1 00:00:15,356 --> 00:00:24,636 Speaker 1: Pushkin. The other residents of nine Gosfield Street are growing 2 00:00:24,676 --> 00:00:28,316 Speaker 1: accustomed to crashes and cries in the dead of night. 3 00:00:33,436 --> 00:00:36,996 Speaker 1: Commotion can be heard at Margaret Lowe's flat quite regularly. 4 00:00:38,556 --> 00:00:43,236 Speaker 1: This particular altercation has spilled out into the street. The 5 00:00:43,236 --> 00:00:46,556 Speaker 1: man who smashed through Margaret's door thinks better of lingering 6 00:00:46,756 --> 00:00:50,516 Speaker 1: and flees into the night. She puts up a spirited 7 00:00:50,556 --> 00:00:58,316 Speaker 1: pursuit play play hell, look at this. The next morning, 8 00:00:58,596 --> 00:01:01,916 Speaker 1: when a bruised and battered Margaret shows neighbors her shattered 9 00:01:01,956 --> 00:01:06,196 Speaker 1: door and ransacked apartment, look at the lamp's broken, She 10 00:01:06,276 --> 00:01:11,476 Speaker 1: explains that a young Canadian soldier, complete stranger, was responsible 11 00:01:11,476 --> 00:01:15,756 Speaker 1: for the breakin. Look at my waar? Would she report 12 00:01:15,796 --> 00:01:19,116 Speaker 1: the peculiar home invasion to the police. Her neighbors asked, 13 00:01:19,516 --> 00:01:23,876 Speaker 1: what's the good of that? Margaret is a refined and 14 00:01:23,996 --> 00:01:27,996 Speaker 1: rather proud woman. The other residents don't know her well, 15 00:01:28,436 --> 00:01:33,636 Speaker 1: but they note she keeps rather odd hours, staying out late. 16 00:01:34,596 --> 00:01:37,916 Speaker 1: When she does return home, she is often accompanied by men, 17 00:01:38,716 --> 00:01:43,676 Speaker 1: some of whom turn violent. Another man will soon visit. 18 00:01:44,796 --> 00:01:47,516 Speaker 1: Though he won't make enough noise to disturb the neighbors, 19 00:01:48,356 --> 00:02:02,476 Speaker 1: he will subject Margaret to a truly horrifying ordeal. This 20 00:02:02,676 --> 00:02:05,556 Speaker 1: is the seldom told story of women in World War 21 00:02:05,596 --> 00:02:10,076 Speaker 1: Two who were killed not by the enemy but my husbands, lovers, 22 00:02:10,116 --> 00:02:13,876 Speaker 1: and strangers, wearing the uniform of their own side. 23 00:02:14,756 --> 00:02:17,716 Speaker 2: It's also the tale of a particular string of murder 24 00:02:17,796 --> 00:02:22,236 Speaker 2: victims that history has swept from view. I'm Halle rubin 25 00:02:22,276 --> 00:02:26,756 Speaker 2: Hold and I'm Alice Fines, and you're listening to bad women. 26 00:02:27,396 --> 00:03:08,876 Speaker 2: The blackout Ripper. The ship rolled and pitched in the school. 27 00:03:09,796 --> 00:03:13,996 Speaker 2: Howling winds sang through the masts, and angry, white crested 28 00:03:14,036 --> 00:03:19,316 Speaker 2: waves lashed at the railings far below deck. Huddled passengers 29 00:03:19,516 --> 00:03:23,116 Speaker 2: hung on as cups and plates slid from tables and 30 00:03:23,316 --> 00:03:28,196 Speaker 2: crashed the floor. The children whales, and the adults whispered. 31 00:03:27,836 --> 00:03:32,756 Speaker 3: Prayers and blessed is to fill the boy worm. Jesus, 32 00:03:33,076 --> 00:03:36,396 Speaker 3: Holy Merry, Mother of God, pray for us the swan 33 00:03:36,476 --> 00:03:38,116 Speaker 3: the hour of our death. Amen. 34 00:03:43,556 --> 00:03:47,436 Speaker 2: But next morning the skies clear, and in the distance 35 00:03:47,676 --> 00:03:52,076 Speaker 2: a welcome sight the rocky coastline of Africa's southern tip. 36 00:03:53,116 --> 00:03:55,836 Speaker 2: Soon they would be docking at Cape Town to refuel, 37 00:03:56,036 --> 00:03:59,676 Speaker 2: and then traveling on east alone on the wide ocean. 38 00:04:00,116 --> 00:04:03,836 Speaker 2: They might by day glimpse whales breaching the water's surface. 39 00:04:05,436 --> 00:04:08,636 Speaker 2: By night, the stars of the Southern Cross would guide 40 00:04:08,676 --> 00:04:14,156 Speaker 2: their probe, glittering in the inky heavens. It would have 41 00:04:14,236 --> 00:04:17,316 Speaker 2: been on a voyage like this one that Margaret Florence 42 00:04:17,356 --> 00:04:21,516 Speaker 2: Campbell Burchett traveled to New Zealand as a toddler. By 43 00:04:21,556 --> 00:04:24,436 Speaker 2: one account, she was born in Britain in eighteen ninety nine, 44 00:04:24,796 --> 00:04:29,756 Speaker 2: and her family emigrated soon afterwards. New Zealand had seen 45 00:04:29,796 --> 00:04:33,596 Speaker 2: a great migration in the eighteen seventies. The authorities there 46 00:04:33,596 --> 00:04:37,596 Speaker 2: gave away free tickets and heavily subsidized assisted passage to 47 00:04:37,756 --> 00:04:41,236 Speaker 2: certain types of workers, encouraging over a quarter of a 48 00:04:41,276 --> 00:04:44,716 Speaker 2: million people to flock to the remote land, three quarters 49 00:04:44,716 --> 00:04:49,356 Speaker 2: of whom came from the United Kingdom. This enthusiasm, however, 50 00:04:49,836 --> 00:04:53,036 Speaker 2: was dampened when the new arrivals began writing home about 51 00:04:53,156 --> 00:04:58,276 Speaker 2: tough winters and other hardships. New Zealand wasn't quite the 52 00:04:58,356 --> 00:05:02,556 Speaker 2: paradise many had hoped for. But by the early nineteen hundreds, 53 00:05:02,596 --> 00:05:05,796 Speaker 2: when Margaret's family were said to have made this epic journey, 54 00:05:06,236 --> 00:05:10,796 Speaker 2: interest in the colony had been rekindled. The new marvel 55 00:05:10,876 --> 00:05:14,636 Speaker 2: of refrigeration meant that meat and dairy could now be 56 00:05:14,716 --> 00:05:19,556 Speaker 2: transported over vast distances New Zealand butter and lamb would 57 00:05:19,596 --> 00:05:24,236 Speaker 2: become staples on British dining tables. Trade boomed, and there 58 00:05:24,236 --> 00:05:27,636 Speaker 2: were plenty of jobs to go round, so New Zealand 59 00:05:27,636 --> 00:05:30,996 Speaker 2: once again offered assisted passage to tempt migrants who might 60 00:05:31,036 --> 00:05:35,076 Speaker 2: fill these gaps. Experienced farm hands, shepherds and men to 61 00:05:35,156 --> 00:05:38,276 Speaker 2: build the new roads and railways that would fuel growth. 62 00:05:39,476 --> 00:05:42,916 Speaker 2: The other side of the world now seemed closer than ever, 63 00:05:43,556 --> 00:05:47,516 Speaker 2: thanks to new technologies that seemed to compress space and time. 64 00:05:48,116 --> 00:05:51,236 Speaker 4: The telegraph and telephone have made the Earth such a 65 00:05:51,356 --> 00:05:52,716 Speaker 4: very little place. 66 00:05:52,836 --> 00:05:55,116 Speaker 2: Used one journalist this morning. 67 00:05:55,356 --> 00:05:58,236 Speaker 4: As we write, we know what happened this afternoon on 68 00:05:58,316 --> 00:06:02,876 Speaker 4: the Adelaide cricket ground. Wonderful indeed, but hardly more wonderful 69 00:06:02,876 --> 00:06:05,396 Speaker 4: than the fact that the egg you consumed at breakfast 70 00:06:05,716 --> 00:06:08,196 Speaker 4: really came from an Australian poultry yard. 71 00:06:10,196 --> 00:06:13,756 Speaker 2: The Antipodes also seemed to offer a different kind of 72 00:06:13,836 --> 00:06:17,956 Speaker 2: life in the old world. New Zealand enjoyed a reputation 73 00:06:18,156 --> 00:06:22,316 Speaker 2: as a kind of utopia. Here, the rigid and unpopular 74 00:06:22,396 --> 00:06:27,196 Speaker 2: class distinctions so entrenched in Europe were deemed antiquated and alien, 75 00:06:27,596 --> 00:06:30,716 Speaker 2: and servants were said to converse with their superiors in 76 00:06:30,756 --> 00:06:34,916 Speaker 2: an easy and familiar manner. New Zealand had also been 77 00:06:34,996 --> 00:06:37,836 Speaker 2: the first country in the world to grant women the 78 00:06:37,916 --> 00:06:39,476 Speaker 2: vote in eighteen ninety three. 79 00:06:39,996 --> 00:06:43,356 Speaker 3: In large numbers. They availed themselves of their new power 80 00:06:43,356 --> 00:06:47,116 Speaker 3: and privilege, and no revolution has occurred as yet, no 81 00:06:47,476 --> 00:06:50,956 Speaker 3: dreadful consequences seemed to be impending. 82 00:06:50,836 --> 00:06:54,996 Speaker 2: In other nations, one seething with social unrest. There was 83 00:06:55,116 --> 00:06:59,076 Speaker 2: great interest in how this radical political experiment would unfold, 84 00:06:59,796 --> 00:07:02,876 Speaker 2: and contrary to the fears of some, it did not 85 00:07:02,956 --> 00:07:04,436 Speaker 2: prove to be a grave mistake. 86 00:07:04,796 --> 00:07:09,476 Speaker 3: They conducted themselves with the utmost propriety and doing the washing, cooking, 87 00:07:09,556 --> 00:07:11,716 Speaker 3: and rocking the cradle the same as before. 88 00:07:12,996 --> 00:07:15,676 Speaker 2: There were welfare payments like pensions for the elderly, and 89 00:07:15,796 --> 00:07:19,716 Speaker 2: legislation to protect workers for the white settlers. At least, 90 00:07:20,076 --> 00:07:23,156 Speaker 2: New Zealand was a place of optimism and equity, and 91 00:07:23,236 --> 00:07:26,116 Speaker 2: had attracted not just those who wanted a fair paying job, 92 00:07:26,516 --> 00:07:30,156 Speaker 2: but also people who rejected the obscene inequalities of the 93 00:07:30,156 --> 00:07:34,316 Speaker 2: old country. This nation, said its admirers, suffered neither from 94 00:07:34,396 --> 00:07:40,676 Speaker 2: restive strikers nor from exploitative millionaires. Perhaps This was what 95 00:07:40,796 --> 00:07:44,196 Speaker 2: drew Margaret's parents to New Zealand, and perhaps they also 96 00:07:44,316 --> 00:07:48,116 Speaker 2: instilled in their daughter this yearning for more, this sense 97 00:07:48,156 --> 00:07:53,676 Speaker 2: of her own worth and dignity. 98 00:07:56,116 --> 00:08:00,836 Speaker 1: The steamship crewis towards Wellington Harbor, the site of the 99 00:08:00,876 --> 00:08:05,516 Speaker 1: capital city. Buildings clustered around the bay, with their backdrop 100 00:08:05,596 --> 00:08:09,036 Speaker 1: of steep green hills, must surely have been a really 101 00:08:09,516 --> 00:08:10,756 Speaker 1: to the weary travelers. 102 00:08:11,436 --> 00:08:12,276 Speaker 5: It's so green. 103 00:08:12,516 --> 00:08:13,996 Speaker 6: I never knew it could be so green. 104 00:08:16,196 --> 00:08:20,396 Speaker 1: Young Margaret and her family disembarked and joined the human 105 00:08:20,436 --> 00:08:32,076 Speaker 1: traffic on a key. Her father, William, was soon working 106 00:08:32,076 --> 00:08:35,596 Speaker 1: as a farmer for good. Land was plentiful, bought at 107 00:08:35,796 --> 00:08:40,596 Speaker 1: knockdown prices from the island's original settlers, the Maori people. 108 00:08:41,596 --> 00:08:44,756 Speaker 1: Margaret grew up and was educated two hundred miles from 109 00:08:44,756 --> 00:08:49,796 Speaker 1: Wellington in Hawke's Bay. Schooling for European children was improving, 110 00:08:50,356 --> 00:08:53,516 Speaker 1: with free places allowing even working class children to stay 111 00:08:53,556 --> 00:08:57,116 Speaker 1: on for high school, though in practice girls were still 112 00:08:57,276 --> 00:09:01,036 Speaker 1: likely to be removed by poorer parents. At the earliest opportunity, 113 00:09:01,916 --> 00:09:05,476 Speaker 1: she would have studied the basics of mathematics, reading and writing, 114 00:09:05,876 --> 00:09:09,756 Speaker 1: and received instruction in good manners, cooking and so in 115 00:09:09,756 --> 00:09:13,156 Speaker 1: preparation for domestic service, or to one day run a 116 00:09:13,196 --> 00:09:17,196 Speaker 1: household of her own. At least, this was the immigrant 117 00:09:17,236 --> 00:09:21,076 Speaker 1: story that Margaret told about herself, the one she wanted 118 00:09:21,236 --> 00:09:26,316 Speaker 1: everyone to know. In truth, the early part of her 119 00:09:26,356 --> 00:09:31,196 Speaker 1: life is a mystery. Scores of Margaret Florence's, Margaret Campbell's 120 00:09:31,276 --> 00:09:34,156 Speaker 1: and Margaret Burchett's were born in England and New Zealand 121 00:09:34,196 --> 00:09:37,196 Speaker 1: around the turn of the century, but no one worth 122 00:09:37,236 --> 00:09:41,276 Speaker 1: the full name of Margaret Florence Campbell Burchett appears in 123 00:09:41,316 --> 00:09:46,556 Speaker 1: New Zealand's historical records or on the British census. We've 124 00:09:46,596 --> 00:09:49,756 Speaker 1: been working with expert genealogist Kate Heally on this series, 125 00:09:49,996 --> 00:09:52,836 Speaker 1: who's been helping us piece together the women's lives. 126 00:09:53,156 --> 00:09:56,156 Speaker 7: It's very exciting when you start researching a new person 127 00:09:56,236 --> 00:09:58,796 Speaker 7: because you really never know where it's going to take you, 128 00:09:58,916 --> 00:09:59,756 Speaker 7: what you're going to find. 129 00:10:00,476 --> 00:10:03,396 Speaker 1: Kate has over thirty years of experience with this kind 130 00:10:03,396 --> 00:10:08,196 Speaker 1: of historical detective work, but Margaret's life still presented challenges 131 00:10:08,676 --> 00:10:13,396 Speaker 1: gaps she simply couldn't fill. Women's lives are often harder 132 00:10:13,436 --> 00:10:16,716 Speaker 1: to trace than those of men, the discrimination they faced, 133 00:10:17,036 --> 00:10:21,036 Speaker 1: meaning they are frequently ignored and archival documents. After all, 134 00:10:21,356 --> 00:10:23,556 Speaker 1: if you're denied the vote, you won't feature on the 135 00:10:23,596 --> 00:10:28,476 Speaker 1: electoral rules. But with Margaret, this problem is compounded since 136 00:10:28,516 --> 00:10:31,756 Speaker 1: she also seems to have deliberately concealed her identity. 137 00:10:32,476 --> 00:10:36,036 Speaker 7: Obviously, in Margaret's case, it was fairly disappointing that we 138 00:10:36,196 --> 00:10:40,676 Speaker 7: couldn't find more about her. Particularly with a name Margaret 139 00:10:40,796 --> 00:10:43,756 Speaker 7: Florence Campbell Burchette, you would think that that would be 140 00:10:43,836 --> 00:10:48,356 Speaker 7: quite easy to find, and had she actually recorded herself 141 00:10:48,396 --> 00:10:51,276 Speaker 7: as that throughout, she would probably be the only one 142 00:10:51,316 --> 00:10:53,596 Speaker 7: that shows up in search results. 143 00:10:53,596 --> 00:10:56,436 Speaker 1: On the documents we can link her to. She uses 144 00:10:56,516 --> 00:11:00,276 Speaker 1: different variations of her name and different ages, muddying the 145 00:11:00,356 --> 00:11:03,236 Speaker 1: waters and making it impossible for us to be sure 146 00:11:03,316 --> 00:11:08,236 Speaker 1: about her birth and parentage. Such changes aren't necessarily sinister, though, 147 00:11:08,356 --> 00:11:08,956 Speaker 1: thinks Kate. 148 00:11:09,516 --> 00:11:12,836 Speaker 7: It's certainly not uncommon for people to be less than 149 00:11:12,876 --> 00:11:18,956 Speaker 7: truthful on documents, particularly on marriage certificates. Women would often 150 00:11:19,476 --> 00:11:23,356 Speaker 7: be economical with the truth with their age, either make 151 00:11:23,396 --> 00:11:26,996 Speaker 7: themselves younger or older to be closer in age to 152 00:11:27,076 --> 00:11:32,276 Speaker 7: their intended spouse. Also, if they are giving the details 153 00:11:32,276 --> 00:11:35,476 Speaker 7: of their father, they might make his profession a bit 154 00:11:35,516 --> 00:11:40,036 Speaker 7: more interesting than what it actually is so. In Margaret's case, 155 00:11:40,196 --> 00:11:43,196 Speaker 7: she put her father as a farmer, where he could 156 00:11:43,276 --> 00:11:45,676 Speaker 7: have actually just been an agricultural laborer. 157 00:11:46,236 --> 00:11:50,676 Speaker 1: Occasionally, though, people overwrote their own histories because they found 158 00:11:50,676 --> 00:11:56,476 Speaker 1: themselves in unfortunate circumstances. Sometimes they falsified records to escape stigma, 159 00:11:56,956 --> 00:12:00,596 Speaker 1: such as the onerous burden of being labeled a prostitute. 160 00:12:00,636 --> 00:12:04,676 Speaker 1: In another instance, radical socialist Grace Oakshot sailed to New 161 00:12:04,796 --> 00:12:08,196 Speaker 1: Zealand under a false name, Joan Reeve, so that she 162 00:12:08,236 --> 00:12:11,396 Speaker 1: could end her marriage and begin a new life without 163 00:12:11,476 --> 00:12:15,196 Speaker 1: being known as a divorcee and denounced as a fallen woman. 164 00:12:16,356 --> 00:12:19,556 Speaker 1: New Zealand was remote, which made it the perfect place 165 00:12:19,596 --> 00:12:23,116 Speaker 1: for such reinvention. Whether you truly journeyed to the other 166 00:12:23,196 --> 00:12:26,196 Speaker 1: side of the world or simply claimed you had, it 167 00:12:26,276 --> 00:12:28,556 Speaker 1: was often too much trouble for any one to check 168 00:12:28,596 --> 00:12:32,796 Speaker 1: your story. The world was smaller, yes, but it wasn't 169 00:12:32,836 --> 00:12:38,196 Speaker 1: yet that small. When she reached school leaving age, Margaret 170 00:12:38,236 --> 00:12:41,676 Speaker 1: could easily have entered domestic service. There was a dearth 171 00:12:41,716 --> 00:12:45,116 Speaker 1: of servants in New Zealand. Just like male migrants with 172 00:12:45,236 --> 00:12:49,676 Speaker 1: farming skills, young British women suitable to serve as domestics 173 00:12:49,836 --> 00:12:54,076 Speaker 1: were courted by the authorities. The government promised to reimburse 174 00:12:54,116 --> 00:12:57,516 Speaker 1: women for their steamship fairs and pledged that a government 175 00:12:57,636 --> 00:13:02,356 Speaker 1: matron would accompany and protect them during the voyage. Relations 176 00:13:02,396 --> 00:13:05,916 Speaker 1: between household staff and their employers may indeed have been 177 00:13:05,956 --> 00:13:10,316 Speaker 1: more cordial and equitable in New Zealand. Even so, it 178 00:13:10,396 --> 00:13:13,396 Speaker 1: seems that cooking and cleaning at the beck and call 179 00:13:13,476 --> 00:13:17,556 Speaker 1: of a master and mistress were not for Margaret. She 180 00:13:17,596 --> 00:13:19,196 Speaker 1: appears to have wanted more. 181 00:13:19,916 --> 00:13:22,836 Speaker 8: It's terribly paid work, it's really long hours. 182 00:13:22,996 --> 00:13:25,436 Speaker 1: Here's Professor Julia Late, a historian. 183 00:13:25,596 --> 00:13:29,276 Speaker 8: There's also a huge risk of sexual harassment and abuse 184 00:13:29,316 --> 00:13:33,196 Speaker 8: within these workplaces, which are often private homes. There's no freedom, 185 00:13:33,476 --> 00:13:37,556 Speaker 8: and so women are leaving that occupation in droves. 186 00:13:39,076 --> 00:13:43,036 Speaker 1: Margaret chose broader horizons and a passage across the oceans 187 00:13:43,076 --> 00:13:46,556 Speaker 1: from the furthest reaches of the British Empire back to 188 00:13:46,676 --> 00:13:50,876 Speaker 1: its beating heart. By her own account, she made this 189 00:13:50,956 --> 00:13:54,076 Speaker 1: trip in her late teens during the First World War. 190 00:13:55,436 --> 00:13:58,556 Speaker 1: This would have been a hazardous undertaking, with the threat 191 00:13:58,596 --> 00:14:02,716 Speaker 1: of German warships and submarines compounding the danger of storms, 192 00:14:03,236 --> 00:14:07,076 Speaker 1: but it wasn't unheard of. If money was tight She 193 00:14:07,156 --> 00:14:10,676 Speaker 1: may have crowded into the cramped third class space below 194 00:14:10,716 --> 00:14:15,076 Speaker 1: the main deck, subsisting on porridge and potatoes and dirt 195 00:14:15,076 --> 00:14:19,956 Speaker 1: crusted jackets. Margaret claimed to have been accompanied on this 196 00:14:20,076 --> 00:14:23,956 Speaker 1: journey by a twin brother, Sydney, but no record of 197 00:14:23,996 --> 00:14:29,436 Speaker 1: his existence can be found. After weeks on board and 198 00:14:29,556 --> 00:14:33,556 Speaker 1: over ten thousand nautical miles, the ship would likely have 199 00:14:33,636 --> 00:14:41,556 Speaker 1: birthed at Tilbury Dock on London's eastern fringes. Margaret may 200 00:14:41,596 --> 00:14:45,196 Speaker 1: have felt apprehension in this unfamiliar land that turned the 201 00:14:45,276 --> 00:14:49,436 Speaker 1: seasons on their head. They have experienced a chill as 202 00:14:49,436 --> 00:14:53,076 Speaker 1: she gazed at the gray homes and tangle of industry 203 00:14:53,436 --> 00:14:57,716 Speaker 1: stretching west to the distant, smoky capital. But if she 204 00:14:57,876 --> 00:15:02,316 Speaker 1: yearned for the wooden houses and green hills of New Zealand, 205 00:15:02,316 --> 00:15:04,756 Speaker 1: well it was too late to turn back. 206 00:15:04,836 --> 00:15:10,276 Speaker 5: Now. 207 00:15:11,076 --> 00:15:14,396 Speaker 1: Margaret would have joined the surging mass of itinerant souls 208 00:15:14,436 --> 00:15:18,196 Speaker 1: in the quayside, among them soldiers returning from the war 209 00:15:18,276 --> 00:15:22,396 Speaker 1: across the English Channel, some on leave, others wounded and 210 00:15:22,476 --> 00:15:27,316 Speaker 1: maimed in the fighting. With her head no doubt held high, 211 00:15:27,756 --> 00:15:31,036 Speaker 1: she plowed on through this crowd, heading along the River 212 00:15:31,156 --> 00:15:34,516 Speaker 1: Thames to the heart of the capitol and a new life, 213 00:15:35,316 --> 00:15:38,436 Speaker 1: but perhaps not the one she'd imagined. 214 00:15:55,676 --> 00:15:56,636 Speaker 3: Nime place. 215 00:15:57,676 --> 00:16:02,836 Speaker 2: Peggy Burkitt, the police constable who arrested Margaret in nineteen twenty, 216 00:16:03,316 --> 00:16:06,356 Speaker 2: had probably seen her approaching men on the streets before 217 00:16:06,996 --> 00:16:10,356 Speaker 2: and scrawled her name down in his notebook. The young woman, 218 00:16:10,476 --> 00:16:13,796 Speaker 2: perhaps age just twenty one, was taken to Mulborough Street 219 00:16:13,876 --> 00:16:17,716 Speaker 2: Police Court in Soho. She gave the alias Peggy Burkett, 220 00:16:17,756 --> 00:16:20,876 Speaker 2: but it did not matter. The authorities knew that this 221 00:16:21,116 --> 00:16:23,876 Speaker 2: was the same woman they had prosecuted the previous summer 222 00:16:23,956 --> 00:16:28,756 Speaker 2: for soliciting prostitution. Only then she had called herself Peggy Campbell. 223 00:16:30,476 --> 00:16:33,236 Speaker 2: They may have been certain about her identity because they 224 00:16:33,236 --> 00:16:36,516 Speaker 2: had her fingerprints on record. This practice had been applied 225 00:16:36,516 --> 00:16:41,156 Speaker 2: to women convicted of prostitution offenses since nineteen seventeen. Those 226 00:16:41,236 --> 00:16:43,876 Speaker 2: in the sex trade often moved around and changed their 227 00:16:43,956 --> 00:16:47,636 Speaker 2: names to avoid a criminal record, so the police embraced 228 00:16:47,756 --> 00:16:51,356 Speaker 2: any tool that might help them definitively fix the identities 229 00:16:51,356 --> 00:16:53,876 Speaker 2: of these indecent and unrespectable women. 230 00:16:54,356 --> 00:16:55,916 Speaker 4: How do you plead, the. 231 00:16:55,836 --> 00:17:00,356 Speaker 2: Magistrate would have asked Margaret guilty, She likely replied from 232 00:17:00,356 --> 00:17:04,916 Speaker 2: the dock. For most women pleaded guilty, though there were 233 00:17:04,956 --> 00:17:08,396 Speaker 2: occasional sentences of hard labor. The punishment was usually a 234 00:17:08,436 --> 00:17:11,676 Speaker 2: fine of forty five shillings. It was preferable to swallow 235 00:17:11,716 --> 00:17:15,276 Speaker 2: this punishment rather than fight the charges and risk aggravating 236 00:17:15,276 --> 00:17:18,836 Speaker 2: the police. Further, if Margaret had the money on her 237 00:17:19,036 --> 00:17:21,276 Speaker 2: or could enlist a friend to bring the sum to 238 00:17:21,316 --> 00:17:24,476 Speaker 2: the police court, she would be free to go. If not, 239 00:17:24,916 --> 00:17:28,676 Speaker 2: she would go to a cell. One way or another, 240 00:17:29,156 --> 00:17:32,756 Speaker 2: Margaret was permitted to leave. She crossed the mosaic floor 241 00:17:32,796 --> 00:17:35,676 Speaker 2: of the courthouse entrance hall and passed through its heavy 242 00:17:35,676 --> 00:17:40,396 Speaker 2: wooden doors back out into the district of Soho. It's 243 00:17:40,476 --> 00:17:44,036 Speaker 2: unclear how she escaped the endless cycle of arrest and 244 00:17:44,116 --> 00:17:47,676 Speaker 2: release that ensnared so many women, a vicious circle of 245 00:17:47,756 --> 00:17:51,596 Speaker 2: fines and then working to recoup the money lost through fines, 246 00:17:52,596 --> 00:17:56,036 Speaker 2: But somehow. Nine months later she was living in Southend 247 00:17:56,116 --> 00:18:00,156 Speaker 2: on Sea, a coastal town close to London. Here she 248 00:18:00,276 --> 00:18:03,756 Speaker 2: called herself Margaret F. Campbell, and she boarded at the 249 00:18:03,796 --> 00:18:06,636 Speaker 2: house of George Gallup, a warehouseman, and his wife, Ellen, 250 00:18:06,836 --> 00:18:08,076 Speaker 2: a homemaker. 251 00:18:09,316 --> 00:18:12,796 Speaker 4: Attractive of East Coast resorts. This London by the Sea 252 00:18:13,236 --> 00:18:15,716 Speaker 4: in winter as well as summer is one of the 253 00:18:15,756 --> 00:18:18,036 Speaker 4: greatest ornaments of the country. 254 00:18:18,636 --> 00:18:23,316 Speaker 2: South End, the newspapers said, was booming. Just as Blackpool 255 00:18:23,356 --> 00:18:29,076 Speaker 2: attracted Northern workers on vacation, South End, with its waterfront promenade, bandstands, 256 00:18:29,236 --> 00:18:36,756 Speaker 2: theaters and vast ballrooms, was a magnet for Londoners. Margaret 257 00:18:36,796 --> 00:18:40,036 Speaker 2: appears to have answered an advert for a respectable young 258 00:18:40,156 --> 00:18:43,556 Speaker 2: lady wanted to assist customers at the Beach Bazaar, a 259 00:18:43,636 --> 00:18:48,476 Speaker 2: fancy goods emporium by South End Pier. Since the nineteenth century, 260 00:18:48,556 --> 00:18:51,196 Speaker 2: it had become customary for trips to the seaside to 261 00:18:51,236 --> 00:18:55,556 Speaker 2: include the purchase of trinkets or souvenirs, small mementoes of 262 00:18:55,596 --> 00:18:59,556 Speaker 2: a person's visit, such as boxes, cameos, engraved shells, and 263 00:18:59,676 --> 00:19:03,036 Speaker 2: china figurines, which were often given to friends and loved ones, 264 00:19:03,476 --> 00:19:06,636 Speaker 2: an indicator that a middle or working class person had 265 00:19:06,636 --> 00:19:10,596 Speaker 2: a bit of disposable income. Fancy goods shops like the 266 00:19:10,636 --> 00:19:14,156 Speaker 2: Beach Bazaar sprang up along promenades and peers and did 267 00:19:14,196 --> 00:19:19,756 Speaker 2: a roaring trade during the tourist season. As a shop girl, 268 00:19:19,996 --> 00:19:22,716 Speaker 2: Margaret would have been expected to comport herself in a 269 00:19:22,796 --> 00:19:26,796 Speaker 2: genteel fashion, and a compliment even be an extension of 270 00:19:27,236 --> 00:19:30,116 Speaker 2: the charming objects she was sellingmas. 271 00:19:29,396 --> 00:19:33,876 Speaker 6: Carr's and envelopes Haggy jeeves great bargains to be had. 272 00:19:34,236 --> 00:19:37,116 Speaker 2: Margaret would have concealed her past in her day to 273 00:19:37,196 --> 00:19:41,956 Speaker 2: day work sutiffuge that probably came easy to her by now. 274 00:19:42,036 --> 00:19:45,076 Speaker 2: She was quite used to altering the details of her identity, 275 00:19:45,236 --> 00:19:49,356 Speaker 2: and besides, her naturally polished and refined bearing would have 276 00:19:49,396 --> 00:19:55,636 Speaker 2: made shop work a comfortable fit. Frederick George Lowe, a widower, 277 00:19:55,836 --> 00:19:59,316 Speaker 2: owned the Beach Bazaar in Margaret, A self possessed and 278 00:19:59,396 --> 00:20:03,396 Speaker 2: dignified young woman, thirty nine year old Frederick perhaps saw 279 00:20:03,476 --> 00:20:08,116 Speaker 2: an opportunity for a fresh start. Within months, the pair 280 00:20:08,196 --> 00:20:12,356 Speaker 2: had quietly married at a local register office. No family 281 00:20:12,436 --> 00:20:17,436 Speaker 2: was present, and curiously, Frederick's brother William, wasn't certain that 282 00:20:17,476 --> 00:20:19,236 Speaker 2: the pair actually had wed. 283 00:20:20,116 --> 00:20:23,556 Speaker 3: She was introduced to me as his wife, and I 284 00:20:23,676 --> 00:20:24,996 Speaker 3: was told her name was Peggy. 285 00:20:25,796 --> 00:20:29,436 Speaker 2: Margaret did tell William of a bohemian past in London. 286 00:20:30,356 --> 00:20:33,236 Speaker 3: I have heard Peggy talk about having been in the 287 00:20:33,356 --> 00:20:37,556 Speaker 3: chorus at the Gaiety Theater prior to her supposed marriage 288 00:20:37,596 --> 00:20:38,236 Speaker 3: to my brother. 289 00:20:38,916 --> 00:20:42,796 Speaker 2: Was this just another story, an attempt perhaps to explain 290 00:20:42,916 --> 00:20:45,436 Speaker 2: her time in London and disguise her work in the 291 00:20:45,476 --> 00:20:49,236 Speaker 2: sex trade, or had Margaret really been on the stage, 292 00:20:50,156 --> 00:20:54,876 Speaker 2: had she told anyone the truth about her past. Julia 293 00:20:54,956 --> 00:20:58,716 Speaker 2: Late has studied the married lives of women who, like Margaret, 294 00:20:58,796 --> 00:20:59,796 Speaker 2: left the sex trade. 295 00:21:00,676 --> 00:21:04,156 Speaker 8: There is a narrative about fallen women in this period 296 00:21:04,156 --> 00:21:06,796 Speaker 8: and in fact in any period, that once they fall 297 00:21:06,836 --> 00:21:08,996 Speaker 8: into a life of prostitution, that's at their quote on 298 00:21:09,196 --> 00:21:12,196 Speaker 8: quote ruined, no man will have them, and that absolutely 299 00:21:12,196 --> 00:21:15,516 Speaker 8: doesn't bear out. They definitely marry, they definitely go on 300 00:21:15,596 --> 00:21:18,196 Speaker 8: to have children and full lives, just like anybody else. 301 00:21:18,436 --> 00:21:22,956 Speaker 8: But I think the other question is whether Frederick knew. 302 00:21:23,276 --> 00:21:26,036 Speaker 8: People kept a lot of secrets. Of course at this period, 303 00:21:26,116 --> 00:21:28,436 Speaker 8: in any period, but it was easier to keep secrets 304 00:21:28,476 --> 00:21:30,676 Speaker 8: in this period. On the one hand, there were a 305 00:21:30,676 --> 00:21:33,716 Speaker 8: lot of women who were very, very willing to say, 306 00:21:33,756 --> 00:21:35,556 Speaker 8: I want to live this life in London, this is 307 00:21:35,676 --> 00:21:38,836 Speaker 8: my decision. But we mustn't discount the amount of shame 308 00:21:39,396 --> 00:21:42,996 Speaker 8: and stigma that surrounded selling sex at this time. So 309 00:21:43,396 --> 00:21:45,756 Speaker 8: I think there'd be real reasons why Margaret would have 310 00:21:45,796 --> 00:21:47,876 Speaker 8: kept it from Frederick, but it would have been fairly 311 00:21:47,876 --> 00:21:48,836 Speaker 8: easy for her to do that. 312 00:21:50,036 --> 00:21:52,996 Speaker 2: Margaret and Frederick lived together in the terraced house they 313 00:21:53,036 --> 00:21:56,676 Speaker 2: owned on Surbiton Road in South End. They went on 314 00:21:56,756 --> 00:21:59,956 Speaker 2: excursions in their motor car from time to time, calling 315 00:21:59,996 --> 00:22:06,276 Speaker 2: on William. Life was comfortable. In nineteen twenty seven, the 316 00:22:06,316 --> 00:22:09,916 Speaker 2: couple adopted a one year old baby girl read joon Low, 317 00:22:10,596 --> 00:22:14,156 Speaker 2: perhaps after trying and failing to conceive a child together. 318 00:22:15,236 --> 00:22:18,156 Speaker 2: Adoption had only been legally possible for a year. 319 00:22:19,116 --> 00:22:21,796 Speaker 9: Many countries pass adoption laws in the wake of World 320 00:22:21,836 --> 00:22:24,876 Speaker 9: War One to allow the war orphans to be adopted 321 00:22:24,876 --> 00:22:26,076 Speaker 9: into good families. 322 00:22:26,396 --> 00:22:29,436 Speaker 2: Doctor Ginger Frost is a research professor of history at 323 00:22:29,476 --> 00:22:30,596 Speaker 2: Samford University. 324 00:22:30,796 --> 00:22:35,236 Speaker 9: And largely, I would say probably eighty percent of adopted children, 325 00:22:35,476 --> 00:22:38,516 Speaker 9: maybe more or illegitimate, as most people will keep a 326 00:22:38,636 --> 00:22:39,676 Speaker 9: child if they're married. 327 00:22:40,476 --> 00:22:44,156 Speaker 2: There had long been concerns that formal legal adoption would 328 00:22:44,236 --> 00:22:47,756 Speaker 2: encourage bad women to have babies out of wedlock and 329 00:22:47,956 --> 00:22:52,356 Speaker 2: invite the working classes to shirk their parental responsibilities, something 330 00:22:52,396 --> 00:22:55,476 Speaker 2: they were only too ready to do. The middle class 331 00:22:55,516 --> 00:22:56,996 Speaker 2: is suspected it's like they. 332 00:22:56,836 --> 00:22:59,836 Speaker 9: Were afraid that the minute you don't treat legitimate children poorly, 333 00:23:00,676 --> 00:23:03,876 Speaker 9: the floodgates for vice will open and everyone will have 334 00:23:04,036 --> 00:23:06,916 Speaker 9: orgies in the street. When in fact, that's not the 335 00:23:06,956 --> 00:23:09,396 Speaker 9: reason children are I legitimate. Most of the time, it's 336 00:23:09,436 --> 00:23:10,676 Speaker 9: usually interrupted courtship. 337 00:23:11,556 --> 00:23:14,916 Speaker 2: In many cases, adoption was extremely successful. 338 00:23:15,436 --> 00:23:18,356 Speaker 9: The people right back to these agencies and they would say, 339 00:23:18,836 --> 00:23:21,756 Speaker 9: it's like she's ours, or I couldn't love her more 340 00:23:21,796 --> 00:23:23,916 Speaker 9: if I'd given birth, these kinds of statements where it 341 00:23:23,956 --> 00:23:26,236 Speaker 9: became obvious that you know the love and care that 342 00:23:26,276 --> 00:23:28,716 Speaker 9: you give to a child, you're going to love that child. 343 00:23:28,996 --> 00:23:31,396 Speaker 9: That's just how it works. But turned out that the 344 00:23:31,516 --> 00:23:34,916 Speaker 9: nurture part of it mattered more than the nature part 345 00:23:34,956 --> 00:23:37,636 Speaker 9: in the end, and people who want babies badly enough 346 00:23:37,636 --> 00:23:39,836 Speaker 9: to go through adoption, they weren't that child. 347 00:23:40,516 --> 00:23:43,156 Speaker 2: It seems that the Lows raised their child to think 348 00:23:43,236 --> 00:23:46,156 Speaker 2: that she had been born to them, and Margaret clearly 349 00:23:46,156 --> 00:23:50,076 Speaker 2: adored her daughter. Even acquaintances remarked that she would talk 350 00:23:50,116 --> 00:23:54,196 Speaker 2: about Barbara often. For a time, life was uneventful and 351 00:23:54,236 --> 00:23:57,636 Speaker 2: the family appeared to be content, but a change in 352 00:23:57,716 --> 00:23:58,836 Speaker 2: fortunes was coming. 353 00:24:02,836 --> 00:24:06,316 Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty two, when Barbara was five, the Lows 354 00:24:06,396 --> 00:24:11,316 Speaker 1: downsized from their terraced house to a small apartment. Frederick's 355 00:24:11,356 --> 00:24:15,796 Speaker 1: business was apparently in trouble. A heart condition also rendered 356 00:24:15,836 --> 00:24:20,756 Speaker 1: him increasingly breathless, weak and gasping for air. Then one 357 00:24:20,836 --> 00:24:25,796 Speaker 1: day he was seized by palpitations, lost consciousness and died. 358 00:24:26,676 --> 00:24:30,836 Speaker 1: He was fifty one. Margaret, still in her early thirties, 359 00:24:31,516 --> 00:24:33,276 Speaker 1: was now destitute. 360 00:24:33,316 --> 00:24:36,556 Speaker 6: My mother did not receive any financial assistance, as my 361 00:24:36,636 --> 00:24:39,596 Speaker 6: father was made of bankrupt just prior to his death. 362 00:24:39,796 --> 00:24:44,276 Speaker 1: Barbara explained the business was sold, along with the car 363 00:24:44,396 --> 00:24:48,716 Speaker 1: and the household furniture. The trappings of Margaret's middle class life, 364 00:24:49,036 --> 00:24:52,076 Speaker 1: a world away from police courts in the streets of Piccadilly, 365 00:24:52,716 --> 00:24:56,596 Speaker 1: were now gone. She took a post as a housekeeper 366 00:24:56,716 --> 00:25:00,116 Speaker 1: in a home above a Penny arcade, but this lasted 367 00:25:00,116 --> 00:25:04,356 Speaker 1: a mere two weeks. The drudgery of service was still 368 00:25:04,396 --> 00:25:07,236 Speaker 1: not for Margaret, and it was surely even harder to 369 00:25:07,276 --> 00:25:10,476 Speaker 1: bear working a mere Stone's go away from her old, 370 00:25:10,716 --> 00:25:15,036 Speaker 1: more comfortable life. She and her five year old daughter 371 00:25:15,316 --> 00:25:18,476 Speaker 1: moved around for a time. Her brother in law thought 372 00:25:18,476 --> 00:25:20,756 Speaker 1: that she leased an apartment and took in boarders for 373 00:25:20,796 --> 00:25:25,276 Speaker 1: the summer season, but relations between Margaret and William grew frosty, 374 00:25:25,756 --> 00:25:29,716 Speaker 1: and after nineteen thirty four they had no further direct communication. 375 00:25:30,316 --> 00:25:33,396 Speaker 3: Peggy dealt with all my brother's affairs and resented me 376 00:25:33,476 --> 00:25:34,556 Speaker 3: right into her about them. 377 00:25:35,076 --> 00:25:38,156 Speaker 1: He also suspected that Margaret had returned to sex work. 378 00:25:38,476 --> 00:25:40,836 Speaker 3: My only reason for thinking this was because she often 379 00:25:40,876 --> 00:25:44,196 Speaker 3: came to London alone. I've been told by people who 380 00:25:44,276 --> 00:25:45,116 Speaker 3: knew her by sight. 381 00:25:45,476 --> 00:25:48,636 Speaker 1: William, like so many others, were suspicious of a woman 382 00:25:48,676 --> 00:25:51,356 Speaker 1: who went out in the city on her own. But 383 00:25:51,476 --> 00:25:56,596 Speaker 1: in this case his suspicions may have been accurate. Margaret 384 00:25:56,596 --> 00:25:59,956 Speaker 1: decided to move back to London. Here she jumped between 385 00:25:59,996 --> 00:26:06,076 Speaker 1: different addresses, rooms flats and friends apartments too. Barbara, meanwhile, 386 00:26:06,436 --> 00:26:08,916 Speaker 1: had been placed in a small boarding school in South 387 00:26:10,396 --> 00:26:13,436 Speaker 1: It must have been painful to part with her beloved daughter, 388 00:26:14,156 --> 00:26:16,916 Speaker 1: but Margaret would have known that the school would make 389 00:26:16,956 --> 00:26:19,836 Speaker 1: for a more stable and peaceful home than she was 390 00:26:19,916 --> 00:26:24,236 Speaker 1: able to provide, and also that a good education would 391 00:26:24,236 --> 00:26:29,036 Speaker 1: be key to her daughter's prospects. Barbara thought her mother 392 00:26:29,156 --> 00:26:32,636 Speaker 1: was working as a receptionist at an establishment called the 393 00:26:32,636 --> 00:26:36,876 Speaker 1: Burlington Club. Others believed it was named the Burlington Lounge 394 00:26:37,196 --> 00:26:40,636 Speaker 1: or the Burlington Garden Club. None of these seemed to 395 00:26:40,636 --> 00:26:44,756 Speaker 1: have existed. Was this another story spun by Margaret in 396 00:26:44,796 --> 00:26:49,596 Speaker 1: an effort to hide her true occupation. In nineteen thirty eight, 397 00:26:50,076 --> 00:26:53,956 Speaker 1: she was again arrested for soliciting prostitution, and she found 398 00:26:53,996 --> 00:26:58,916 Speaker 1: herself back at Marlborough Street Police Court, eighteen years after 399 00:26:58,956 --> 00:27:03,716 Speaker 1: her last arrest. Margaret once again stood before the magistrate 400 00:27:03,756 --> 00:27:07,276 Speaker 1: in a wood paneled chamber and accepted the punishment of 401 00:27:07,316 --> 00:27:11,316 Speaker 1: a fine. Must have been with a heavy heart that 402 00:27:11,436 --> 00:27:15,196 Speaker 1: she again crossed the mosaic floor of the courthouse and 403 00:27:15,276 --> 00:27:19,996 Speaker 1: went out into the street. This time, no job selling 404 00:27:20,116 --> 00:27:23,876 Speaker 1: fancy goods awaited Margaret. No new life in a bustling 405 00:27:23,916 --> 00:27:29,196 Speaker 1: seaside town, no quiet evenings with Frederick ahead. There was 406 00:27:29,236 --> 00:27:32,996 Speaker 1: only disappointment, danger and violence. 407 00:27:51,036 --> 00:27:54,596 Speaker 2: The residence of one eighteen Cavendish Street had had enough 408 00:27:54,716 --> 00:27:58,676 Speaker 2: of their new neighbor, enough of the frequent and unsettling 409 00:27:58,836 --> 00:28:01,596 Speaker 2: comings and goings at Margaret Lowe's flat. 410 00:28:02,276 --> 00:28:05,276 Speaker 4: They complained that she brought strange men at night to 411 00:28:05,316 --> 00:28:05,916 Speaker 4: her rooms. 412 00:28:06,076 --> 00:28:06,956 Speaker 2: Said her landlord. 413 00:28:07,436 --> 00:28:10,076 Speaker 4: I was surprised at this because I thought missus low 414 00:28:10,236 --> 00:28:11,796 Speaker 4: was a decent type of woman. 415 00:28:12,076 --> 00:28:17,436 Speaker 2: He was perplexed. Missus Lowe's demeanor suggested respectability, and he 416 00:28:17,516 --> 00:28:20,356 Speaker 2: noted that her nice young daughter would visit her too, 417 00:28:20,756 --> 00:28:23,116 Speaker 2: but he evicted Margaret all the same. 418 00:28:24,276 --> 00:28:27,876 Speaker 1: All right, sweet, we're so glad, Hello, darl. 419 00:28:28,196 --> 00:28:31,396 Speaker 2: Margaret distanced herself from other women in the sex trade. 420 00:28:33,516 --> 00:28:36,836 Speaker 2: Kathleen Clark didn't know her name, but certainly knew her 421 00:28:36,836 --> 00:28:42,116 Speaker 2: by sight. For years, she had seen her again and again, 422 00:28:42,516 --> 00:28:46,796 Speaker 2: trudging the same soliciting route, continually moving to reduce the 423 00:28:46,876 --> 00:28:52,236 Speaker 2: chance for rest. Often drunk, Margaret would walk along, singing 424 00:28:52,276 --> 00:28:56,236 Speaker 2: to herself, and she seemed to Kathleen to be a 425 00:28:56,316 --> 00:28:57,076 Speaker 2: gentle soul. 426 00:28:57,756 --> 00:29:00,596 Speaker 6: Recorded the lady because she seemed very refined. 427 00:29:02,356 --> 00:29:04,916 Speaker 8: I'm really drawn to the fact that other people refer 428 00:29:04,996 --> 00:29:05,516 Speaker 8: to her as the. 429 00:29:05,556 --> 00:29:08,396 Speaker 2: Lady Julia Late again, because in one. 430 00:29:08,236 --> 00:29:10,636 Speaker 8: Way it denotes respec but it's also a kind of 431 00:29:10,676 --> 00:29:14,636 Speaker 8: commentary that she didn't really fit in and that potentially 432 00:29:15,036 --> 00:29:18,156 Speaker 8: other women around her thought that she thought she was 433 00:29:18,196 --> 00:29:19,396 Speaker 8: better than them. 434 00:29:19,996 --> 00:29:22,916 Speaker 2: Margaret seems to have chosen to be closest to women 435 00:29:23,196 --> 00:29:27,076 Speaker 2: outside the sex trade, but even these friends only ever 436 00:29:27,116 --> 00:29:30,996 Speaker 2: saw one of her various faces. Mabel Jones, who got 437 00:29:30,996 --> 00:29:32,796 Speaker 2: to know Margaret as a neighbor and would go to 438 00:29:32,836 --> 00:29:35,396 Speaker 2: the pub with her in Soho believed she was a 439 00:29:35,436 --> 00:29:38,956 Speaker 2: receptionist and had previously been a nurse. She knew that 440 00:29:39,036 --> 00:29:41,476 Speaker 2: her husband had died and that it used. 441 00:29:41,276 --> 00:29:43,956 Speaker 1: To sell souvenirs from a small shop on the seafront. 442 00:29:44,596 --> 00:29:48,116 Speaker 2: Rachel Berkley, an embroideros at a factory, also thought that 443 00:29:48,156 --> 00:29:51,916 Speaker 2: Margaret was a receptionist, but at two different clubs, neither 444 00:29:51,996 --> 00:29:56,516 Speaker 2: friend knew that Margaret sold sex. It must have been 445 00:29:56,636 --> 00:30:01,076 Speaker 2: with great effort and intention that Margaret marshaled these different identities, 446 00:30:01,596 --> 00:30:05,236 Speaker 2: and it was surely lonely too to keep secrets and 447 00:30:05,316 --> 00:30:10,116 Speaker 2: be so very guarded. She was drinking heavy around this time, 448 00:30:10,716 --> 00:30:14,996 Speaker 2: perhaps as a salve for her isolation. The local store 449 00:30:14,996 --> 00:30:16,996 Speaker 2: owners saw her as regular. 450 00:30:16,636 --> 00:30:19,756 Speaker 9: As clockwise how can I help you to die. 451 00:30:19,676 --> 00:30:23,436 Speaker 2: Buying in her supply of Hamilton's oatmeal stout and bringing 452 00:30:23,476 --> 00:30:28,196 Speaker 2: back the empties over the years, Margaret may have had 453 00:30:28,316 --> 00:30:31,436 Speaker 2: romantic attachments. At one point she lived with a driver 454 00:30:31,556 --> 00:30:34,516 Speaker 2: named Cecil Casewell, and she kept a picture of an 455 00:30:34,516 --> 00:30:37,516 Speaker 2: airman on the mantelpiece in her living room. Her daughter 456 00:30:37,596 --> 00:30:40,716 Speaker 2: Barbara knew him as Jimmy Smith and thought that he 457 00:30:40,836 --> 00:30:43,116 Speaker 2: rescued her mother one evening in his car when she 458 00:30:43,236 --> 00:30:47,436 Speaker 2: was stranded. It seems unlikely that Margaret would hold on 459 00:30:47,476 --> 00:30:51,836 Speaker 2: to his photograph after a single chance encounter, but if 460 00:30:51,876 --> 00:30:55,636 Speaker 2: it was a romantic relationship, it appears not to have lasted. 461 00:30:59,836 --> 00:31:04,076 Speaker 2: In nineteen forty, Margaret tried again to turn her life around. 462 00:31:04,796 --> 00:31:07,876 Speaker 2: She'd saved enough money to Lisa House near South End, 463 00:31:08,876 --> 00:31:11,476 Speaker 2: hoped to make a living by renting out rooms and 464 00:31:11,596 --> 00:31:14,476 Speaker 2: to have her daughter live with her once more. Her 465 00:31:14,476 --> 00:31:18,116 Speaker 2: friend Mabel Jones, who now worked helping to save lives 466 00:31:18,196 --> 00:31:21,236 Speaker 2: during air raids, visited Margaret's new home. 467 00:31:22,036 --> 00:31:24,836 Speaker 1: She showed me snapshots of herself and her husband. 468 00:31:25,316 --> 00:31:28,796 Speaker 2: Margaret appears to have been nostalgic for her former life, 469 00:31:29,356 --> 00:31:33,036 Speaker 2: and perhaps she wistfully hoped to regain something that resembled it. 470 00:31:34,316 --> 00:31:39,516 Speaker 2: But the boarding house failed. It would have been with 471 00:31:39,676 --> 00:31:43,116 Speaker 2: great reluctance that she returned to blacked out London and 472 00:31:43,196 --> 00:31:47,756 Speaker 2: selling sex because the trade was becoming ever more unsafe. 473 00:31:49,236 --> 00:31:52,396 Speaker 2: The war had brought a churning flow of soldiers into 474 00:31:52,396 --> 00:31:55,756 Speaker 2: the capital looking for sex. It was riskier to deal 475 00:31:55,796 --> 00:31:59,036 Speaker 2: with this clientele than with a circle of trusted regulars. 476 00:32:00,236 --> 00:32:04,396 Speaker 2: Compounding these greater risks, police action to close brothels had 477 00:32:04,516 --> 00:32:09,636 Speaker 2: robbed women of the relative safety such establishments provided, says Late. 478 00:32:10,636 --> 00:32:12,796 Speaker 8: Women tried to mitigate that as best they could by 479 00:32:12,796 --> 00:32:14,876 Speaker 8: trying to work together by keeping an eye out for 480 00:32:14,956 --> 00:32:18,956 Speaker 8: each other, even informally by hiring maids. But as more 481 00:32:19,036 --> 00:32:22,196 Speaker 8: and more criminalization takes hold, as police are put under 482 00:32:22,196 --> 00:32:25,436 Speaker 8: more and more pressure to push women off the streets 483 00:32:25,476 --> 00:32:28,036 Speaker 8: and out of these brothels where they could work alongside 484 00:32:28,076 --> 00:32:30,916 Speaker 8: other women, women start turning to what the police call 485 00:32:30,996 --> 00:32:33,796 Speaker 8: furnished RUMs or flats. You're living on your own, You're 486 00:32:33,836 --> 00:32:36,716 Speaker 8: often living with a population of people who are moving 487 00:32:36,756 --> 00:32:38,756 Speaker 8: all the time, so they don't necessarily get to know you, 488 00:32:38,916 --> 00:32:42,756 Speaker 8: and they're just incredibly isolated working alone. 489 00:32:42,796 --> 00:32:47,076 Speaker 1: Women kept makeshift weapons with an easy reach, rolling pins 490 00:32:47,116 --> 00:32:49,716 Speaker 1: and pouches of pepper in their handbags, so. 491 00:32:49,756 --> 00:32:52,516 Speaker 8: I think probably the most common form of violence would 492 00:32:52,516 --> 00:32:55,396 Speaker 8: have been from dodgy clients. This is a time when 493 00:32:55,596 --> 00:33:00,276 Speaker 8: women are probably not seeing as many regular clients as 494 00:33:00,276 --> 00:33:02,636 Speaker 8: they would ordinarily do because there's so many new faces 495 00:33:02,676 --> 00:33:05,756 Speaker 8: in London and so clients aren't as vetted as they 496 00:33:05,756 --> 00:33:08,796 Speaker 8: would have been in earlier periods. So there's a lot 497 00:33:08,796 --> 00:33:13,356 Speaker 8: of just random violence, punching, hitting, kicking. There's also a 498 00:33:13,396 --> 00:33:16,516 Speaker 8: lot of experiences of rape and other kinds of sexual 499 00:33:16,556 --> 00:33:19,876 Speaker 8: assault at a time when the police and pretty much 500 00:33:19,876 --> 00:33:23,156 Speaker 8: all of society maintain that women who sell sex cannot 501 00:33:23,516 --> 00:33:27,356 Speaker 8: be raped. There were definitely women experiencing that being forced 502 00:33:27,396 --> 00:33:29,836 Speaker 8: to do things that they hadn't agreed to, being forced 503 00:33:29,836 --> 00:33:32,116 Speaker 8: to do things and then not being paid. That happened 504 00:33:32,156 --> 00:33:35,556 Speaker 8: a lot. Obviously, they're going with a lot of drunk clients. 505 00:33:35,836 --> 00:33:38,996 Speaker 8: They're going with a lot of soldiers who have been 506 00:33:39,116 --> 00:33:42,516 Speaker 8: inculcated into a culture of violence and trauma, who are 507 00:33:42,596 --> 00:33:44,956 Speaker 8: going to be more likely to be violent towards women 508 00:33:44,996 --> 00:33:45,436 Speaker 8: as well. 509 00:33:46,316 --> 00:33:50,396 Speaker 1: Margaret shunned other sex workers so lacked the meager protection 510 00:33:50,636 --> 00:33:54,676 Speaker 1: such friendships could bring, the whispered warnings, perhaps about a 511 00:33:54,716 --> 00:33:59,276 Speaker 1: client's ill temper. From late nineteen forty one, shortly after 512 00:33:59,316 --> 00:34:02,716 Speaker 1: she'd moved alone into a flat on Gossfield Street, she 513 00:34:02,796 --> 00:34:06,916 Speaker 1: faced a string of assaults, all witnessed by her new neighbors. 514 00:34:09,196 --> 00:34:12,316 Speaker 1: Told the Gossfield Street residence that she had a relief job, 515 00:34:12,716 --> 00:34:15,436 Speaker 1: perhaps referring to the kind of nighttime work her friend 516 00:34:15,476 --> 00:34:19,356 Speaker 1: Mabel Jones did helping the victims of air raids. This, 517 00:34:19,636 --> 00:34:22,036 Speaker 1: she said, was why she would return home in the 518 00:34:22,116 --> 00:34:25,956 Speaker 1: early hours, but other goings on in her flat were 519 00:34:25,996 --> 00:34:31,356 Speaker 1: harder to explain away. Taylor Morris Wiseman grew accustomed to 520 00:34:31,396 --> 00:34:39,236 Speaker 1: hearing his neighbour's screams pierce the night air. Fellow resident 521 00:34:39,356 --> 00:34:42,116 Speaker 1: Ralph Stevens, recalled another incident. 522 00:34:42,596 --> 00:34:44,836 Speaker 3: At about one o'clock in the morning. I heard sounds 523 00:34:44,876 --> 00:34:47,036 Speaker 3: of a fight. I picked up a stick and went 524 00:34:47,076 --> 00:34:49,476 Speaker 3: outside to see what it was all about. I saw 525 00:34:49,516 --> 00:34:52,516 Speaker 3: a woman lying on the stairs. She was conscious and 526 00:34:52,596 --> 00:34:55,396 Speaker 3: kept crying, get him, get him. At the same time, 527 00:34:55,476 --> 00:34:58,196 Speaker 3: I saw a man in soldier's uniform running through the 528 00:34:58,236 --> 00:34:58,796 Speaker 3: street door. 529 00:34:59,916 --> 00:35:03,676 Speaker 1: Ralph chased after the soldier, and the police eventually took 530 00:35:03,756 --> 00:35:08,676 Speaker 1: charge of the situation. When Ralph returned to the apartment building, Margaret, 531 00:35:09,276 --> 00:35:13,156 Speaker 1: apparently drunk, told him, I am glad you got him. 532 00:35:13,636 --> 00:35:14,796 Speaker 1: He was trying to do me in. 533 00:35:16,716 --> 00:35:20,756 Speaker 2: Another terrifying ordeal occurred in January nineteen forty two. 534 00:35:21,556 --> 00:35:24,036 Speaker 6: I was in bed and I heard heavy boots going 535 00:35:24,116 --> 00:35:26,276 Speaker 6: up the stairs, and then I had a sound like 536 00:35:26,316 --> 00:35:27,996 Speaker 6: the breaking of a door cleaner. 537 00:35:28,076 --> 00:35:31,716 Speaker 2: Florence Bartolini lived in the basement of the building. She 538 00:35:31,796 --> 00:35:34,516 Speaker 2: knew its creaks and groans and was familiar with the 539 00:35:34,596 --> 00:35:38,276 Speaker 2: rhythm of its inhabitants. Margaret Lowe lived just above her. 540 00:35:39,756 --> 00:35:43,556 Speaker 2: That night, along with smashing glass, she also heard a 541 00:35:43,636 --> 00:35:45,076 Speaker 2: man's voice. 542 00:35:48,716 --> 00:35:51,756 Speaker 6: Then I heard the sand of a second door being broken. 543 00:35:52,596 --> 00:35:54,876 Speaker 6: A struggle was going on, and I had a woman 544 00:35:55,116 --> 00:35:57,556 Speaker 6: screaming place smarter lp. 545 00:35:58,996 --> 00:36:01,916 Speaker 2: No one came when Margaret called for aid, and so 546 00:36:02,156 --> 00:36:05,156 Speaker 2: she rushed to the window, but her attacker caught up 547 00:36:05,156 --> 00:36:11,676 Speaker 2: with her and struck her on the head. The next morning, 548 00:36:11,756 --> 00:36:15,396 Speaker 2: missus Lowe, who had purple bruises on her chest and jaw, 549 00:36:15,836 --> 00:36:17,236 Speaker 2: was explaining these events. 550 00:36:18,236 --> 00:36:22,196 Speaker 1: A Canadian soldier broke into my flat last night and 551 00:36:22,276 --> 00:36:23,516 Speaker 1: almost murdered me. 552 00:36:24,356 --> 00:36:29,436 Speaker 2: She insisted that he was a complete stranger. Florence Bartolini 553 00:36:29,676 --> 00:36:32,796 Speaker 2: peered into Margaret's apartment and saw the damage he had wrought. 554 00:36:33,036 --> 00:36:36,036 Speaker 6: It was in complete disorder in the front room. The 555 00:36:36,076 --> 00:36:39,116 Speaker 6: standard lamp was broken, and the lock of the inner 556 00:36:39,156 --> 00:36:42,916 Speaker 6: door was forced. Missus Lowe said that he had bolbed 557 00:36:42,956 --> 00:36:45,276 Speaker 6: the connecting tube from the gas fire and left the 558 00:36:45,316 --> 00:36:46,116 Speaker 6: gas escape in. 559 00:36:46,516 --> 00:36:49,636 Speaker 2: Margaret paid for the repairs and didn't involve the police. 560 00:36:50,316 --> 00:36:53,716 Speaker 2: This was the norm. The law wasn't there to protect 561 00:36:53,796 --> 00:36:56,036 Speaker 2: women like Margaret, says Julia Late. 562 00:36:56,436 --> 00:37:01,596 Speaker 8: In terms of the exceptionally quotidian violence that they experienced 563 00:37:01,596 --> 00:37:03,956 Speaker 8: from clients on a d to day basis, they would 564 00:37:03,996 --> 00:37:06,916 Speaker 8: never call the carps, in not least because The vast 565 00:37:06,956 --> 00:37:09,396 Speaker 8: majority of women who are selling sex full time in 566 00:37:09,436 --> 00:37:12,836 Speaker 8: London have warrants out for their arrest because they were 567 00:37:12,876 --> 00:37:15,916 Speaker 8: soliciting and didn't pay the fine, or they were soliciting 568 00:37:15,956 --> 00:37:18,716 Speaker 8: and charged but they never showed up to court, so 569 00:37:18,716 --> 00:37:20,956 Speaker 8: they're not going to willingly walk into a police station. 570 00:37:21,596 --> 00:37:24,156 Speaker 2: Margaret had said, what's the good in that when it 571 00:37:24,196 --> 00:37:26,516 Speaker 2: was suggested she seek to have one of her attackers 572 00:37:26,636 --> 00:37:30,556 Speaker 2: a serviceman charged, it would indeed probably have done a 573 00:37:30,556 --> 00:37:31,076 Speaker 2: little good. 574 00:37:31,636 --> 00:37:34,196 Speaker 8: The police tended to wash their hands of the whole 575 00:37:34,236 --> 00:37:37,156 Speaker 8: situation because they did not want to be in a 576 00:37:37,196 --> 00:37:40,276 Speaker 8: position where they were arresting soldiers. That never tended to 577 00:37:40,316 --> 00:37:43,076 Speaker 8: work out well for the beat cop getting in the 578 00:37:43,076 --> 00:37:46,076 Speaker 8: way of a soldier's good time, and so they mostly 579 00:37:46,156 --> 00:37:48,316 Speaker 8: wanted just kind of lass a fair situation. 580 00:37:49,236 --> 00:37:52,716 Speaker 2: After one attack, Margaret spelled out why she hadn't pressed 581 00:37:52,756 --> 00:37:53,476 Speaker 2: for a prosecution. 582 00:37:54,316 --> 00:37:57,996 Speaker 1: I wasn't able to charge him for my daughter's sake, 583 00:37:58,396 --> 00:38:00,476 Speaker 1: and I am a respectable married woman. 584 00:38:01,116 --> 00:38:03,676 Speaker 8: I think it speaks to the fact that she knew 585 00:38:04,036 --> 00:38:07,436 Speaker 8: that if she went and reported this, that the police 586 00:38:07,436 --> 00:38:11,596 Speaker 8: would automatically presume she was a prostitute, that they would 587 00:38:11,796 --> 00:38:15,276 Speaker 8: pursue the case as an assault against a prostitute, and 588 00:38:15,276 --> 00:38:17,156 Speaker 8: that if it got to the press or if it 589 00:38:17,196 --> 00:38:19,596 Speaker 8: got out, that her daughter would know and that she'd 590 00:38:19,636 --> 00:38:23,516 Speaker 8: lose her respectability. So it's that stigma again. Women wouldn't 591 00:38:23,556 --> 00:38:25,556 Speaker 8: go to the police, either because they knew that the 592 00:38:25,596 --> 00:38:28,476 Speaker 8: police wouldn't take them seriously, or because they knew that 593 00:38:28,556 --> 00:38:30,996 Speaker 8: if the police did take them seriously, that they'd be outed. 594 00:38:32,116 --> 00:38:36,076 Speaker 2: Barbara visited Margaret every few weekends, and Margaret would have 595 00:38:36,076 --> 00:38:39,036 Speaker 2: been keen that she and her teenage daughter didn't attract 596 00:38:39,076 --> 00:38:40,716 Speaker 2: the attention of the authorities. 597 00:38:41,156 --> 00:38:44,476 Speaker 8: From the eighteen eighties on, there'd been various ways in 598 00:38:44,516 --> 00:38:47,236 Speaker 8: which the courts could take a child from a mother 599 00:38:47,356 --> 00:38:50,476 Speaker 8: who was found to be selling sex, and it's very 600 00:38:50,556 --> 00:38:54,116 Speaker 8: likely that Margaret knew that and wanted to protect Barbara 601 00:38:54,116 --> 00:38:57,676 Speaker 8: from that. The law applied to all children, but there 602 00:38:57,756 --> 00:39:01,476 Speaker 8: absolutely would have been more concern and therefore more potential 603 00:39:01,556 --> 00:39:05,836 Speaker 8: legal attention paid to an adolescent girl living with a 604 00:39:05,876 --> 00:39:08,596 Speaker 8: woman who was suspected of selling sex, because there was 605 00:39:08,676 --> 00:39:11,916 Speaker 8: a very strong idea that she would be encouraged to 606 00:39:11,956 --> 00:39:12,836 Speaker 8: sell sex herself. 607 00:39:14,476 --> 00:39:18,996 Speaker 1: On Tuesday, February tenth, nineteen forty two, Margaret Lowe was 608 00:39:19,036 --> 00:39:22,116 Speaker 1: preparing for the arrival of her daughter Barbara, who would 609 00:39:22,156 --> 00:39:25,316 Speaker 1: visit that weekend. She called in at the butcher's shop 610 00:39:25,476 --> 00:39:28,076 Speaker 1: on a neighboring street and asked the woman behind the 611 00:39:28,116 --> 00:39:31,196 Speaker 1: counter to keep some bones and fat back, telling her 612 00:39:31,236 --> 00:39:33,996 Speaker 1: that she wanted to cook Barbara a special meal. When 613 00:39:33,996 --> 00:39:38,996 Speaker 1: she arrived. It was late morning. A couple of hours previously, 614 00:39:39,516 --> 00:39:42,876 Speaker 1: the mutilated body of Evelyn Oatley had been discovered in 615 00:39:42,916 --> 00:39:46,716 Speaker 1: the darkened room of her Soho apartment, just a short 616 00:39:46,756 --> 00:39:51,036 Speaker 1: walk from Margaret's own home. Margaret seems to have gone 617 00:39:51,036 --> 00:39:54,396 Speaker 1: about her usual business that day, and that night she 618 00:39:54,436 --> 00:39:58,276 Speaker 1: went out soliciting, dressed in a belted black cloth coat 619 00:39:58,636 --> 00:40:02,596 Speaker 1: and a dark hat. She was also likely to be 620 00:40:02,676 --> 00:40:06,036 Speaker 1: in pain. To add to her woes, The forty three 621 00:40:06,116 --> 00:40:09,756 Speaker 1: year old were suffering from a large uterine tumor, and 622 00:40:09,836 --> 00:40:11,996 Speaker 1: she may well have moved slowly. 623 00:40:13,876 --> 00:40:15,556 Speaker 5: When the lines are. 624 00:40:17,156 --> 00:40:23,676 Speaker 1: And the flickering shadows. At about half past midnight, Kathleen 625 00:40:23,756 --> 00:40:29,036 Speaker 1: Clark saw the lady coming down Shaftesbury Avenue towards Piccadilly Circus. 626 00:40:29,796 --> 00:40:32,476 Speaker 4: You'll go with her captain, but not with an ordinary soldier. 627 00:40:33,036 --> 00:40:35,996 Speaker 1: I see her as a pair of soldiers Scott's guardsmen 628 00:40:36,116 --> 00:40:39,076 Speaker 1: Kathleen was talking to had turned nasty. 629 00:40:38,756 --> 00:40:41,596 Speaker 3: Probabouldly go with you anyway, who knows what you got? 630 00:40:42,276 --> 00:40:45,676 Speaker 1: And as Margaret passed, she offered some words of encouragement 631 00:40:45,756 --> 00:40:48,956 Speaker 1: to her fellow sex worker, telling her to stick up 632 00:40:48,956 --> 00:40:51,116 Speaker 1: for herself against the torrent of abuse. 633 00:40:51,436 --> 00:40:52,716 Speaker 3: Ay, your pork's ridden. 634 00:40:52,876 --> 00:40:59,116 Speaker 1: So Kathleen watched her go, a lone figure slipping down 635 00:40:59,156 --> 00:41:03,196 Speaker 1: one of the dark thoroughfares behind Regent Street. She didn't 636 00:41:03,236 --> 00:41:07,316 Speaker 1: stop and talk to anyone else, but at some point 637 00:41:07,796 --> 00:41:11,076 Speaker 1: Margaret must have crossed past with an airman, must have 638 00:41:11,196 --> 00:41:16,396 Speaker 1: looked into his pale eyes, scrutinized his sharp features, noted 639 00:41:16,436 --> 00:41:17,876 Speaker 1: his upper class accent. 640 00:41:18,396 --> 00:41:20,916 Speaker 4: I have plenty of money, and decided. 641 00:41:20,396 --> 00:41:21,756 Speaker 1: To take him home with her. 642 00:41:24,756 --> 00:41:28,916 Speaker 2: When Florence Bartalini was woken from slumber that night, it 643 00:41:29,036 --> 00:41:31,796 Speaker 2: was two sets of footsteps she heard through the ceiling, 644 00:41:32,516 --> 00:41:36,316 Speaker 2: one heavier than the other. She switched on her flashlight 645 00:41:36,436 --> 00:41:40,636 Speaker 2: and shone it at the clock one fifteen am. The 646 00:41:40,676 --> 00:41:44,436 Speaker 2: building was quiet, and she rolled over and dozed back 647 00:41:44,476 --> 00:41:49,916 Speaker 2: off to sleep. Some time later, Florence was again disturbed 648 00:41:49,916 --> 00:41:53,156 Speaker 2: by those heavy footsteps, A man's, she thought. 649 00:41:53,116 --> 00:41:55,996 Speaker 6: Coming down the steps from the direction of missus Lowe's landing. 650 00:41:56,836 --> 00:41:58,676 Speaker 6: I heard him open and closed the door of the 651 00:41:58,676 --> 00:42:03,276 Speaker 6: common entrance and walk away. 652 00:42:02,356 --> 00:42:05,836 Speaker 2: And then all was quiet and still once more. 653 00:42:11,916 --> 00:42:15,996 Speaker 1: On Wednesday morning, when Maurice Wiseman left Gosfield Street, he 654 00:42:16,116 --> 00:42:19,436 Speaker 1: noticed a brown paper parcel of groceries on missus Low's 655 00:42:19,436 --> 00:42:23,276 Speaker 1: door step. It was there the following day when Florence 656 00:42:23,316 --> 00:42:26,516 Speaker 1: Bartolini returned from her job as a cleaner, and it 657 00:42:26,596 --> 00:42:30,036 Speaker 1: was still there on Friday afternoon, when fifteen year old 658 00:42:30,076 --> 00:42:33,076 Speaker 1: Barbara Lowe arrived from school to spend the week end 659 00:42:33,156 --> 00:42:38,436 Speaker 1: with her mother. Barbara, not receiving no answer, she went 660 00:42:38,476 --> 00:42:41,316 Speaker 1: to search for Margaret in the local market. Her mother 661 00:42:41,436 --> 00:42:44,036 Speaker 1: was expecting her, after all, and she wouldn't have gone 662 00:42:44,076 --> 00:42:47,916 Speaker 1: far When she bumped into Maurice Wiseman, who was worried 663 00:42:47,956 --> 00:42:51,076 Speaker 1: about his neighbor and had already summoned two police officers. 664 00:42:51,676 --> 00:42:55,876 Speaker 1: The teenager must have felt a cold wave of alarm. 665 00:42:56,276 --> 00:42:59,396 Speaker 1: No one had seen or heard from her mother for 666 00:42:59,596 --> 00:43:06,556 Speaker 1: three days. The police unlocked Margaret's flat. Inside, the windows 667 00:43:06,596 --> 00:43:10,436 Speaker 1: were blacked out and it was dark. The bedroom door 668 00:43:10,516 --> 00:43:14,716 Speaker 1: was locked too, with no key in sight. The officers 669 00:43:14,756 --> 00:43:19,756 Speaker 1: forced it open and switched on the electric light. There 670 00:43:20,276 --> 00:43:25,196 Speaker 1: in the bed, with Margaret Low's cold body, a quilt 671 00:43:25,356 --> 00:43:29,236 Speaker 1: drawn carefully up to her chin. The sheets were stained 672 00:43:29,276 --> 00:43:33,236 Speaker 1: with blood, and stockings have been tied tightly about her neck. 673 00:43:34,716 --> 00:43:38,596 Speaker 1: Behind closed doors. The killer had spent time abusing and 674 00:43:38,716 --> 00:43:42,396 Speaker 1: violating her body, using any objects he could find round 675 00:43:42,436 --> 00:43:46,156 Speaker 1: the house. He seemed to have broken a metal fire 676 00:43:46,196 --> 00:43:50,796 Speaker 1: poker in the process, and when he finally left, he 677 00:43:50,836 --> 00:43:55,556 Speaker 1: took with him a trophy, Margaret's small silver cigarette case. 678 00:43:57,116 --> 00:44:01,236 Speaker 1: The police report of this crime scene includes a strikingly 679 00:44:01,316 --> 00:44:02,836 Speaker 1: callous line. 680 00:44:02,876 --> 00:44:06,356 Speaker 4: The position in which the body lay is a position 681 00:44:06,476 --> 00:44:09,156 Speaker 4: which a woman of Low's type would assume in the 682 00:44:09,196 --> 00:44:10,076 Speaker 4: course of her calling. 683 00:44:11,836 --> 00:44:15,356 Speaker 2: Margaret Lowe was attacked several times in the weeks leading 684 00:44:15,436 --> 00:44:18,956 Speaker 2: up to her murder, belittled and bludgeoned by men who 685 00:44:18,956 --> 00:44:22,276 Speaker 2: believed she deserved little in the way of respect, and 686 00:44:22,436 --> 00:44:27,036 Speaker 2: rightly surmised that their violence would go unchallenged and unpunished. 687 00:44:28,236 --> 00:44:31,716 Speaker 2: Her neighbors complained about the nighttime callers and the loud 688 00:44:31,796 --> 00:44:35,956 Speaker 2: gramophone music she played during their visits. They grumbled about 689 00:44:35,996 --> 00:44:41,236 Speaker 2: the occasional violent altercations, but with the exception of Ralph Stevens, 690 00:44:41,796 --> 00:44:44,876 Speaker 2: none of them, ever, intervened when they heard her crying 691 00:44:44,916 --> 00:44:50,396 Speaker 2: out for help. Women like Margaret had been made easy 692 00:44:50,556 --> 00:44:54,676 Speaker 2: targets for violent men, and, as one acadet had discovered, 693 00:44:55,676 --> 00:44:58,836 Speaker 2: you could pick them up, torment them, and murder them 694 00:44:58,836 --> 00:45:02,156 Speaker 2: at your leisure, and then walk off into the night 695 00:45:02,916 --> 00:45:14,316 Speaker 2: to hunt for your next victim. 696 00:45:15,756 --> 00:45:20,396 Speaker 1: Bad Women. The Blackout Ripper is hosted by me Halle Rubinholt. 697 00:45:19,876 --> 00:45:21,156 Speaker 2: And me Alice Fines. 698 00:45:21,636 --> 00:45:24,276 Speaker 1: It was written and produced by Alice Fines and Ryan Dilley, 699 00:45:24,556 --> 00:45:28,716 Speaker 1: with additional support from Courtney Garino and Arthur Gomberts. Kate 700 00:45:28,756 --> 00:45:32,356 Speaker 1: Healy of Oakwood Family Trees aided us with genealogical research. 701 00:45:32,996 --> 00:45:36,156 Speaker 2: Pascal Wise Sound designed and mixed the show and composed 702 00:45:36,196 --> 00:45:39,276 Speaker 2: all the original music. The show was recorded at Ardoor 703 00:45:39,356 --> 00:45:42,916 Speaker 2: Studios by David Smith and Tom Berry. You also heard 704 00:45:42,916 --> 00:45:46,756 Speaker 2: the voice talents of Ben Crow, David Glover, Melanie Guttridge, 705 00:45:46,996 --> 00:45:50,756 Speaker 2: Stella Harford, Gemma Saunders, and Rufus Wright. Much of the 706 00:45:50,836 --> 00:45:54,236 Speaker 2: music You Had was performed by Ed Gocken, Ross Hughes, 707 00:45:54,436 --> 00:45:57,756 Speaker 2: Christian Miller and Marcus Penrose. They were recorded by Nick 708 00:45:57,796 --> 00:46:01,716 Speaker 2: Taylor Porcupine Studios. Pushkin's Ben Holiday mixed. 709 00:46:01,436 --> 00:46:05,156 Speaker 1: The tracks and you heard additional piano playing by the 710 00:46:05,196 --> 00:46:09,756 Speaker 1: great Berry Wise Hi Berry. The show also wouldn't have 711 00:46:09,796 --> 00:46:12,876 Speaker 1: been possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg, Heather Fane, 712 00:46:13,156 --> 00:46:18,716 Speaker 1: Carl Migliori, Maggie Taylor, Nicole Morano, Eric Sandler, and Daniela Lukhan. 713 00:46:19,676 --> 00:46:22,356 Speaker 1: We'd also like to thank Michael Buchanan Dunn of the 714 00:46:22,476 --> 00:46:26,716 Speaker 1: Murder Mile podcast, Lizzie Mckerroll, Katherine Walker at the Royal 715 00:46:26,756 --> 00:46:31,796 Speaker 1: Pharmaceutical Society and the Earbe Historical Society. Bad Women is 716 00:46:31,796 --> 00:46:35,196 Speaker 1: a production of Pushkin Industries. Please rate and review the 717 00:46:35,236 --> 00:46:37,876 Speaker 1: show and spread the word about what we do, and 718 00:46:37,956 --> 00:47:44,396 Speaker 1: thanks for listening. 719 00:46:41,836 --> 00:47:26,796 Speaker 5: Air as 720 00:47:28,556 --> 00:47:30,436 Speaker 8: A ra