British Army Brothels

[Desdichado]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum but not to the history of the Great War.

I'm researching the topic of prostitution and the regulation of army brothels. Can somebody please provide me with a brief overview of how the bordellos were regulated? I'm assuming that the women would be subject to medical examinations to minimize the chance of a soldier contracting a veneral disease but how would they be selected to work? Were they paid an hourly/weekly wage or by the client? I'm assuming too that officers and men frequented different establishments and that the rates paid by difderent ranks was scaled.

If anyone can offer me some pointers or perhaps recommend a text on the subject, I'd be most grateful.

Thanks.

[Greyhound]

Sorry, can’t help, but can’t resist noting that “Other” is a very appropriate place for this topic.

[burlington]

I am sure that the Forum has been here before , in the nicest possible way of course.

Brothels, and sex generally, and the resulting venereal diseases are, as they say, 'bread and butter' to sociologists and behaviourists, as they were of course to the ordinary and not so ordinary 'Tommy'. Plus of course all the nursing and VAD personnel!

Someone has written a book, somethere, about all this. Have you done a search on the Forum?

Anyone got any other recollections?

[Pete1052]

See the current Great War Posters thread that is also in this "Other" section of the forum.

[alliekiwi]

One book you might find interesting is a biography of a New Zealand woman named Ettie Rout. She became concerned about venereal disease amongst the troops and, instead of going off on a moral crusade trying to get the men to drink cups of tea instead... she organised a clean brothel for them.

It's called:

Ettie

A life of Ettie Rout

By Jane Tolerton

Published by Penguin books in 1992,you'll probably need to look for a second hand copy as I don't think it's still in print.

Definitely worth a read.

Allie

[sjustice]

It's interesting to note that about 30% of all VD cases were contracted whilst on home leave (Official History), but that still meant 70% contracted in theatre - this amounted to about 300,000 men contracting VD in the war zone during the course of the war. The bordellos or brothels that were officially sanctioned to try and combat this *plague of sin* were situated in each base with the queues of men regulated by Military Police. Costs varied depending on whether the rich colonials were in town but you can assume the cost to be between a few francs at the low end up to twenty or more.

Inspections of men were random but they were carried out; I don't know about the inspection of the merchandise!

Robert Graves in Goodbye to All That confirms that different establishments were frequented by officers and men and the general ignorance of VD in many cases but I'm not sure the policy of segregation covers the official maisons de tolérance.

SMJ

[ian turner]

but you can assume the cost to be between a few francs at the low end up to twenty or more.

The mind boggles.......

[Desdichado]

The mind boggles.......

Thanks everyone, I didn't expect such a quick response. - D

[barkalotloudly]

there are some books on this subject printed during the thirties, i have one but cannot locate it at present, when i do i will let you know the title

regards john

[punjab612]

Did I hear somewhere that the establishments for officers and ORs were distinguishable by the colour of the light they displayed? Blue for Officers and red for ORs I think.

Peter

[Audax]

See 'Tommy' by Richard Holmes (2004) p.596. for reference to brothels in France.

[Moonraker]

Desdichado

I've details of prostitution and one or two brothels near Wiltshire army camps which I can post if you're interested in the Home Front.

Moonraker

[Desdichado]

Desdichado

I've details of prostitution and one or two brothels near Wiltshire army camps which I can post if you're interested in the Home Front.

Moonraker

Thanks Moonraker. I'd appreciate that.

See 'Tommy' by Richard Holmes (2004) p.596. for reference to brothels in France.

An excellent read. I read Sahib on a recent trip to India. I like his style of writing.

[green_acorn]

The term "short arm inspection" does come to mind. The following probably has too much information for some, but in the general context of the thread probably relevant.

Having had a relative serve as an officer during the Vietnam War I think you will find they may well have even produced a little leaflet for officers identifying the out-of-bounds to Other Ranks establishments and vice-a-versa for Officers during WW1. They did in Vietnam for the Australians and I would assume the precedence must have come from experience! I certainly recall my relative showing me the fold-out leaflet, about the size of a cigarette card in the 80's.

The other problem of such establishments requiring monitoring and control would have been the ever present danger of "pubic lice", louse or "crabs" from such establishments. Having been a junior nco, many years ago, when a soldier in my platoon got the "crabs" and did not tell anyone or treat it for over a fortnight, until others got infected, the remedy for all was not pleasant. I seem to recall it was when I finally understood the term "short arm inspection"! But the Army did have extant medical, hygeine, cleaning and clothing re-issue protocols for dealing with it and again one would imagine the knowledge was gained many years earlier during the Great War.

Please don't read the above to infer the Out of Bounds to OR establishments meant there were "Brothels for Officers", I don't think anything further could be from the truth in the British Army or the other primary Commonwealth nations, our Protestant/Presbyterian morals of then or more recent times wouldn't allow it. The primary reason, other than to prevent fighting or illegal activity that places a establishment or area OOB's was and would be to establish procedures which minimise fraternisation between ranks, which is what the OOB rule was and is partly for: fraternisation leads to familiarity which leads to loss of respect and therefore discipline etcetra. I certainly know as a former soldier, each rank group wants and needs their own space and privacy, to be able to be themselves, OOB rules do this in wartime as does the Mess/Club system in barracks and deployed bases today.

I hope I have managed to stay on-track, yet in as polite as possible way describe what occurs and probably occured in WW1.

cheers,

Chris

[green_acorn]

At the least you should also visit these threads: http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...rothel+bordello

and: http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...dello&st=25

[wig]

A German Army military mobile prostitute unit, motto must have been "Sua Tela meretrix meretricis"

[Moonraker]

Thanks Moonraker. I'd appreciate that.

An excellent read. I read Sahib on a recent trip to India. I like his style of writing.

Women in rural wartime Wiltshire, often bereft of their own menfolk, were easily impressed by soldiers from other parts, many of whom contrasted favourably with village lads. As is remarked in A G Street's factual novel of the Fovant area in wartime, The Gentlemen of the Party, "girls were at a premium, and many of them loved too well, only to find when trouble came that their lovers were overseas". One of the book's characters remarks that "half the [village] 'oomen to-day be hoors ... there's one thing what 'ave got cheaper. An' that's 'oomen. They do vling it at 'ee, wi out waitin' to be asked. Dirty bitches." Street himself wrote: "the newspapers might print articles telling how splendid the girls were, and in many cases these articles might be justified. But in any camp district during that hectic period of history, 1914 to 1918, the older men and women knew that the girls, both native-borne and war-imported, were anything but splendid".

W F Badgley complained that in Devizes in 1917 "everywhere in the town are cackling women enticing the soldiers". He blamed the women rather than the men, arguing the former were motivated by "filthy lust and filthy lucre". In reply, Superintendent Brooks said that locally only one woman had been brought before the courts for immorality since the war began. But in February 1915 two women had been imprisoned for three months and one month respectively for keeping a disorderly house at Urchfont, three miles from Devizes. Their customers were mostly soldiers, one of whom had been seen to leave the house dressed as a woman, with his female companion wearing army uniform, this being the first of a number of references in the war years to loose women affecting military clothing.

In early 1918 two London girls were arrested after being caught sleeping rough in Eastleigh Wood, close to Sutton Veny Camp. They had army blankets and an Australian overcoat and cape. The chairman of magistrates intoned, "it is quite evident to me why you came down here", but this particular press report contained no extrapolation of what was so clear to him. The girls received two months' imprisonment without hard labour.

When laughter was heard in a disused hut at Number 7 Camp, Sutton Veny, four women and five soldiers were found lying on blankets. Three of the women, from Bath, had previous convictions and received a fine of £5 each or one month's imprisonment; the sentence on the fourth, with no record, was £3 or fourteen days' imprisonment. In 1919 three women were discovered in the old German internment camp at Sutton Veny, one wearing only trousers and cardigan; she had left her "proper clothes" in the wood...

In March 1917 a sergeant from Fovant was caught on a footpath with a single young woman. At the hearing she was fined 10s; he was merely taken back to camp under escort. The same month at an alleged brothel in Downton Road, Salisbury, Australian soldiers, many drunk, were a particular nuisance. One admitted paying 5s, another 3s, for "misconduct", and it was alleged one woman was found "sitting on a soldier's knee, with her boots off and her hair down". The Bench decided that "whatever they thought personally they must dismiss the case" because of insufficient evidence. In August a court heard how New Zealand soldiers were at risk from scabies and disease at a brothel in the Friary, Salisbury. A mother and her 18-year-old daughter, who was "suffering from a certain disease", were before the court, which was concerned about the moral danger to five children aged from two to thirteen living there. The mother received concurrent sentences of three and six months, with hard labour.

In August 1918, six women and one man were sent to prison for keeping a disorderly house at 31 George Street, Salisbury and for allowing young children and young persons to reside in a brothel. They received sentences ranging from one month to six months, after evidence was heard that a woman and man would spend from ten to fifteen minutes in a room together. The Salisbury Times of August 9 devoted three columns and, the next week, a long editorial to the matter. It also published a letter from the Association for Moral and Social Hygiene - which had recently contributed to the outcry over the authorities' blind eye to brothels for British soldiers in France - pointing out that the soldiers had not been punished, as had happened in Newport and Lancaster, where the courts had also named them.

Another case, at Ludgershall in 1919, involved Mrs Emily Keen, Beatrice Keen and three children aged five, three and two. The Andover Advertiser's report was explicit, reflecting the loosening of inhibitions about referring to sex. (Certainly before the war the paper had not much reported on immorality, though there must have been instances in an army town like Tidworth.) It referred to "horrible and disgusting conditions prevailing in a Ludgershall bungalow and the abominable conduct of the wife of a soldier serving abroad". The bungalow appears not to have had curtains, for Police Constable Batten was several times able to view what was going on inside. After seeing a soldier in the bedroom with Mrs Keen and the children, and another soldier with Miss Keen in the living room, he observed "Mrs Keen and a soldier in a very intimate condition". On another occasion a soldier was lying in bed between the two women. Men visiting the bungalow were mainly Australians, one of whom, wearing only a shirt, opened the door when Superintendent Buchanan knocked on it. When arrested, Beatrice Keen was stark naked and made no attempt to cover herself, and Emily Keen was wearing only a chemise. The former was sentenced to two months' imprisonment for unlawfully assisting in the management of a brothel, the latter to two months' hard labour for unlawfully keeping a brothel and another two months for allowing children to live there.

At Chisledon, an early evening rail service from Swindon was known as the "meat train" because of the prostitutes it regularly conveyed; they frequented an area of shack- shops known as "Piccadilly". In Swindon itself there were brothels in Morley Street and in buildings around Newport Street.

Other sex cases that were well reported late in the war included the attempted rape of an 18-year-old nurse at Fovant Military Hospital, which led to an Australian private being given an eighteen-month sentence in August 1918. The same month an Army Ordnance Corps staff sergeant was acquitted of indecency after a woman cyclist claimed he had appeared stark naked in front of her near Great Durnford. She had "had a good look at him" and later picked him out at an identity parade, but the case was dismissed because of insufficient evidence.

Moonraker

[dycer]

I quote this from the Memoirs of 4585 Pte J.M. Marchbank 1/8th Royal Scots.It is an extract from a larger section entitled Sex.

"But once the soldiers landed in France,sex taboos in the main no longer existed.Nothing prevented him(other than a Military out of bounds order,)from entering the world of those women who did ,except fastidious timidity.

In Le Havre the port we disembarked on our arrival we were not susprised to find it had a red light district,as well as advertised brothels.First class for the officers and second class for the other ranks,but we were urgently required in the Ypres Sector,and were on our way in a few hours.(His Battalion landed in France on 5 November 1914)

There were ,however,licensed brothels in all towns of the back areas,where the French civil authorities retained control,and quite a number of unofficial brothels in the areas administered by the British Military Authority.Places like Amiens and Boulogne swarmed with prostitutes and semi-prostitutes.They did not lack custom from men who had not seen a woman's face for months.

Some soldiers were not like that,some were straight laced,and middle aged men regulated their conduct.Some married men remained truly loyal to their wives,but in the main the pursuit of sex was the popular line the army followed.On the days when opportunity offered.

On reflection,there is no doubt that the social disruption of wartime gave rise to and encouraged promiscuity,so much so,that there was a large increase in the number of woman who did."

George

[green_acorn]

A good read Moonraker and as I said the more modern Australian Army must have got its experience of the issue somewhere!

[sjustice]

A German Army military mobile prostitute wagon

Priceless; thanks for posting that, wig. Does that say Freudenhaus or Fraudenhaus?

SMJ

PS I have to say, I don't fancy yours, much

[wig]

Priceless; thanks for posting that, wig. Does that say Freudenhaus or Fraudenhaus?

SMJ

PS I have to say, I don't fancy yours, much

Vorsprung Durch Technik

[wig]

A German Army military mobile prostitute wagon

Vorsprung Durch Technik

[Katie Elizabeth Stewart]

Notice this thread has such an incredible number of people viewing it...

You can't help it, it just catches your eye!

[Guest mruk]

Far Right: I'm sure Archer J. Maggott would have something to say about these mobile vans of vice.

[wig]

Priceless; thanks for posting that, wig. Does that say Freudenhaus or Fraudenhaus?

SMJ

PS I have to say, I don't fancy yours, much

bawdyhouse -- das Freudenhaus

brothel -- das Freudenhaus

house of prostitution -- das Freudenhaus

pleasure dome -- das Freudenhaus

whorehouse -- das Freudenhaus

5 hits.

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