Josephine Elizabeth Butler (1828 - 1906) was a Victorian era feminist campaigner who was primarily interested in the welfare of prostitutes. She waged a long campaign for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts. 1828 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Accession to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian era of Great Britain is considered the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ... The Contagious Diseases Acts were passed by several different European nations during the middle of the nineteenth century and gave policeman the power to arrest prostitutes for the purpose of having them submit to mandatory venereal disease examinations. ...

She was born in the village of Milfield, Northumberland and was the daughter of John Grey and Hannah Annett. Her father was the cousin of the reformist British Prime Minister Earl Grey. She married George Butler in 1852 and gave birth to four children. For other places with this name, see Northumberland (disambiguation) Northumberland is a traditional, ceremonial and administrative county in northern England. ... Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister A prime minister is a politician who serves as the head of the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. ... The Right Honourable Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG, PC (13 March 1764–17 July 1845), known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was a British Whig statesman and Prime Minister. ... 1852 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Her earliest public activity involved her vocal support for the Northern cause in the American Civil War, but it was only after the death of her six-year-old daughter in 1863 that she threw herself into campaigning on behalf of prostitutes. Her approach was to promote education for women and moral reform, attacking the double standard of sexual morality. Her self-funded publications were widely distributed. The American Civil War (1861–1865) was a civil war between the United States of America, called the Union, and the Confederate States of America, a new country formed by eleven Southern states that declared their independence and claimed the right of secession from the Union. ... 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar). ... A double standard according to the World Book Dictionary is a standard applied more leniently to one group than to another, especially the stricter moral behavior demanded of women than of men. ...

The Contagious Diseases acts had been introduced during the 1860s (1864, 1866, 1869) as a form of state regulation of prostitution, in order to control the spread of venereal diseases. This gave magistrates the power to order a genital examination of prostitutes for symptoms of VD, and detain infected women in a special hostpital for three months to be cured. Refusal to consent to the examination led to imprisonment. An accusation of prostitution by a police officer was sufficient to order an examination; women so accused often lost their livelihoods, and notoriously, one woman committed suicide. A mass campaign led publicly by Butler eventually led to the repeal of the acts in 1886. Sexually-transmissible infections (STIs) are infections that have a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of sexual contact–vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and/or anal sex. ...

In her fight against child prostitution she finally ensured that the age of consent to sex was raised from 13 to 16. The references in this article would be clearer with a different style of citation, footnoting or external linking. ...

In 2005, the University of Durham honoured her by naming Josephine Butler College for her. This reflects the fact that she was married to a Durham University lecturer, and was a local of the North-East[1]. Durham University is a university in England. ... Josephine Butler College is the name of the newest college at Durham University, due to open in September 2006. ...

External links

• Works at the Victorian Women Writers Project
• Works by Josephine E. Butler at Project Gutenberg
• A paper on the life of Josephine Butler