Age of Consent Established
The 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act called for the "Protection of Women and Girls, the suppression of brothels, and other purposes" (Wikipedia, 2020). This Act came into action to replace the prior Offences against the Person Act of 1861, which set the age of consent at just twelve years old. A public interest in increasing protection of children rose in 1885 in the wake of a newspaper exposé about the "White Slave Trade" of young girls, leading to the passage of the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act. This law highlighted an underlying conflict of the difference between child protection and a need to regulate the sexuality of juveniles. Many people in the Victorian Era believed that giving consent was a responsibility that girls could not hold until they reached a certain level of mental maturity that could only develop way after physical development was complete. It was thought that until a girl reached full physical and mental maturity, she must be protected not only from men but from herself and her own sexual feelings. The wording of the proclamation is quite important in that rather than bestowing the power of consent to girls above the age of sixteen, it simply took away the right of consent from girls under the age of sixteen. While it may seem that the main purpose of the Act is to protect, it really means to control. The 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act has since been repealed, but was not done so until 1956 by the Sexual Offences Act.
The current events in which I just witnessed have certainly left me in utter turmoil. I have just returned from the home of the Bretton's where a young girl had been accompanying them while her father lay ill. Who am I to pass judgment, but that little girl--Polly, I believe they called--Oh, the temperament of that young girl! So young, yet so endearing! My mind grew an attention to the way she responded to the young auburn boy, but oh, not as young! Graham is but sixteen years old, while she grows to only six! Her infatuation with this young man grows daily, as does my aching heart. Surely she is not of twelve years of age, so how could she possibly consent to her actions? I would hope that a respectable boy of his age would know this is not of appropriate dealings--his auburn locks hold that countenance of trust--but this girl knows of no such structure! How can Mrs. Bretton, and all other inhabitants of the property, allow this juvenile to express her feelings in such a way? My woes cry out to a young girl plagued by her own infractions, for she knows not that her sexuality is a dangerous one, and she must not express these feelings until she is of age where she can not abuse it. To imagine that Mrs. Bretton could possibly allow the grooming of this girl of six with this boy of sixteen--Oh! I cannot bear the thought. And with a goddaughter of twenty-three in inhabitance? Could she not alleviate us of the turmoil; could she not rob him of his attentions to the girl? The poor Polly, falling victim to a temptation that she should not hold! She must be contained, locked away and hidden, until the age of twelve when she can emerge as a fully-matured woman. I worry so for the safety of our children, and this worry will not dissipate until something is done of the matter.
Works Cited
Bates, Victoria. "The Legacy of 1885: Girls and the Age of Sexual Consent." History and Policy, 8 September 2015,
Brontë, Charlotte. "Villette." COVE Studio, 2020, https://studio.covecollective.org/documents/villette-2
"Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885." Wikipedia, Wikipedia Foundation, 13 August 2020,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Law_Amendment_Act_188