Adoption and Victorian culture

Abstract

In 1888, evangelical, educator and feminist Constance Maynard adopted Effie Anthon, a six year old girl from a Salvation Army orphanage. Her mother, Rosabianca Fasulo was an unmarried, Italian woman recently “rescued” by the Salvation Army. Maynard anticipated that Effie would one day join her at her college but she met none of the expectations for her. She entered domestic service but fell ill with tuberculosis and died in a workhouse in 1915. This is one particular case history of an adoption when the practice was not yet formalized but small numbers began to adopt children unknown to them. It tentatively opens up the history of adoption in Victorian Britain. It also illuminates some broader questions about family ties, the meanings associated with motherhood, and how the body and character formation were understood.

Keywords:

• Adoption
• Motherhood
• Constance Maynard
• Evangelicalism
• Conversion
• the Salvation Army
• Eugenics

Acknowledgements

For providing important sources and guiding me through unfamiliar literature I would like to thank William Beinart, Michael Casey, Deborah Gaitskill, Frank Hardy, Beverly Kienzle, Maura O'Connor and Shelley Parlow. Thanks to Andrew Davies, Polly Beals, Jacqueline deVries, Joy Dixon, Esmé Dervis and Gillian Strang for invaluable comments.