ABSTRACT
Vernon Lodge is a women's probation and bail hostel in England, funded by the Home Office but owned and co-managed by the Church of England Council for Social Aid (CECSA). It is an institution with an extensive history. It is one of the oldest Diocesan charities in the area, older than the Diocese itself, and its origins can be traced back to the early nineteenth century and the influence of penal reformer Elizabeth Fry. It is my intention in this and the following chapter to utilise original historical data found during two years of research within the hostel in order to examine the genesis and evolution of Vernon Lodge from a nineteenth century refuge for destitute women to a twentieth century bail and probation hostel. This chapter will focus specifically on the origins of this institution and its development throughout the nineteenth century whilst the following chapters will bring the debates up to date by charting the history throughout the twentieth century. It is the intention of these chapters to provide a critical analysis of the way in which women were regulated and disciplined within this institution during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and, in doing so, begin to uncover those themes of continuity which link its previous existence with its present one.
