Josephine Elizabeth Butler was a 19th-century British feminist and social reformer who advocated for the education and welfare of prostitutes and other socially disadvantaged women of her time. She was born into a wealthy and respectable family and enjoyed a privileged and joyful childhood. Her father, John Grey, was an experienced agriculturist and the cousin of previous British Prime Minister Charles Grey, while her mother, Hannah Eliza Annett, provided Josephine with her early schooling. The Grey family was a strong supporter of anti-slavery movements, and the children learned about the tortures and atrocities inflicted on slaves through John. The stories of female slaves who were impregnated by their owners and then left to fend for themselves horrified Josephine. She began lobbying and producing letters and brochures to raise awareness, carrying on her family’s existing enthusiasm for reform. She married George Butler, and the two were perfect for each other in every aspect. George was an Oxford instructor who advocated for equal rights for men and women as well as the abolition of slavery. The couple had four children, and the death of their youngest child inspired Josephine to become a social activist.
Childhood and Adolescence
Josephine Grey, the seventh child of John Grey and his wife Hannah Annett, was born on April 13, 1828, in Millfield, Northumberland.
John Grey was a farmer and the relative of reformer British Prime Minister Charles Grey, 2nd of Earl Grey. The Grey family was devout members of the Church of England and staunch opponents of slavery.
Her idyllic youth was spent in a Dilston country house. She was homeschooled by her mother and grew up to be an excellent writer and French and Italian speaker.
While the children lived in freedom and joy, they also learned of the horrific destiny and abuse of those who had been sold as slaves by their fathers.
Josephine Butler’s Career
In 1852, Josephine married George Butler. George was an Oxford tutor who shared her views on abolition, equal rights for men and women, the need for social reform, and concern for social outcasts.
They had four children together. However, tragedy struck her life when her youngest child, Eva, died in 1863 after falling from the top of the house’s staircase. Josephine became a prominent social campaigner at this time, claiming that her loss had given her the ability to empathize with other suffering women.
George was the vice principal of Cheltenham College at the time of Eva’s death. In 1866, the family moved to Liverpool to enable her wife to recuperate from the loss of their child, and he was appointed as the headmaster of Liverpool College.
Josephine went to Brownlow Hill Workhouse in Liverpool and was horrified by the living circumstances of the ladies who lived there. She eventually took them to her own house or found them a more secure one.
The majority of the rescued women were prostitutes, so Josephine established a House of Rest and an Industrial home to provide them with a better source of income. George assisted in the establishment and upkeep of both.
She co-founded and served as President of the North of England Council for the Higher Education of Women in 1866, alongside Anne Jemima Clough. She soon joined her husband in giving adult lectures, which led to the establishment of a university.
The 1860s Contagious Illnesses Acts (C.D. Acts) empowered any police officer to arrest prostitutes and subject them to mandatory medical examinations for sexual diseases. The women would be confined to a hospital for several months if they were proved to be positive. However, no similar regulations existed to regulate men who frequented prostitutes.
Women who have already exploited victims of male oppression and had no understanding of their legal rights, Josephine Butler argued, were now being subjected to a surgical rape.’ She also questioned Victorian sexual morality’s double standards.
She dedicated herself to the women’s movement to overturn the Contagious Diseases Acts from 1869 onwards. She launched a nationwide campaign in the 1870s that jeopardized her and her family’s credibility. However, George remained a loyal friend, and the Act was finally abolished in 1886 after 16 years of hard effort marked by humiliation and threats.
In 1875, her hard work and perseverance paid off when she was named joint secretary of the British and Continental Federation for the Abolition of Government Regulation of Prostitution.
She joined William Thomas Stead, the editor of the ‘Pall Mall Gazette,’ in his fight against child prostitution in London in 1885. The campaign was successful, and the legal drinking age in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was soon raised from 13 to 16.
She went to Switzerland and the French Third Republic to develop international awareness after ensuring that British citizens were not ignorant of the challenges faced by the socially poor women living among them.
Her efforts to raise international awareness led to the development of a number of groups that focused on state regulation of prostitution and child trafficking. In 1877, she established the International Abolitionist Federation in Geneva.
After retiring from Liverpool College, George Butler became a Canon of Winchester Cathedral in 1882, and Josephine Butler continued to work for many causes.
Butler’s Major Projects
The repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act of the 1860s was Josephine Butler’s greatest victory as a reformer. Any police officer might arrest prostitutes and subject them to a humiliating physical test for sexual diseases under the act. If the woman was found to be positive, she would be hospitalized for several months and imprisoned if she refused to do the tests.
Personal History and Legacy
George Butler and Josephine Butler married in 1852 and had four children: George, Arthur Stanley, Charles Augustine Vaughan, and Evangeline Mary.
On December 30, 1906, she died at Wooler, Northumberland.
Estimated Net worth
Josephine is one of the wealthiest activists and one of the most well-known activists. Josephine Butler’s net worth is estimated to be $1.5 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.