Montague Druitt and Prostitution

[Johnr]

On a long-lost thread on the Druitt forums, no doubt where someone drifted off onto a tangent, I recall reading of would-be reformers of prostitution saying that two of the most serious sites for prostitution and its associated problems were Oxford and Cambridge.
It might be that this cropped up on one of the sites where there was discussion of Montague Druitt's uncle Robert.
Robert Druitt involved himself in public discussion about whether prostitution might be driven underground under the new controls in the Contagious Diseases Act .
Given that Montague Druitt has not left evidence of closeness to his father, William Druitt, yet a letter survives showing Montague's shared fondness for Horace with his uncle Robert in London, one wonders if Montague might have picked up strong views about prostitution,( or even worse things!) during his undergraduate days at Oxford.
Can anyone dig up any public discussions of prostitution in Oxford and Cambridge?
Given the institutionalised life in public schools most middle class British males endured, perhaps involvement with prostitutes was a more common right of passage than hitherto understood. JOHN RUFFELS.

[Sam Flynn]

Hi John,

I've no doubt that students may have used prostitutes as a rite of passage, but why use the filthy variety when they could at least have opted for a more cleanly experience with slightly less malodorous and debauched women than those in Spitalfields. Surely Oxbridge types could afford better women, and better venues?

Assuming "fragrance" wasn't an issue, what was so special about Spitalfields prostitutes compared to those of (say) Ratcliff, Covent Garden, King's Cross, Paddington or Lambeth, to name but a few?

[Robert]

From a reforming point of view though, Gareth, they might have homed in on the east end as being the most notorious haunt of prostitutes.

John, I can't remember anything being said about Oxbridge prostitution. The only thing that springs to mind is Stephen's poem, which may have been about a prostitute : "As I was strolling in the Backs..."

[Sam Flynn]

From a reforming point of view though, Gareth, they might have homed in on the east end as being the most notorious haunt of prostitutes.

Ah - but that'd be different from "wenching", though, Robert. To be sure, whilst the East End had a large number of (casual) prostitutes living within its capacious boundaries, it seems that the prime attraction for the reformers had more to do with poverty in general than its individual sequelae. There was much more to reform in the East End than prostitution alone.

[Johnr]

Of Frogs In Wells and Poor Old Gareth...

Dear Gareth,
Whilst in no way a disciple of the late Mao Tse Tung, I once leafed the pages of his Little Red Book and recall one aphorism thus:
A frog that lives at the bottom of a well believes the whole world consists of the sky he can see above. ( or some-such).
I am beginning to think you are a disciple of that frog!
Mention the word " prostitute" and up pops Gareth talking about Spitalfields.
Slowly Gareth. Let us first have our conversation about prostitution at Oxford and Cambridge, then you can re-direct people to a thread you have prepared earlier... all about Spitalfields, and prostitutes.....

Robert,
Your point is well taken about JKS's poem. His whole attitude to women who he took a dislike to, seems to me typical of the spoilt brat-like, ungoverned showing off, and shocking, for the benefit of his coterie of immature hangers-on.
In my opinion, JTR was not luring the lower strata of prostututes into dark alleys for sex. He might have insinuated he was, but he just wanted to slaughter them.
That is why I wonder if Montague Druitt might have developed a similar disposition to prostitutes based upon them " bothering him" in the streets of Oxford and elsewhere....
Ribbbbbit! JOHN RUFFELS.

[Sam Flynn]

Let us first have our conversation about prostitution at Oxford and Cambridge, then you can re-direct people to a thread you have prepared earlier...

Forgive me for jumping the gun, John, and for feeling that the endgame of a thread entitled "Montague Druitt and Prostitution" was heading towards the subject of whether Monty was a Spitalfields sex-tourist toff. (Alternatively, that Spitalfields was a particular "passage" wherein such men as Druitt exercised their "rites".) Why else would the subject have been broached?

Perhaps I'm paranoid but, if I hadn't made that connection, it's a dead cert that someone would have anyway. I was just pointing out some context that such a discussion really ought to take on board. In short, I was only trying to be helpful, and save time!

As to Maoist frogs: at least they're well-positioned to spot when things are likely to spawn

[Robert]

Just a quick link :

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5282723.ece

[Johnr]

Hello Gareth and Robert,
Thanks for the link Robert.
And you are correct Gareth, I should have framed the thread title differently.
I had intended calling it " Montague Druitt, Prostitution and Oxford". You can see from the drift of my first post.
By Googling " prostitution and Oxford" I have discovered two interesting items:
A book by M.G.Brock and M.C.Curthoys " Nineteenth century Oxford", which at page 280 provides a couple of interesting bits.
Apparently, well certainly in the first half of the nineteenth century, proctors of various colleges felt it their bounden duty to shepherd young undergraduates away from the dangers of sex with local prostitutes.The areas mentioned as favoured by prostitutes and young men in search of them were: Bagley Wood, the village of Abingdon, and a place called Jericho.
More relevant still, an article in Victorian Studies vol. xxiii (1979) by A.J. Engel " Immoral intentions: the University of Oxford and the problem of prostitution 1827 - 1914 ". JOHN RUFFELS.