Did you know that during the nineteenth century Cambridge University arrested and imprisoned thousands of young women for walking the streets after dark? Senior members of the university wanted to keep the streets free of temptation, for the young men in their care, by punishing women who stepped out of line. The university prison was known as The Spinning House, formerly Hobson's Workhouse before it was demolished due to public outrage about an Elizabethan Charter permitting the arrest of any woman suspected of streetwalking. Mistakes were made. Riots broke out as the townspeople protested.
For the past five years I have been piecing together the true stories of some of young women flung inside the Spinning House prison, a place regularly condemned by prison inspectors for being cold and damp. There is no way of knowing if any of the women were guilty or innocent as none them received a fair trial. Being poor and pretty seemed to be the greatest crime.
Cambridge University is renowned worldwide for its academic prowess, but below the surface lurks a murky past. During the nineteenth century, the university became infamous for its dogged determination to cling to ancient laws allowing it to arrest and imprison unchaperoned women found walking the streets of Cambridge after dark. Mistakes were made. Violence and legal action followed until finally an Act of Parliament put an end to the university’s jurisdiction over the women of Cambridge.
Caroline Biggs has lived all her life in Cambridge. She was an active Trustee of The Museum of Cambridge, where she founded a history festival to redress the massive imbalance between the historical knowledge about the ‘town’ as opposed to the ‘gown’. She has a Diploma in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Biography and Creative Writing from UEA. She has previously researched and written several booklets about the history of Cambridge.
