"Anti-Vacc-Attack in London": Roles of Women

Hi everyone!

I'm Rosie, and after a week in London studying the 19th century British anti-vaccination movement, there were many interesting things I learned about the different roles of women within the movement. This interest me because I often find that the discourse around "anti-vaxxers" is often very gendered, with the "anti-vax mom" being to blame, not the "anti-vax dad". By analyzing women who played important roles in the 19th century movement, I hope to better understand how this legacy impacts our perceptions of anti-vaxxers today.

Introduction

Studying in the British Library! 

What do Mozart, Fredrick Douglas, and Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell all have in common? All of them were anti-vaccinators according to the journals!

To study the ways in which the 19th century anti-vaxxer character is both continuous and discontinuous to our modern day anti- axxer, 

I decided to analyze the female actors found in the journals. While there are more than just those listed below, through this analysis I found that there were many different reasons women were involved in the movement. Clarissa Simas (from the Vaccine Confidence Project) wisely said "Everything is always about everything else, especially in health"- this was especially true for women involved in the 19th century anti-vaccination movements. Many of them became involved in the movement due to their interests in other causes.

Women played many roles in the movement. Some were leaders of the leagues, others were health professionals or political leaders. The roles of mother, wife, and victim were also important parts of women's identity as anti-vaccinators. I have identified a few examples of women from the sources that fit into one or more of these categories, as well as tried to understand why they identified as anti-vaccinators at this time.

Speakers/ Secretaries of Anti-Compulsory Vaccination Leagues 

Many of the women involved in leagues did not start off as anti-vaccinators, but instead were introduced to the clause through different issues they were passionate about.

A Mary Hume-Rothery Original
(#127 will shock you!!!) 

Mrs. Mary Hume-Rothery (1824-1885) was the secretary of the National Anti-Compulsory-Vaccination League, and therefore wrote a lot. Her writings allowed me to learn quite a bit about her life and motivations. Her husband, Reverend William Hume-Rothery, was the President of the National Anti-Compulsory-Vaccination League and her father was a radical member of parliament. She was an "authoress" before becoming very involved in the movement, writing long poems such as "The Wedding Guests". She's kinda badass in that she wasn't scared to call people out- in several of her issues of the National Anti-Compulsory-Vaccination Reporter she publicly (and at times harshly) refutes those who oppose her. She also published lists of politicians to "vote out". At meetings of the league (notes of which are transcribed in the journals), she spoke up often and was a strong organizer. Later, when she and her husband retired from their positions, he admitted that she had been doing most of the work while he had been sick.

One of her main objections to vaccination was religious. She was part of the Swedenbordian religion and was a huge proponent of religious freedom. One of her arguments was that just like one shouldn't be forced to call a Catholic Priest if their child is dying, one shouldn't be forced to call a doctor- alternative forms of healing should be allowed. She compared the medical field to the papacy in it's desire to control people against their will, and referred to the compulsory vaccination laws as "the 19th century LAW (!) of DEVIL WORSHIP and HUMAN SACRIFICE TO IDOLS".

While she also published articles attacking the efficiency and safety of the smallpox vaccine at length, she was very concerned about the Contagious Diseases Act. Passed in 1864, the Contagious Diseases Act allowed for the arrest, detention, and invasive examination of any woman that "looked like a prostitute" in order to protect the male soldiers from STIs. Religiously, she felt the act allowed men to sin without repercussions and encouraged sinful lives. However, she was also very much upset about the unequal treatment of women through the "medical despotism". She advocated for more female doctors as a way to prevent abuse from the patriarchal medical system. She also felt as if women, through God, were better at the art of healing than men. As the Contagious Disease Act and Vaccination Acts were passed around the same time, they were linked in her mind, as she saw both a means of the government controlling women's bodies.

Mrs. E C Wolstenholme Elmy's Pamphlets on
the Custody and Guardianship of Infants Act

Mrs. E C Wolstenholme Elmy  (1858-1928) gave speeches on anti-compulsory-vaccination and was published several times in the different league journals. With qualms about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, she also approached the laws with an interest in allowing women political power. She wrote that women "… do not share the guilty responsibility; but I sure I am that if the will of the mothers could be made potent and effective, this cruel legislation would be at once and universally repealed." In this way, she believes women should have the right to vote because they will vote for anti-vaccination candidates. She was extremely invested in the Custody and Guardianship of Infants Act, publishing many pamphlets, organizing leagues, and actively advocating at Parliament for it. This act sought to make women equal co-parents in having choices over what happens to their children. She argued against fathers being the sole decision maker on all issues (for example, religion, custody, and vaccination) as women deserved custody over their children. Her views on this issue clearly connect to her anti-vaccination views, as she writes "As to women, rich or poor, they have in this, as in other matters, been the victims of exclusively masculine legislation."

Miss Chandos Leigh Hunt (later Wallace) (1854-1927) was often advertised in the journals for her speeches. Members of the leagues were encouraged to go to her speeches to learn more about the movement. The sources describe her with respect, quoting "Three medical gentlemen present complimented Miss Chandos Leigh Hunt on having given the best lecture on the subject they had ever heard." She gave a speech called "Vaccination- Brought Home" in which she attacked the credibility of doctors and promoted proper hygiene as a better way to prevent smallpox. One of her other favorite things to lecture about was Organic Magnetism. She defines this "…science…" as "…the knowledge of the ways and means by which the magnetic field is intentionally or unintentionally directed or projected to any given spot, and caused to permeate, and consequently affect, organic or inorganic matter, … influencing the dreams, thoughts, senses, functions, organs, spiritual powers, and necessarily the health of man…".  Forms of alternative medicine like this were being restricted at the time as regulations increased on medical licensing. Her belief in this alternative medicine was challenged by the vaccination laws, and therefore she stood in opposition.

Doctors/ Health Professionals

While many of those discussed above distrusted doctors and spoke of the greed of the medical profession, the credentials of doctors who did belong the anti-compulsory vaccination leagues were highlighted as ethos often. I also find it ironic that many of the pioneers in allowing women to become doctors were anti-vaccinators. In some ways, the reason I can become a doctor in the future is due to the efforts of anti-vaccinators.

The London School of Medicine for Women (in 1874 and today)
It was the first medical school in Britain to train women as doctors.
Today it serves as "Hunter Street Health Centre" 

Dr. Frances Elizabeth Hoggan (1843-1927) was the first British woman to receive a doctorate in medicine from any university in Europe. She and her husband, with whom she opened the first husband-wife medical practice in England,  wrote in the newsletters often, and gave speeches at the meetings. She was a vegetarian, which meant one of her main reasons against vaccinations was that it used animal products ("cow grease") and was therefore unnatural (many vegetarians were anti-vaccinators at the time.) She toured the US discussing racial issues later in career as well. In many of the leagues, vaccination was compared with slavery, especially in the US context (a title of one article was "The United States: Another Land of Slavery and Degradation"). Fredrick Douglass was published in one of the London Society journals in 1882 saying "I am with you in your opposition to compulsory vaccination. … Count me on the side of liberty and opposed to every species of arbitrary power". Vaccination and slavery were both seen as forms of biopower. With Mrs. EC Wolstenholme Elmy, she was also involved in the Custody and Guardianship of Infants Act, publishing "The Position of the Mother in the Family in its Legal and Scientific Aspects". She both spoke about rights of the mother in Ancient Rome as well as discussing females in the animal kingdom as reasoning that women should be allowed to co-parent. Vaccination was therefore a question of parental responsibilities and allowing mothers to keep control over the home domain. Her medical ethos was utilized as special authority on all these issues.

Picture of Dr. Anna Kingsford 

Dr. Anna Kingsford (1846- 1888) was really fun to research. She was one of the first English women to obtain a degree in medicine and in the account of her life published post-humorously by her friend Edward Maitland, her difficulties at medical school as female student are described. Another challenge for her in medical school was that she was the only medical student at the time to graduate without having experimented on a single animal. As a vegetarian, she wrote a book called "The Perfect Way in Diet". These feminist, anti-vivisection, and vegetarian views arise in her writing about vaccination as well. In one of her speeches at a London Society meeting, she discusses why Pasteur's germ theory is wrong, and how he is only supported by the press because "…his method was the shield and protection of the vaccinators and the vivisectors". She published a book called "Health, Beauty, and the Toilet. Letters to Ladies from a Lady Doctor" which had some truly wild stuff. At one point she says, "I am entirely of the opinion that it is the duty of our sex to be beautiful". She claims to understand better than male doctors what women want to know about health. In this way, she describes women as not equal to men, but actually better than men at practicing medicine. I find this book interesting, because although it is written to "Ladies", many of the chapters are about how to raise your daughters to be beautiful. This suggestions that she believes that women should be in charge of their children's healthcare, not the state.  (Personal note- at one point she says although women should exercise through dance and gymnastics, sports like rowing are more suited to men. Another interesting note about Kingsford is that in her early life, she wrote "speculative romance books" under the pseudonym Colassa and was apart of the Hermetic/ Alchemy Society.)

Florence Nightingale
(found at National Portrait Gallery)

Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) was the first woman in America to receive a medical degree, and she helped to establish the London School of Medicine for Women, helping to train more female physicians. Florence Nightingale (1820- 1910) is largely seen as the founder of modern nursing, working to professionalize it during the Crimean War. They are some of the most well-known female pioneers in medicine and both of them were published in anti-vaccination journals. For both of them, the focus was on sanitation as better means of prevention. For Florence Nightingale who worked in war zones, and a focus on proper hygiene made much more sense than vaccination. While Elizabeth Blackwell acknowledges that she has vaccinated in her own practice, she writes "The practice… always seemed to be an unsatisfactory method which I hoped increased knowledge of sanitation would enable us to improve", demonstrating that she believes sanitation is more important. Later, when an infant dies in her practice, she attributes the death to vaccination and states that her "….faith in the innocence of the practice was … rudely shaken…" .  Other prominent anti-vaccinators latched onto their knowledge and loved using them for ethos.

Politicians

Until 1928, women in England did not have the same voting privileges as men, so the methods in which women were formally involved in politics were either royalty or the wives of politicians. 

Mrs. Jacob Bright was the wife of Mr. Jacob Bright, a member of parliament. She often wrote into the journals with her support. Her husband was the one who introduced the repeal that eventually failed. It's not clear from the writing if her anti-vaccination view was developed independently. Her role in the movement was to communicate for her husband, although she did advocate for woman's suffrage as well. 

Statue of Queen Victoria in front
of Kensington Palace at Hyde Park-
Many women appealed to her for help 

Helena, Countess de Noailles (1826-1908) was a English noblewoman would often write into the London Society's journal with her support. Financially, she made huge donations to the league which were then used to sustain the movement and pay fines. She also financially supported Elizabeth Blackwell's medical education. Despite her privileged upbringing, she seemed to be conscious of the disparities faced by the poor. In one of her articles, she writes discusses how starving children in Ireland can't possibly be healthy enough receive vaccination. She argues that the money allocated for vaccination would be better employed for feeding children. While her articles were included in the journals, others saw her main contribution to the movement as her money.

Queen Victoria was not an anti-vaccinator, but many letters in the journals were addressed to her. Many of them were from other women, appealing to her help as woman. They would ask her for help on behalf of their imprisoned husbands. Although she vaccinated her children, she was seen as a more accessible politicians to ask for help from. 

Women as Mothers

"A Warning to Mothers"....
notice the pink paper!!!! 

In the materials, there was a great focus on maternal instinct. Women were seen to have a special ethos in which they understood the suffering of their children in a deeper way. They had an inherent mistrust of doctors. Many mothers felt as if their control of the home was being invaded by the government and they resented losing control over their sphere of influence. While mothers weren't jailed often, some did face prison sentences. Taking a mother away from her children was seen as a horrible crime (even worse than not-vaccinating.) This emotional connotation attached to motherhood was used to urge Members of Parliament to not "forget their own mothers" when voting. Pamphlets were directed to mothers, and in the 1950s they even discussed how anti-vaccination leagues would deliver them to hospitals to new mothers despite the efforts of hospital staff. In the poem "The Anti-Vaccinator and his Wife", the wife talks about her discussions with other mothers. In this way, mothers sought to educate each other on the dangers of vaccination. 

Women as Wives

Like the role of women as doctors, the role of wives in the anti-vaccination climate is a paradox.

 In some cases, wives, through their "womanly intuition against vaccination", convince their vaccinator husbands to stop administering vaccinations. There is a four part poem, called "The Vaccinator and His Wife" in which the wife questions her husband, bringing up the adverse reactions experienced by her friend's children and eventually wears him down as he realizes there is no evidence. In the short story, "The Doctor's Baby", the wife opposes vaccination (once again because she is a woman), but her husband vaccinates the baby anyway and the child suffers and dies. In these stories, the wife is portrayed as a source of information. It is also implied that women have an inherent mistrust of vaccination.

Painting from the Wellcome Collections (1803)-
In this case, the wife is holding onto her husband, symbolizing her support

In other cases, the wife is seen as a vulnerability. In the short story, "A Warning to Mothers", the wife lets the vaccinator in while the husband is at work and allows him to vaccinate her child, which then dies. The mother then feels guilty for the rest of her life. A letter written into one of the London Society's newsletters is asking for advice as a recently married man found out his new wife was pro-vaccination and he was questioning divorce. In this way, wives are portrayed as blindly followers of the status quo and unable to understand why vaccination is so wrong.

Wives are also portrayed as loyal supporters to their anti-vaccinator husbands. A Widow wrote in to speak of her son being threatened to be kicked out of a school for not being vaccinated, but she cited her late husband's wishes as a reason to still refuse vaccination. In "Thoughts from Prison" by Henry Pitman, his wife writes him encouraging letters and visits him in jail. (Personal note- his daughter that he refused to vaccinate was named "Rosy".) These wives are in agreement with their husbands.

Women as Victims

Throughout the journals, there were many examples given of the horrible effects of vaccination of children. There were many stories of physical degradation, paralysis, and  death. I found it interesting, however, that often when the victims were male, they were referred to as children, while if they were female, they were refereed to by their names and "Miss". For example, the suffering of Miss Ellen Terry, Miss Annie Hart, and Miss Emily Maud were discussed in great length, over multiple issues of the London Society's journal.

Wellcome Collections!!!! 

Reflections

The roles women played in this movement is complex, just as these women themselves were complex. Understanding many of these women as people has helped me to understand their motivations much better. In the 19th century, anti-vaccination was associated with feminist, anti-slavery, vegetarian, and anti-vivisection movements. Many of the women involved in the anti-vaccination movement could be considered fairly progressive on other issues. Concerns about vaccines not being "natural" (speaking scientifically and religiously) are common, both then and now. For current anti-vaccinators , they also exist on a spectrum of vaccine hesitancy, with different reasons for their concern. It is important to remember that questioning medical technology is not only normal, but important. Addressing concerns about vaccination requires understanding the roots of those concerns. To prevent suffering and death, it is important to have honest conversations about these issues.