ABSTRACT

On 7 January 1862 The Times published a letter from ‘Paterfamilias from the Provinces’ complaining about the insulting behaviour of men towards women on the streets of London. Explaining that he had recently moved from a large provincial town to live in London, he described how, against the advice of friends, he had allowed his daughter to go shopping with a female relative (The Times 7 January 1862: 7). On their return, he discovered that his trust in the safety of the city’s streets had been mistaken:

… in Oxford-street a young fellow in the garb of a gentleman kept walking before and behind them alternately for some time, and at last had the audacity to come alongside and make some observation, when the ladies took shelter in a stationer’s shop and the genteel ruffian immediately disappeared.