‘The streets have been watched regularly’: The York Penitentiary Society, young working-class women, and the regulation of behaviour in the public spaces of York, c. 1845– 1919

Harrison, Laura

Abstract

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The York Penitentiary Society, a charitable female reformatory in York, aimed to transform ‘fallen’ women in the city into useful citizens through institutionalisation, domestic training, and moral and religious instruction. The Penitentiary focused on isolating its ‘inmates’ from wider society, but its moral reach extended far beyond the high walls of the Refuge, and the young women confined within. This article examines the York Penitentiary Society, and considers how it acted to police the streets and public spaces of York, and the behaviour of young women who populated them. In addition to adding detail to our understanding of the operation of female reform institutions, this study also adds to our knowledge on the unofficial policing of women’s behaviour in public space, and has significant implications for histories of urban life.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 8, 2018
• Online Publication Date: May 20, 2018
• Publication Date: Apr 16, 2019
• Deposit Date: May 14, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 21, 2019
• Journal: Women's History Review
• Print ISSN: 0961-2025
• Electronic ISSN: 1747-583X
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 457-478
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09612025.2018.1477105
• Keywords: York, women, York Penitentiary Society
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/854717
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/09612025.2018.1477105
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Women's History Review on 20 May 2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09612025.2018.1477105
• Contract Date: May 14, 2018