‘Almost a Public Calamity’: Prostitutes, ‘Nurseboys’, and Attempts to Control Venereal Diseases in Colonial Natal, 1886–1890

References

• 1880 . However, because these measures were never enacted in Natal, the Information on prostitution in the colony in the late s and early 1890s remains sparse. In the Cape, the implementation of a Contagious Diseases Act generated substantial documentary evidence that is extremely useful to historians of Prostitution. It was only at the turn of the century, when Prostitution began to attract substantial attention in Natal that more detailed Information becomes available. See E. van Heyningen, ‘The Social Evil in the Cape Colony, 1868–1902: Prostitution and the Contagious Diseases Acts’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 10 2 (1984), 170–97;R. Posel ‘“Continental Women” and Durban's “Social Evil”, 1899–1905’, Journal of Natal and Zulu History, 12 (1989). A brief discussion of Prostitution in early colonial Natal appears in G. Dominy, ‘Women and the Garrison in Colonial Pietermaritzburg: Aspects and Ambiguities of the Domestic Life of the Military’, Journal of Natal and Zulu History, 13 (1990–91). Dominy also mentions in passing the attempt to pass a Natal Contagious Diseases Act in 1890, but does not explore the military role in the 1886 contagious diseases bill
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• Lalu makes a similar point in ibid
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• On this point see Vaughan, Curing Their Ills, 8–14, 23–26
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• 1884 . Pietermaritzburg was home to 311 African women and 2 778 African men in, and 313 African women and 3 547 African men in 1887;Pietermaritzburg Archives Repository (hereafter PAR), Pietermaritzburg Municipality Files, (hereafter 3/PMB), 1/1/6 (pp. 281a;618), Mayor's Minute 1884, 1887
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• 1868 . Ibid.,7 Feb.
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• Ibid., 241. See also evidence of William Ngidi, 167 and Teteleku, 178
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• 1886 . PAR, Files for the Magistrate and Commissioner, Bulwer (hereafter 1/BLR) 8 (P64/87), W. Fraser, ‘Crimes of Rape and Indecent Assault committed by Natives.—Cause and Means of Suppression’, 11 Dec., 2–3. The aggregate population statistics for Pietermaritzburg in 1887 were as follows: Male adult ‘Europeans’—3 802 (1 556 of these men were from the Imperial garrison at Fort Napier);Female adult ‘Europeans’—2 333 (141 of these women were from the garrison);Male adult Indians—748;Female adult Indians—377;Male adult ‘Kafirs’—3 547;Female adult ‘Kafirs’—313;Male adult ‘St. Helenas, Hottentots, & c’.—150 (83 of these men were from the garrison);Female adult ‘St. Helenas, Hottentots, & c’.—152 (PAR 3/PMB 1/1/6 (618), Mayor's Minute, 1887)
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• 1890 . PAR NPP 318 (No. 15/‘Report of the Select Committee (No. 15, 1890)’, 21, 27–8
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• Ibid., 22
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• Ibid., 22–3
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• Ibid., 25, 31
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• 1890 . PAR NPP 317 (No. 15/MacDonald to Chairman of the Local Board, 13 June 1890;Slattery to Chairman of the Local Board, 16 June 1890
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• 1890 . PAR NPP 318 (No. 15/‘Report of the Select Committee (No. 15, 1890)’, 27–28
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• 1994 . There is a substantial literature on the Contagious Diseases Acts enacted throughout the British Empire in the nineteenth Century. A comprehensive list of studies is provided in P. Levine, ‘Venereal Disease, Prostitution, and the Politics of Empire: The Case of British India’, Journal of the History of Sexuality, 4, 4 (580, n. 3
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• 1984 . 99 Cited in D. Gaitskell, J. Kimble, M. Maconochie and E. Unterhalter, ‘Race, Class and Gender: Domestic Workers in South Africa’, Review of African Political Economy, 27, 8
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• Ibid.
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• Ibid., 96
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• 1886 . For a detailed discussion of the rape scare, see J. Martens, ‘“So Destructive of Domestic Security and Comfort”: Settler Domesticity, Race and the Regulation of African Behaviour in the Colony of Natal, 1843–1893’ (PhD thesis, Queen's University at Kingston, 2001), Chapter 6
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• 1886 . PAR NPP 146 (No. 102) Report by J.F. Allen, 15 Jan. These figures include both outpatients and patients treated in the wards of Grey's Hospital. It is possible that Allen was confusing venereal syphilis with endemic syphilis, a disease transmitted non-sexually. Endemic syphilis will be described in more detail below
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• 1886 . Ibid. Owen to Colonial Secretary, 6 Jan., enclosed report
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• 1886 . Ibid., R. Lewer to D.A.A.G., Natal, 13 May
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• 1886 . Ibid., Minute Paper, H. Sparke Stabb, 28 Sep.
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• 1886 . PAR NPP 146 (No. 102) O.C. 2nd S. Lanc. Regt to D.A.A.G, Natal, 20 Sep.
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• 1886 . Ibid., Minute Paper, H. Sparke Stabb, 28 Sep.
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• 1886 . Ibid., Minute Paper, A. Havelock, 28 Sep., 9 Oct. 1886
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• Ibid.
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• Ibid.
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• Ibid.
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• 1886 . Natal Witness, 13 Dec. and 27 Nov. 1886, 9 Dec. 1886
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• 1886 . Ibid., 8 Dec.
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• 1886 . Ibid., 15 Dec.
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• 1886 . Ibid., 13 Dec., 9 Dec. 1886
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• 1886 . PAR 1/BLR 8 (P64/87) W. Fraser, ‘Crimes of Rape and Indecent Assault Committed by Natives—Cause and Means of Suppression’, 11 Dec., 1–4
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• Ibid., 494
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• Ibid., 495
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• Ibid., 564
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• Ibid., 564
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• Ibid., 566
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• Ibid., 627
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• 1887 . Natal Witness, 31 Jan.
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• Ibid., 213
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• Cited in ibid., 155–6
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• Ibid., 157–64
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• Taylor . ‘Venereal Disease’, 439
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• Ibid., 442
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• Ibid., 444–5
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• Ibid.
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• 1889 . PARCSO 1237 (6008/Minute Paper, 19 Oct. 1889. For a discussion of the Cape Act see Van Heyningen, ‘The Social Evil’, 178–9
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• Debates, Vol. 14, 281;For a copy of the circular see PAR CSO 1237 (6008/1889) Minute Paper, 26 Nov. 1889
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• 1889 . PAR CSO 1237 (6008/Minute Paper, 26 Nov. 1889
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• 1890 . Ibid., Minute Paper, H.A. Hime, 22 Jan. Governor Mitchell noted that ‘upon this information [the answers to the circular] being considered by the Executive Council it was deemed advisable to send down the Bill…’ See PAR Government House Files (hereafter GH) H 1226 (452) Mitchell to Knutsford, 28 July 1890
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• 1889 . PAR CSO 1237 (6008/R. Allen to Hime, 26 Nov. 1889
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• 1889 . Ibid., J. Allen to Hime, 24 Nov.;C. Ward to Hime, 10 Jan. 1890; J. Hyslop to Hime, 11 Jan. 1890
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• Allen . 1885 . the surgeon for Grey's Hospital, was responsible for compiling the hospital's annual returns that were included in the Natal Blue Books. The following number of outpatients were treated for syphilis and gonorrhoea between and 1889. 1885—Syphilis: 173, Gonorrhoea: 69;1886—Syphilis: 246, Gonorrhoea: 88;1887—Syphilis: 295, Gonorrhoea: 92;1888—Syphilis: 212, Gonorrhoea: 106;1889—Syphilis: 174, Gonorrhoea. 89. Figures compiled from Blue Book for the Colony of Natal, 1885 to 1889
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• 1889 . PAR CSO 1237 (6008/J. Prince to Hime, 3 Dec. 1889; W. Taylor to Hime, 29 Nov. 1889; A. McKenzie to Hime, 11 Jan. 1890; F. Greene to Hime, 18 Jan. 1890; J. Schultz to Hime, 16 Jan. 1890; H. Dumat to Hime, 14 Jan. 1890
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• Debates, vol. 14, 283
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• Ibid., 281–4
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• Ibid., 281–5
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• 1890 . PAR NPP 318 (No. 15/‘Report of the Select Committee (No. 15, 1890)’, 3
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• Ibid., 20
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• Ibid., 11, 19–20
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• Ibid., 4
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• Ibid., 4
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• Ibid., 4–5
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• Ibid., 5
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• Ibid.
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• Ibid., 5–6
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• Ibid., 7–11
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• 1890 . I am grateful to Bryan Callahan for providing this Information, see also PAR CSO 1237 (6008/89) Cowper to Hime, 14 Feb.
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• 1890 . PAR NPP 318 (No.l5/‘Report of the Select Committee (No. 15, 1890)’, 7–9;11–14
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• Ibid., 14
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• Ibid., 15
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• Ibid., 21, 30
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• Ibid.
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• Ibid.
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• For example, at one point during the debate, Hime answered MLCs' queries about a particular clause by emphasising that the ‘medical faculty was examined in regard to the Bill. The medical faculty has had the Bill before it, and there has been no objection made to it. Dr. Allen, who was examined by the Committee, told me that he thought the Bill would answer all the requirements’. This answer satisfied the house and the clause passed without amendment. See Debates, vol. 14, 433–4
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• Ibid., 458
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• 1890 . Ibid., 1 July;3 July 1890
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• Debates, vol. 9, 564
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