins. I know they would welcome me if I, and Ann and Mary, go and live with them. I remember some of the words in Romani which my mother taught me. John is courting a girl, so he would want to stay in London. I would love to live on the open road in the fresh air in the country. Marry a gypsy man, enjoy sexual intimacy with him, and have children by him.'

'If that is what you want to do, then do it. '

'It is and I will. I'm not working in Trentham's anymore. As a black woman I feel I'm an outsider. My father was black American. His ancestors were from Africa. though I will never know about them. My mother was Romani. Both were outsiders. They were strong people. I'm very proud of them. My father was a survivor of slavery, not a victim.'

'Sir Frederick Trentham's father was a slave owner in Jamaica. He had a large plantation with hundreds of slaves. After the slaves in the Empire were freed in 1833, he received thousands of pounds in compensation for the loss of his so called property. In fact slave owners were paid twenty million pounds in compensation by the Whig government. The slaves received nothing for being slaves' Alice Richardson said.

'That was so very wrong.'

'I very much agree with you.'

'In case you ever want to write to me, here is my address.' Alice Richardson gave Alice Nuttall her card. 'It has been a privilege talking with you. I wish you all the very best in your life.'

The younger Alice took the card. 'Thank you and thank you for listening to me, and for the tea and cakes.'

The two woman got up from their table, and left the restaurant. They said their goodbyes and hugged each other with real warmth. Then they went their separate ways.

 

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Later that afternoon, Alice told her sisters, Ann and Mary, and her brother John, about having afternoon tea with Alice Richardson and their conversation. She told them that she would like them to leave London and live as gypsies in Hertfordshire. Their uncle George (Johnson) and aunt Esther lived in a caravan in the north of the county. Their nearest town was Harpenden.

Mary asked where would they live. Alice said they could live with their uncle and aunt in their caravan until they bought one for themselves. John said he was not leaving his girlfriend, Nancy, and she wouldn't want to leave London, let alone live in a caravan. Alice told him that he can find lodgings in London. Ann was enthusiastic about her sister's idea, Mary less so.

Alice rushed to the Notting Hill Post Office and got there a few minutes before it closed at 5 pm. She asked for the following telegram to be sent to George and Esther Johnson:
'Can we stay with you? Love Alice, Mary and Ann.'

It was sent to Harpenden Post Office and delivered by messenger to George and Esther in their caravan. George asked the messenger to send the following telegram in return:
'You can stay with us. Looking forward to seeing you. Love George and Esther.' It was delivered to Alice an d her sisters that evening.

Alice went into work the following morning, Thursday 11 September 1890, and handed in her notice to her line manager at Trentham's. She said she would work the rest of the week. She guessed rightly that Nicholas Tilson would take the rest of the week off. On Saturday morning she said goodbye to her friends in the shop, and left there for good at 1 pm that afternoon.

 

[pipisme]

Alice and her sisters decide to stay with Esther and George in their caravan for only one week, from Monday 15 to Monday 22 September, in case they did not want to stay any longer. Their brother, John, would stay at home in their house. Alice looked up train times from St. Pancras to Harpenden in a timetable in Kensington library , and telegraphed George with the time of her and her sisters arrival at Harpenden.

Their train arrived at Harpenden station on 15 September at 10.56 am. They were met by George and Esther in their horse drawn caravan. George drove them down country lanes to the place where their caravan would be pitched. The following Friday evening, Esther said that her brother, David, and his wife, Abigail, would be coming the next day to stay for the weekend. David was the captain, and he and Abigail were joint owners, of a narrow boat which carried freight on the Grand Junction Canal between Braunston in Northamptonshire and the River Thames at Brentford. The canal went through Hemel Hempstead, which was fairly near them. [1] They were both Romany, though they lived on their boat and not in a caravan. The boat's name was the Lovely Lass , after Abigail.

The following evening, Saturday 20 September, David said that he and Abigail were looking for a new crew member for their boat, because their eldest son, and one of the crew, had left home. The weekly wage was 18 shillings a week, but four shillings and sixpence would be deducted for accomodation and meals on board, so the net wage was 13 shillings and sixpence. The hours of work were nine hours a day, with some weekend working. There were two other crew members. Alice said that she would love to do the job. David agreed to employ her. He said that she would be fully trained. It was hard work, and he was sure that she would fit in well. Alice said that she would need to go home and get her possessions. It was agreed that she would send him a telegram telling him when she would be arriving at Hemel Hempstead station.

Alice and her sisters returned home on Monday morning 22 September. Ann and Mary decided that they did not like living in a caravan. Also they were very embarrassed by hearing Esther and George, and Abigail and David, noisily making love, and the two women crying out in pleasure. The two girls were virgins. So they would be staying at home in Notting Hill with John. Alice sent a telegram from Notting Hill Post Office to Hemel Hempstead Post Office, from where a messenger took it to David and Abigail on their boat, which was moored on the Grand Junction Canal. It said that her train from Euston was due to arrive at Hemel Hempstead at 10.42 am, the next day.

On Tuesday morning, 23 September 1890. Alice hugged Ann, Mary and John good bye, and left their house. When her train arrived at Hemel Hempstead, she was met by David and Abigail. They walked the short way to the Lovely Lass .

[1] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Junction_Canal. In 1929 it became part of the Grand Union Canal.

[2] See http://www.livingmags.info/features/the-grand-union-in-hemel-hempstead.

 

[pipisme]

Abigail and David Wells were 45 and 46 years old respectively. They had been married for 27 years and had seven surviving children. Four girls aged 26, 24, 19 and 13, and three boys aged 22, 16, and 8. A stillborn girl would have been three years old. Abigail miscarried a boy eleven years ago. They had been gypsies and lived in caravans. In 1883, David became the captain of a canal boat owned by a canal company. From then on all the family lived on boats. They were now what were called water gypsies. In 1888, he and Abigail bought the boat. By September 1890 their two eldest daughters and their eldest son had left home and got married. The other four children still lived on the boat, and all helped out with the work.

There were three cabins on the boat. Each measured three metres by two metres. David and Abigail had their own cabin. Alice shared a cabin with 19 year old Maggie and her 13 year old sister. Alice was 22 years old. !6 year old Richard and his 8 year old brother shared a cabin.

 

[pipisme]

Alice Nuttall enjoyed living and working on the Lovely Lass . It was a slow boat, not a fast fly boat. She was intelligent and learned quickly, tough and resilient. Also she saw parts of England, she had never been to. Though railways had mostly replaced canals for passenger transport, canals were still used for the transport of bulk goods, such as grain, coal and timber. Narrow boats were pulled by horses, and life on them was hard. [1] She felt at home in the community of canal people and gypsies. As a black woman she did not feel like an outsider in a community of outsiders.

Very few canal people voted in elections. That was because under the Registration of Electors Act 1872, voters needed to be resident in a constituency, or the borough or county in which it was situated, for at least three months. The Commonwealth Party manifesto for the 1890 general election promised that a Commonwealth government would make provision for canal people to register as voters.

[1] For life on narrow boats in Victorian times see http://whiltonmarina.co.uk/narrowboat-blog/the-boat-people-back-in-the-day.

 

[pipisme]

In late October and early November 1890, borough and county county councils, with a population of at least one hundred thousand in the 1881 census, elected members of the House of Lords.. Adjacent counties with populations of less than one hundred thousand combined to elect Peers. The number of Peers of each party after the ekections were as follows (after 1884 election):
Elected Peers:
Commonwealth: 114 (94)
Conservative: 101 (118)
Irish Nationalist: 27 (25)
Liberal: 20
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Total: 262 (262)
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Hereditary Peers:
Conservative: 109 (109)
Liberal: 85 (85)
Irish Conservative: 5 (5)
Commonwealth: 1 (1)
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Total: 200 (200)
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Life Peers:
Independents: 25 (25).
All Peers:
Conservative: 210 (227)
Commonwealth: 115 (95)
Liberal: 105 (110)
Irish Nationalist: 27 (25)
Independents: 25 (25)
Irish Conservative: 5 (5)
Archbishops and bishops: 26 (26)
Law Lords: 4 (4)
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Total: 517 (517)
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259 was needed for an overall majority. 257 if the Law Lords were excluded. The Conservatives and Liberals combined were 315. Those two parties had. a permanent majority in the Lords.

Under the provisions of the Parliament Act 1860, the prime minister appointed five Life Peers a year over five years. LIfe Peers could not be a member of a political party, though they could be supporters. They sat in the House of Lords as Independents. When a Life Peer died, the prime minister appointed his or her successor.

The House of Lords could delay bills for two years, and money bills certified as such by the Speaker of the House of Commons, for one month. However the Lords could veto legislation which the Parliament Act 1860 designated as changing the constitution. That included any changes to the Parliament Act.

 

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The acquittal of Nicholas Tilson for the rape of Alice Nuttall attracted much comment in the press. There was widespread outrage at the use by Tilson's defence barrister of Alice's sexual history and the clothes she was wearing. Letters to newspapers were overwhelmingly against the verdict.

On 25 September 1890, the Home Secretary, Sarah Taylor, instructed judges that in cases of rape the women's sexual history, the clothes she was wearing, and anything else irrelevant to the case, would no longer be admissable as evidence.

 

[pipisme]

The Constitution Party increased its control of the US Senate and House of Representatives in the congressional elections in November 1890. The number of seats for each party after the elections were as follows (after 1888 elections):
Constitution: 189 (169)
Liberty: 136 (156)
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Total: 325 (325)
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Senate:
Constitution: 43 (40)
Liberty: 35 (38)
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Total: 78 (78)
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[pipisme]

David Griffiths, Aneurin's and Maire's eldest child, was born on 27 February 1872. He was a handsome young man, slim and average height, with black hair and brown eyes. He was gentle, kind and sensitive. He worked in the Good To Wear shop in Swansea.

In the evening of Saturday 18 October 1890, he told his mother, 'Ma, I'm a homophile. I have feelings for other men.'

Maire hugged him and said: 'my darling David. Thank you for telling me that you are a homophile. It is good to be one. Is there a young man you specially like?'

'There is. His name is Rory, he spells it Ruaidri, Keneally. He's about three years older than me, and works in the shop. He's very handsome.'

'Does Rory know that you are a homophile?'

'He does. I told him. He's one as well. We love each other.'

That's wonderful. I'm so happy for you, my love. What about people at work?'

They don't know, but suspect that we are homophiles. They joke about us being boyfriends. Besides Rory, you are the first person I've told. I know that we must never be physically intimate, because we can never get married. I have kept my chastity.' David said.

'Is Rory a Catholic?'

'He is and goes to our church.'

' That's good. The Catholic Church forbids two men or two women marrying one another. Though I am a faithful Catholic, I know that is wrong. In his letter to the Galatians, St Paul writes that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control, and there is no law against such things. Though you can't get married, how about you and Rory make promises of mutual love and commitment in a homemade service, like Megan and Esther did six years ago. Then it would be good and right for you to express your love in the joy and pleasure of sexual intimacy, because you would be married in all but name.' Maire said.

'I would like that very much. I will ask Rory if he would. If he does, I would like us to make our promises here.'

'I would like that very much.'

'Will you tell pa that I'm a homophile.'

'I will'.

'Thank you, ma' Then they hugged each other. Later Maire told Nye that David was a homophile. He said he was fine with that, and told his son.

 

[pipisme]

After Mass the next morning, David introduced Rory to his mother. Maire invited him round to her house in the Swansea suburb of Uplands for lunch. Rory accepted her invitation. On the way there, David told him about his mother's idea of a service in which they would make promises of their mutual love and commitment. Rory was very keen on it. When they arrived at Maire's house, David introduced Rory to Aneurin and to his siblings. Rory told Nye that he had books of his poems, and enjoyed them.

After lunch, which Maire cooked and served, they all went in the living room. Alice suggested to David and Rory that their service should be in the following April or May. That would give them time to deepen their relationship, and make all the preparation for the service. Also the weather should be warmer and they could have a picnic in the garden. They both agreed to this.

 

[pipisme]

Rory's mother, Niamh, was 46 years old and a widow. She had seven children - four daughters, aged 23, 17, 14 and 12, and three sons aged 21, 8 and 6. She worked at home as a washerwoman. She was born on her parents' small farm in County Wicklow in 1844. Her maiden name was O'Shaughnessy. The family emigrated from Ireland to Swansea because of the Famine in 1847. They were part of the Irish diaspora there. She knew that Rory was gay and was happy with that.

Maire was acquainted with Niamh. They both went to St. David's Priory Catholic Church in Swansea. After Mass on Sunday 26 October 1890, the two women were talking and Maire told Niamh about her idea of a service of mutual love and commitment for David and Rory. Niamh was enthusiastic about it. The news about the two young men spread around their families, friends and relations. They were all supportive of them.

 

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Rory Keneally's 23 year old sister. Maeve, was married with two children. Their 17 year old sister, Oonagh, worked in a tinplate factory in Swansea. She enjoyed Irish dancing and was a member of Swansea Irish Dance Society. They performed in Irish clubs and in the open air in Swansea.

Eithne Griffiths, Maire and Nye's seventeen year old daughter, born 11 June 1873, wanted to be a midwife. There was no formal training for midwives, so Eithne learned the job by accompanying Mrs Elizabeth Kelly, Maire's friend, to women giving birth.

Oonagh and Eithne became friends, and Eithne joined Swansea Irish Dance Society. Both girls were single and virgins.

 

[pipisme]

Roisin Griffiths, Maire's and Nye's second eldest daughter was 16 years old, born 21 August 1874. She was a box office clerk at the Star Theatre in Swansea. The Star was connected to the telephone system, so Roisin answered phone calls from people who phoned the theatre. She joined the Swansea Irish Dance Society with her older sister, Eithne. Roisin was a pretty girl and very much wanted to get married and have children.

 

[pipisme]

The Prime Minister had always been Leader of the House of Commons. However because of an anticipated heavy legislative programme, Robert Applegarth appointed George Potter, as leader of the Commons on 4 November 1890, at the start of the new session of Parliament.

The Mothers Allowance Restoration Bill received its second reading in the House of Commons on 18 November 1890. This bill repealed the Mothers Allowance Reform Act 1887, which limited the allowance to married mothers with no more than four children under ten years old, who were living with their husbands, and were not employed or self employed. (1) The bill restored the allowance to all mothers and extended it to children up to twelve years old inclusive.

The bill passed through all its stages in the House of Commons by the third week of December 1890. In January 1891, after the Christmas recess, it went to the House of Lords. Peers voted against giving it a second reading. To become law, it must pass through all its stages in the 1891-92, and 1892-1893 sessions of parliament

(1) See post # 1821 on page 92.

 

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The Trade Disputes Bill reversed the Clyde Valley judgement of 1889, and removed trade union liability for damages caused by their officers in calling strikes. After passing through all its stages in the House of Commons, it was thrown out by the House of Lords in February 1891.

The Housing Co-operatives Bill empowered local authorities to establish housing co-operatives. They already had this power, but the bill put it into law. It also removed the requirement for housing co-operatives to be profitable, so they could be subsidised by local authorities; and set maximum weekly rents ranging from 3 shillings and six pence for one bedroom flats to one pound, one shilling and six pence for five bedroom houses. These were significantly less than market rents. The maximum number of bedrooms in housing co-operative properties was five. The bill also obliged the co-operatives to house homeless people, including women and children fleeing domestic violence, gave them the power to build new homes, and buy at a fair price from landlords who wanted to sell their properties. The co-operatives would be managed by their tenants.

The House of Lords gave the bill a second reading in February 1891, but drastically amended it in Committee. The amendments obliged housing co-operatives to make a profit, forbade subsidies by local authorities, required them to set market rents, and removed their power to buy property from landlords.

The bill was returned to the House of Commons in March 1891, where all the Lords amendments were rejected. For the unamended bill to become law it must pass through the House of Commons in the 1891-92 and 1892-1893 sessions of Parliament.