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The Ladies’ Appeal and Protest


On New Year’s Eve 1869, Josephine Butler wrote telling her Quaker friend in Leeds, Mrs Hannah Ford to get hold of the Daily News of that week ‘containing 4 letters by an Englishwoman on our question. They are far the best things yet written. I do bless the writer, to whom it may cost her life. Make everybody read them’, she urged. The ‘Englishwoman’ was the ageing Harriet Martineau. Her protest against the Contagious Diseases (CD) Acts took the form of four letters to the sympathetic editor of the Daily News (first published in the paper in September 1863), which were reprinted on 28, 29, 30 December and 1 January 1870 (item 2). On 31 December, the paper also published the manifesto of the newly formed Ladies’ National Association, ‘The Ladies’ Appeal and Protest’, signed by 124 ladies, among them Josephine Butler, Harriet Martineau and Florence Nightingale (item 3).

Volume Contents

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    Front Matter
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    Introduction By Jane Jordan
  • The Contagious Diseases Acts
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      1
      Text of the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1866 and 1869
  • The Ladies’ Protest
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      2
      ‘The Contagious Diseases Acts’, Letters to the Daily News, Tuesday 28, Wednesday 29, Thursday 30 December 1869, p. 6.-33 By Harriet Martineau
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      3
      ‘The Ladies’ Appeal and Protest’, Shield, 14 March 1870, pp. 9-11; 13
  • Speaking to the People
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      4
      ‘Influential Meeting of Ladies’, Speech given by Josephine E. Butler to the Women’s Meeting, Mayor’s Parlour, Manchester, Monday 14 March 1870, Shield, 28 March 1870, pp. 26-7
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      5
      ‘Great Meeting of Working Men’ and ‘Meeting of Ladies’, Speeches Given by Josephine E. Butler to the Working Men’s Meeting, Richmond Hall, Liverpool, Friday 18 March 1870, and to the Women’s Meeting, Lecture Theatre of the Midland Institute, Birmingham, Thursday 10 March 1870, Shield, 28 March 1870, pp. 30-2
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      6
      ‘The Garrison Towns of Kent’, Shield, Letter I, 25 April 1870, pp. 62-3; Letter II, 2 May 1870, pp. 71—3; Letter III, 9 May 1870, pp. 79-80 By Josephine Butler
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      7
      Speech Given by Josephine E. Butler at Wigan, Friday 20 May 1870, Shield, 13 June 1870, pp. 124-5 By Josephine Butler
  • Colchester By-Election
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      8
      Letter from Josephine E. Butler to Henry J. Wilson, ‘Extract from Private Letter—may be Read by Friends of the Cause, but not Printed’, 5 November 1870, [From 280 South Hill, Park Road, Liverpool], Josephine Butler Collection, Brotherton Library, Leeds University By Josephine Butler
  • The Duty of Women
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      9
      ‘Great Meeting of Women’ and ‘Great Meeting of Working Men’, Speeches Given by Josephine E. Butler to the Women’s Meeting, Exchange Hall, Nottingham, Tuesday 8 March 1870, and to the Working Men’s Meeting, Birmingham, Wednesday 9 March 1870, Shield, 21 March 1870, pp. 17-19; 22.§I l l By Josephine Butler
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      10
      The Duty of Women, In relation to our great Social Evil, and recent Legislation thereupon, being an Address delivered by Mrs Josephine E. Butler, in the County Hall, Carlisle, on the morning o f 25th November 1870—nearly 400 ladies present, Carlisle, Hudson Scott & Sons, 1870 By Josephine Butler
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      11
      ‘Great Public Meeting at Carlisle’, Speech Given by Josephine E. Butler to the Public Meeting at the Athenaeum Lecture Hall, Carlisle, Shield, 3 December 1870, pp. 315-18 By Josephine Butler
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      12
      ‘Meeting at Birmingham’, Speeches Given by Josephine E. Butler to the Women’s Meeting, Severn Street Schoolroom, Birmingham, Thursday 26 January 1871, and to the Annual LNA Meeting, Priory Rooms, Birmingham, Friday 28 January 1871, Shield, 11 February 1871, pp. 383-5 By Josephine Butler
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      13
      Address Delivered at Croydon, 3 July 1871, London, National Association, 1871 By Josephine Butler
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      14
      Sursum Corda; Annual Address to the Ladies’National Association, 14 November 1871, Liverpool, T. Brakell, 1871 By Josephine Butler
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      15
      ‘C.D.A.’, Verses Written by Mrs Ursula Bright, Sent to Henry J. Wilson, 15 August 1872, Josephine Butler Collection, The Women’s Library By Mrs Ursula Bright
  • The Constitutional Iniquity of the Acts
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      The Constitution Violated: An Essay, Edinburgh, Edmondson & Douglas, 1871 By Josephine Butler
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        I
        Chapter I
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        II
        Chapter II
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        III
        Chapter III
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        IV
        Chapter IV
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        V
        Chapter V
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        VI
        Chapter VI
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        VII
        Chapter VII
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        VIII
        Chapter VIII
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        IX
        Chapter IX
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      17
      Address Delivered in Craigie Hall, Edinburgh, 24 February 1871, Manchester, A. Ireland & Co, 1871 By Josephine Butler
  • The Royal Commission
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      18
      Letter from Josephine E. Butler to Anna Maria Priestman, 12 December 1870, [From 280 South Hill, Park Road, Liverpool], Josephine Butler Collection, The Women’s Library By Josephine Butler
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      19
      Josephine E. Butler, ed., Vox Populi, Liverpool, T. Brakell, 1871 By Josephine Butler
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      20
      Letter from Josephine E. Butler to Margaret Tanner, 4 April 1871, [From 280 South Hill, Park Road, Liverpool], Josephine Butler Collection, The Women’s Library By Josephine Butler
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      21
      MS LNA Circular written by Josephine E. Butler, to ‘Dear Friends all over the Country’, 8 July 1871, [From 280 South Hill, Park Road, Liverpool], Josephine Butler Collection, The Women’s Library By Josephine Butler
  • Bruce’s Bill
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      22
      A Few Words Addressed to True Hearted Women, 18 March 1872, Liverpool, T. Brakell, 1872 By Josephine Butler
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      23
      Letter from Josephine E. Butler to Joseph Edmondson, 28 March 1872, [From 280 South Hill, Park Road, Liverpool], Josephine Butler Collection, The Women’s Library By Josephine Butler
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      24
      Letter from Josephine E. Butler to Harriet Meuricoffre and Fanny Smyttan, c. early June 1872, Josephine Butler Collection, The Women’s Library By Josephine Butler