by Kate Eastham
Alice sensed that the baby had finished her feed and was falling asleep. The women next to her were laughing together and then calling to their children. It felt like time to move. As Alice fastened her bodice and then stood with the baby settled on her hip, the women on the steps looked up at her and smiled. ‘She looks like she feeds well,’ said one of them, ‘even though she is so tiny.’
Alice smiled in return and exchanged a few words with the women, and then she was walking briskly past the high walls of St George’s Hall without looking up. As she walked, she easily overtook the girl and the old woman. Alice glanced back to smile at the girl, but in that moment, the old lady stumbled and fell on to the hard stone flags. Both women let out a scream.
Alice was straight there, neatly balancing the baby with one arm as she knelt beside the woman who lay groaning on the ground. The young girl was wailing with sorrow.
‘It’s all right, it’s all right,’ said Alice calmly, first to the wailing girl and then to the groaning woman. ‘Just lie still … that’s it, and let me have a look.’
The woman still lay groaning but the girl had stopped wailing and was wiping her eyes with the flat of her hand.
‘What’s your name?’ said Alice gently to the woman lying on the ground.
‘Ellen Marchbank,’ she said, her voice shaky. ‘My granddaughter is taking me to the apothecary, me legs are bad.’
‘Do you have any pain now, anywhere in your body, especially the hips?’
The old woman tried to move herself, but she couldn’t in the big shawl, so Alice started to gently loosen it with one hand, looking at the girl and asking her to help, which she did immediately.
‘Now, Mrs Marchbank,’ said Alice, when the shawl was loose. ‘Tell me, are you in any more pain than is usual for you?’
The old woman stared at the blue sky for a few moments and then she closed her eyes. Her granddaughter drew in a sharp breath and Alice placed a hand on the girl’s arm to steady her.
‘Mrs Marchbank?’
The old woman’s eyes popped open and she started to smile. ‘Nah, me body’s racked with pain but I can’t say it’s any worse than it was. It’s me rheumatics, that’s what it is …’
‘I’m so sorry that you’re in so much pain with that,’ said Alice, relieved at least that the woman didn’t seem to have done any further damage. ‘And I think it’s a good idea for you to ask the apothecary for some salts. But can you just try and gently move your legs and arms for me so I can properly check if you hurt yourself in the fall?’
The old woman nodded as she lay there on her back and then she inched some movement from each of her limbs in turn.
‘Don’t seem any worse,’ she said, showing her toothless gums as she smiled. ‘And what’s more, I needed a bit of a rest, so at least I’ve got that, and I never thought I was going to meet someone like you today. With your red hair and your blue eyes and your soothing voice, you’re just as lovely as my granddaughter here.’
Alice smiled at the old woman. She could tell that it was time to be helping her up. ‘Come on, then,’ she said, gesturing for the girl to help, before shifting the position of the baby on her hip and reaching down to take Mrs Marchbank’s arm. ‘Let’s get you back on your feet.’
The two of them hauled the old woman up and she lurched unsteadily to her feet.
‘Right,’ said Alice, ‘I think we need to unwrap this heavy shawl completely so that you can move more easily. It did save you from injury, but it might well have been the reason you fell.’
‘Righto,’ said the girl quietly, helping her grandmother.
The woman still had many layers of clothing underneath, so she was well padded, and she didn’t seem to have suffered any serious injury, thank goodness.
‘Good job I didn’t break me hip … I’ve no money for doctors, I’d be in the workhouse infirmary and that’d be me gone.’
‘Don’t say stuff like that, Grandma,’ said the girl, and Alice could tell that she was close to tears. ‘You know I will always do my best to look after you.’
‘Try not to worry,’ said Alice gently. ‘You’re doing a good job with your grandmother, I’m sure you are. But when you help her walk, put one arm around her like this, and hold her hand with the other, that’s it, like that, so if she stumbles, you’ve got her. That’s it, yes, like that. And if you can find a walking stick for her, that might help as well.’
‘You sound just like a nurse,’ said the old woman, her face creasing into another smile. ‘You should be a nurse.’
Alice thought of trying to explain but then thought better of it, so she just smiled.
‘Now,’ said the woman, rummaging beneath her various layers of clothing to find a pocket, ‘I haven’t much money – the Marchbanks have always been poor, dirt poor. But there is a halfpenny here and I want you to have it for that bonny baby of yours.’
‘No, no, I couldn’t take it, you need it for medicine,’ said Alice, shaking her head, but the old woman insisted, pressing the coin into her hand.
‘You’ve helped me today, young lady, and this is for the baby. Right then, let’s get going. It’ll take us half a day to get where we want to go at this rate …’
Wait till I tell Maud about this grand old lady, thought Alice, as she watched Mrs Marchbank and her granddaughter walk slowly away. Then she remembered, Maud was gone. And the sadness of it all struck her afresh.
That evening as Alice sat beside the dying fire to feed the baby with Hugo, the house cat, stretched out at her feet warming his belly, she felt the whole experience of the day wash over her. It already felt strange to be without Maud in the kitchen that evening. But now, as she glanced down to Victoria feeding contentedly, the fingers of her left hand splayed out and gently pressing into the soft flesh of her breast, Alice knew that she couldn’t let herself stay this sad for too long. She had a daughter to rear and a whole life of her own that needed to be lived.
3
‘Oh, mothers of families! … do you know that one in seven infants in this civilised land of England perishes before it is even one year old? … And, in … great cities … nearly one out of two?’
Florence Nightingale
The first feed of the day was Alice’s favourite time. After she’d lit the fire in the kitchen stove and she could sit listening to the spit and crackle of the wood, she would feel a wave of relaxation seep through her whole body. This time before the rest of the house were awake, when it was just Alice and Victoria, was very special.
She knew it would be Marie up next, coming into the kitchen just in time for the hotplate to be ready to take the kettle for their first pot of tea of the day. She would go first to Victoria, whether she was lying in her crib or still feeding, and she would speak to her softly and stroke her head and then look at Alice and say, ‘Good morning, Mother.’ And then, invariably, she’d look down at the black cat, stretched full length in front of the fire, not even moving when a spark came out of the fire and singed his fur. ‘Hugo. You lazy good-for-nothing cat,’ Marie would mutter. ‘Just like that wastrel of a man who used to be my husband.’
The rest of the house would be up in dribs and drabs, depending on how late or how busy they’d been the night before. Sometimes they would sleep till the afternoon. Not Stella, though – she was always up and about and always full of life. No matter how tired she was, Stella would always have a smile and a tale to tell from the night before.
So it was strange to see her coming into the kitchen that morning with a frown.
‘What’s up, Stell?’ said her mother immediately.
‘I heard last night that the police have closed the Italian woman’s place down … some are saying it’s just the start.’
‘What?’ gasped Marie. ‘Why would they do that? They never have any trouble there …’
Stella was shaking her head. ‘I know,’ she said quietly, ‘but it’s all part of what the police call their “moral enforcement” under that Contagious Diseases Act. Now, it
seems, they’re not just picking women up off the street, they’re going into the houses for ’em as well.’
‘But what about the girls, Stell – did any of them get away?’
‘Well, they say that some escaped through a window, but the rest were taken to the police station.’
‘Stupid men,’ Marie spat, ‘rounding up women like cattle, moving them out of a place of safety. Ridiculous.’
‘I hope it’s all right with you, Ma,’ said Stella, ‘but I’ve sent word with my source that if any of the women want refuge, they can come to us.’
Marie nodded. ‘Of course, we’ll always help out … But what if the police come for us as well?’
Stella thought for a moment. ‘I think we’ll be safe for now, at least. We still have a couple of police who are regular customers.’
‘I hope that’s going to be enough,’ murmured Marie. ‘It might be worth having a word with them next time they visit.’
Stella nodded, and then forced a smile in Alice’s direction. ‘Don’t you be worrying, Alice. You’re just a housemaid here and I’ll make sure that fact is made clear. But if you hear anybody shouting “police”, get yourself into your room with the baby and make sure the door is locked.’
Alice nodded. ‘I always lock the door at night anyway when we go to bed, just in case any of the customers come wandering through by mistake. They’re often a bit worse for wear.’
‘You could say that … or that they’re just blind drunk,’ laughed Stella, but then her face became serious again. ‘But that’s good practice, Alice, you keep doing that.’ She turned to her mother, ‘I’ve asked all the girls to come down for a late breakfast, Ma, then we can get our heads together and make sure we’re all prepared.’
By the time the women were assembled in the kitchen, Victoria was sleeping in her crib and Alice was brewing a big pot of tea. Slipping in beside Stella, she sat and listened to the sleepy conversation of the three women who had gathered around the table. This was an early rising for Laura, Lizzie and Marguerite. Even Lizzie was yawning and Marguerite was resting her head, a tangled mass of dark brown curls, on her arms. Stella gave them a bit of time to wake up whilst Marie toasted some bread over the fire, bringing each piece in turn to the table and slipping it off the long toasting fork. The smell of it filled the kitchen, and in no time at all Laura had tied back her dark red hair and was quietly buttering the toast whilst Marguerite stirred the tea and then poured a cup for each of them.
Silence fell for a few moments as the women crunched their toast, then Stella replaced her cup in its saucer and began to speak. Once she’d told them about what had happened at the Italian woman’s place, they sat planning escape routes and discussed using the cellar at the end of the hallway as a hiding place. Alice was starting to feel on edge and she kept glancing over to the crib where Victoria slept peacefully.
Marie slipped a hand over hers on the table and murmured, ‘Don’t be worrying too much, Alice. We women living in brothels always have some threat or other to deal with, but we always manage—’
She broke off as a loud knock sounded on the front door. Marguerite shot straight up from her chair, but the rest of the women sat completely still, their eyes wide.
‘I don’t think they’d knock at the door if they were raiding,’ said Marie, getting up from the table and patting Marguerite on the shoulder as she passed behind her.
She was back in moments, her arm around the shoulders of a black-haired woman with wild eyes and torn clothing. Stella jumped up from her seat, full of concern. ‘Valerie! How did you escape?’
‘They dragged me out of the house,’ croaked the woman, her voice strongly accented, ‘but I managed to pull free before they got me in the carriage … and I ran as fast as I could.’
Alice knew straight away that the woman must be from the Italian woman’s place. She got up from the table and offered her seat and then she went to find a shawl to wrap around the woman’s shoulders.
Valerie sat quietly for a few moments and then she looked up and tried to smile. ‘I was lucky to have enough money saved up to leave Portsmouth after they first introduced the Contagious Diseases Act and women were made to attend fortnightly examinations for syphilis. Even though soldiers and sailors were free from inspection and openly queuing at the doors of our brothels … That’s when I began to feel the true injustice of being a woman in a man’s world.
‘I thought I’d left all of that behind me … but now, especially this year, it seems that it’s followed me here, to Liverpool … and no matter how we try to fight against it, still it goes on. How can they not see that it’s a waste of time dragging women off the street and out of the brothels, when men are still allowed to do what they want?’
Stella was nodding. ‘I agree, we all know that to be the case, and it does feel like we’re getting nowhere, but we can’t give up. We have to go on fighting even harder. And in the meantime, Valerie, you can stay with us for as long as you need. We have a spare room upstairs and enough work for you.’
Valerie nodded as she sat with her shoulders slumped and then she lifted her head. ‘Without your kindness, I would be back on the street. When I first came to Liverpool I got very sick and I spent some time with the lady who helps women like us, that Josephine Butler. I stayed in her house until I got better. I could have gone there but I know that she has many women at present, and they are sick. I got your word, Stella, from one of the customers, and that’s why I came. Thank you.’
‘You are welcome,’ said Stella.
Alice placed a cup of tea and a thick slice of bread and butter in front of Valerie and then she put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. Valerie glanced up and placed her hand over Alice’s.
‘And you, too, are a very kind lady,’ she said.
Week by week, every morning, Alice sat by the fire to feed Victoria with the cat at her feet, and then she worked in the house by day, and made sure to lock the door to their room each night. And as the daily rhythm of life continued, there were still reports of working women being picked up from the street as the police continued to impress their policy of moral enforcement. The women remained vigilant and took extra care, only going out at times that they judged low risk. Many customers reported that they’d seen plain-clothes police in the alley, and some of them had vowed to do all that they could to protect the women, if the need arose. However, as time went by, the women of the house got used to their situation, and even though Stella issued daily warnings, some of them began to believe that they were perfectly safe. Certainly, two months on from the raid on the Italian woman’s place, it was easy to start believing that the threat was reducing.
They were proved wrong a few days later. When Stella came into the kitchen with a deep frown on her face, Alice knew straight away that there must have been another incident.
‘One of the girls is missing. It’s Lizzie, she’s not in her bed.’
‘Lizzie!’ gasped Alice, instantly worried for the young woman who loved to come and chat in the kitchen during the afternoons and would sit and play with Victoria.
‘This problem is not going away,’ Marie announced, following Stella in through the door. ‘We haven’t heard of any more houses being raided, but women are still being taken off the street.’
‘I’d heard that the police were stepping it up, so I think we can be fairly certain that Lizzie has been taken,’ Stella agreed. ‘She’s lived here three years now, and never stayed away without telling us … I’ll have a bite to eat and then go up to the hospital to see our Ada,’ she decided, pulling her dark, curly hair back from her face and fastening it with a yellow ribbon. ‘She’ll know what to do.’
Alice nodded. She knew that Stella’s half-sister, Ada Houston, a senior nurse at the Royal Infirmary, was the best person to speak to. She’d already helped out a few times by using her influence when the women had gone missing.
‘Something needs to be done,’ said Marie quietly, as she sliced through the mor
ning bread with a sharp knife. ‘The police say that what they’re doing is moral enforcement, and they’re working in line with the Contagious Diseases Act, while men still roam the streets and move between the houses, without question, without inspection … Pah!’
She threw down the bread knife and picked up the butter. ‘We need to start joining forces, all us women. We need to go and see that woman Valerie told us about, that Josephine Butler. She doesn’t just take in women off the streets; she’s involved in some kind of campaign.’
‘Well,’ said Stella, ‘despite what Valerie said that first day she came to us, I’m not sure what a posh type like her will be able to do for women like us.’ She poured boiling water into the teapot. ‘But you’re right, Ma, we need to rally support wherever we can. In the meantime, I’ll go up to the hospital and see Ada – she might even know how we can contact Mrs Butler. We need all the help we can get. This is starting to feel like a war.’
Marie nodded solemnly.
‘Right, that’s it, I need to get going,’ said Stella, taking a swig of hot tea and grabbing her shawl off the back of a chair.
‘You take care, Stell,’ said Marie.
‘I will, Ma, don’t you worry. The bastards won’t get me, not if I can help it.’
Alice and Marie kept busy that morning, each of them waiting for Stella to come back. They knew that the most dangerous times for women to be out on the streets were the nights and evenings, but who knew what might happen?
When the afternoon came and there was still no sign, Marie was pacing up and down the kitchen and Alice was desperately trying to keep busy.
‘She will be back,’ said Alice, her voice tight, trying to stay calm for Marie’s sake.
Going over to the crib to lift Victoria for her first feed of the afternoon, Alice knew straight away that something wasn’t quite right. Her cheeks were flushed and when Alice touched her, she was hot. Her heart started to flutter as she lifted Victoria out of her crib, feeling her writhe against her, and then she was throwing back her head.
