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ORPHANS: INTRODUCTION This whole strange account of an orphanage for girls in London, over 200 years ago, came to me from posting a question to alt.sex.spanking about the Oneida Community at Wallingford, in Connecticut, and their 1870's practice of Complex Marriage, where all men were deemed to be married to all the women from age 12 and upwards. In answer to my question about how the Oneida Community avoided unwanted pregnancies, a Humphry Noyes, descendant of the founder of Oneida Community, scanned and sent a chapter from a book found amongst his effects, on how a London orphange for girls was run in the 1700's so as to cut down on pregnancies - and at the same time raised money to run the orfanage. I should be most grateful to receive copies of any further documents anyone may have that are related to this account of The Great Orfanage of London, written in 1786, such as "The Diary of Hilda" (below) which was discovered and sent to me by a museum curator after I had first posted the account of the Great Orfanage, which follows. The chapter follows, which is written as a series of Notes. ----
From: "The Nurses' Handbook" Chapter VII My work as Principal and Physician at the Great Orfanage for Girls of London began in the year 1742, which for more than fortie years has been the scene of my constant labours towards the present wellbeing and future happiness of the orfan girls. We have now some three hundred girls in our care, going in age from six week old babes, to children of twelve years, at which time or earlier they leave us for employment in the world. Before I came to work at the Great Orfanage the girls did leave to be employed in the shoppes and taverns of the City, with seldome any good outcomes for themselves. On my appointment as Principal and Physician to the Great Orfanage for Girls of London, the Governors did charge me to find ways to reduce the number of unwanted children born in later life to the orfan girls in our charge. I had also to ensure that the girls leave us with qualities that make them desirable for employment by upright people, and the Governors did demand that I should find the first employer for each girl: one who will take good care of her. The finances of the Great Orfanage, which depended alway upon private gifts, were fortie years ago in a parlous state. Our Royal Charter from King Charles II did lack any good provisions for monies, so that the buildings had become in sore need of repair, and the health and robust development of the girls were in a sorry plight. The Governors therefore besought me to find wayes to increase the gifts of monies to the Great Orfanage and to use these to secure better lives for the orfan girls. In taking up these charges from the Governors, I bethought me of two major wayes to alleviate the conditions of the girls in the Great Orfanage. The first of these from the treatise of L'Abbe Jacques Boileau: "Historia Flagellantium" (Paris 1700). It bespeaks the pleasures to females of beatings upon their bottoms if that they have early in their lives been introduced to such titillation of their fesses. The Abbe also wrote of the growing fashion amongst the gentry of England to achieve gratification by beating the bottoms of young girls, or by watching thereof. Both ladies and gentle men in England are of the habit to pay generously for such pleasures. The second waye is described in L'Art de Jouir of M. La Mettrie (Bruxelles 1738), which tells the lasting desire of a girl for a man's yard to enter into her bottom when that she has been pleasured in a like manner to her bottom as a child, and most of all if done to her as a babe to induce defecation. The Treatment of Babies' Bottoms It behoved me then to enlist the aid of certain fine and selfless gentle men from amongst my many acquaintances in London who have the altruistic urge to help those who are helpless and in dire straits. I was able to prevail on some, who quick found others likewise inclined, to give of their time to carefully and diligently awaken each of our infant girls to the sensual joys of having smooth and slipperie objects slide up into her bottom. They did this with lamb wool wrapped on a thin and rounded stick, well coated with cooking greases from the kitchens. I speak more of this in Note 1 Friendships and Cleanliness of the Orfan Girls There is little of harm in any tribadic associations that the girls may form amongst themselves while living in the Great Orfanage. They lack the affectionate circle of a family and it is well to encourage them to develop these Sapphic delights in each other so they do not grow up cold and unfeeling to those about them. In their earliest years the girls do sleep several to a bed and we like them to fall asleep in the embrace of each other, stroking and fondling together. Each of the girls does void her bowells after that she has broken her fast in the morning. Straightly after this the older girls of age eight and more do each fill a clyster with warm water which is then pumped into her bottom then voided, to give cleanness and sweetness of her lower parts, as desired by those visitors who may punish her bare bottom that day, of which I write more also in Note 1. We do encourage the older girls to do these things with a clyster cylinder together with a friend, that they may give pleasure to each other. Such liaisons do help to develop in them natures that are warme and loving, which do lead to their happier lives later. Feelings of love and affection towards men will develop soon enough after that they leave the Orfanage. Punishments for the Orfan Girls When a girl did need correction in her early years, her minder did straightly put the girl over her knee and spank upon her bare bottom. A minder did only use her hand to spank with; I did not permit her to use a cane or other instrument to punish. After that the girl reached the age of eight years, though she could be as young as six, her fault was noted and she did then attend the punishment room at the first opportunity for a more formal chastisement and likely with visitors there to observe her proper repentance. Only in the punishment room was a cane or other instrument used to discipline a girl, where the person who gave the punishment was not the injured party. I was able to persuade some few upstanding acquaintances, out of their great charity toward those less fortunate, to sacrifice of their time to chastise these older girls, from twelve down to eight years of age and sometimes younger, by spanking and caning them when that they had misbehaved themselves. With the noble and enerjetic assistance of these fine persons on each day except the Sabbath we were thus able to keep strict discipline amongst our many young orfan girls albeit with few minders in charge of them. I set aside a large room in the Orfanage for the punishments. Discipline by the gentry would always be followed by soothing words and caresses from the spanker, so the girl knew the hurt to her was onlie for her own benefit to correct her faults, and done with no thoughts other than concern for her wellbeing. These charitable works did awakened in the gentle men such personal feelings of compassion for the orfan girls that they did make handsome and frequent gifts of monies to the Orfanage, as did the many who came to observe and marvel at what these altruisitic men, and women too, were doing to help the young objects of their beneficence. Of the wayes used to punish the girls, more anon in Note 2. Training for Service in Households In the years that the girls dwelled in the Great Orfanage they did learn the skills needed to be servants in a large house. They did carry coals, set and lite the fires that heated the Great Orfanage, sweep and scrub floors, clean kitchen pots, milk the cows and prepared foods readie for cooking, made up beds, and all the chores needed for the many who did dwell in the buildings of the Great Orfanage. We also taught the girls to read and to write simple things and to count monies with wood copies of the sovereign, shilling, penny, halfpenny and farthing. For their good health and exercise to help the orfan girls grow up lithe and supple, they daily had time for games such as to throw a ball to each other over a net, and out-door when weather did permit. Onlie those who were sick or in punishment were absent from this daily time of play and youthful exuberance. Visitors View Punishments and Bespeak a Girl Thinking to the futures of our young charges after that they leave the Great Orfanage, we made the girl used to frequent and regular spankings upon her bare bottom for breaches of discipline in the Orfanage, or hap just to keep her in the waye of getting frequent spankings. She thus became especially desirable as a servant in one of the great houses of England where it is the practice to punish the servant girls in this manner. To enable liklie employers to observe and select a girl to their chusing, and also to engender further charitable gifts towards the welfare of our orfan girls, I did have several small rooms builded next to the punishment room, each with an opening to see all that took place so the ladies and gentle men who had an interest in the work of the Great Orfanage could fully observe the chastisement of the girls. These viewing rooms for visitors were of different sizes and convenience, with seats for some thirty in all. The punishment room was oft times in use for some eight or ten hours of each week-day with an hour allotted to each of our noble volunteers from amongst the gentry of London to chastise a girl for her faults. He did then alway shew his deep love and concern for her wellbeing by soothing the hurt to her bottom. He seldom spent the full hour with his miscreant, which did allow time for the visitors to take an interlude between the punishments. The arrangements for visitors to view the punishments did become crucial for to obtain the gifts of monies needed to run the Great Orfanage so I give some detail here of the wayes it was done. There were onlie some one hundred and fiftie girls of an age to be sent to the punishment room, and those interested in our great work of charity did soon get to know each one and formed preferences for their viewings. Any who thought to attend the punishments of our orfan girls could send a servant in advance to fetch the name and age of each girl to be spanked that day, and to know the seating then free. The servant could bespeak with a gift of monies in advance the times for which they desired for a place to view the discipline meted out to the orfan girls. An older girl of eight or more who was not being punished on that day did act as servant to the visitors in each chamber. She would offer a dish of hot chocolate or good Twinings tee for refreshment and simple biskets which she fetched from the kitchens. We did encourage our regular visiting gentry to bring others to share their viewing-room, so we might gain fresh sources of gifts for the poor and destitute girls of the Great Orfanage, and liklie employers to see for themselves that the girls of the orfanage were properly trained to wait upon them and to accept discipline, even of the most severe kind. We did constantly remind our girls, whether they were being punished while visitors watched, or waiting upon those in the viewing chambers, that their future wellbeing did depend upon them attracting a good and kindly person to take them into their household. The girls wore no cloathing beneath their skirts while that they waited upon a visitor, to make easie a slap or fondling of her bare body for to test the nature of a girl. We encourage the girls to linger if that be the wish of the visitor, for talk and for slaps and caresses, and to take all in good part. Some did particular like such gestures of affection from a lady or gentle man and did lay them selves across the lap and e'en raise their skirt to invite slaps and fondling. The girl then informed us of each person who had shown such liking for her so we may put her with that person in later visits, and we do suggest a proper gift to the coffers of the Great Orfanage for each visitor to make before that they did depart, depending upon the freedom they had enjoyed with their waiting girl, and upon their apparent means. I found some officers of the Royal Excise Service did have exceptional interest in our work of giving discipline to the orfan girls and they made excellent supervisors for the visitors. A former Dean of St. Paul's also. They were practiced and able to make amicable agreement over payment of monies, albeit with the most illustrious in the land. These same Dean and gentle men of the Excise Service were the first to hear any proposal from a visitor to take a girl from the Great Orfanage into their employ, and were able to advise me if that they would make a suitable master or mistress for the girl. Of the treatment of our orfan girls by their masters and mistresses after that they leave us I speak more anon in Note 3. We found that the purposes of the Great Orfanage and of the girls in it are best served by acting with great flexibility to satisfy any foibles and peccadilloes of our visitors whose only wish is to benefit the well being of our young charges with donations to our coffers. I give an example in my Note 4. My Final Examination Before a girl does leave the Great Orfanage at age twelve or before, she does come to my chambers for an evening that I might examine her to ensure she is able to meet the likelie demands of an employer without injury to herself, of which more anon in Note 5. The Early Days It took some years at the start before we gained the monies for to build the viewing rooms for visitors, and before all was working smoothly as described here. Nor at the start had the orfan girls become endeared in infancy to firm and slipperie things to be slid up into their bottoms to guard them from pregnancies after that they had left the Great Orfanage. We made shifts in those early days to treat of each older girl so she became enamoured of a firm yard slid up into her bottom and this pleasure for the girls was made plain to visitors in the course of their punishments as added attraction to employ one with such likings. I give some description of these things in Note 6. The Etchings My late friend the artist Wm. Hogarth, Esq. did take a great and personal interest in our work to discipline the girls so to guide them in their wayes. He did chuse a girl six years of age to figure in a series of sketches to show different punishments, which he then made into etchings that did sell to a wide public with the title: "The Painful Progress of the Idle Scholar". The Artist donated all profits from the sales of all these etchings to the Great Orfanage, which did redound greatly to his reputation for generosity. The girl of age six did undergo bindings and whippings, large things most painfully slid into her anus, and melted wax poured on her, each of increasing pain even while, as I did discover some years later, her mother and father did watch her wrythings and agonies, of which more anon in Note 7. Difficult Girls The lives of children upon the streets of London have changed little since it was depicted in all its sorry miserie by my late lamented friend Wm. Hogarth, Esq. They are still driven by hunger to have their lovely teeth pulled out, to replenish the gums of the rich whose own teeth have rotted, so the starving child may buy bread with the halfpence she is given. Many children of the streets do die early from brutal treatment and the diseases given to them by those who do wantonlie misuse them. These thoughts do oft bring tears to my eyes as I make my night round and see our dear orfan girls blissfully asleep, who came into the world with nothing, and are at the start of full and healthy lives as a result of the time and discipline so generously given to them by gentle folk out of their marvelous charity. We do keep every girl once admitted to the Great Orfanage, no matter how obstinate and intractable be her nature, because to throw her out onto the streets of London would consign her to an early and painful demise. The most severe punishments are thus used if needed for a girl of obdurate nature, even binding her with cords to remove from her all voluntary movement or control of her bodily functions for many days together, of which I describe more in Note 8. Rare Girls We do sometimes have a rare girl who is truly excited by the harshest punishments that we can inflict upon to her. A select few of our visitors do greatly enjoy to watch while she is thus tortured and do make large gifts to the Great Orfanage for that pleasure. I recount the pleasurings of one such girl in my Note 9. Conclusion The wishes of the Governors of the Great Orfanage have been well satisfied and some have themselves taken girls from us into their houses to work and do their pleasure. The result of the treatments given by charitable ladies and gentle men for our babes and older girls, after that I had been at the Great Orfanage a few years, was to send orfan girls at age twelve or earlier out to serve in large households, who were well builded, strong and healthy, and well able to do the bidding in all wayes of her master and mistress, to their great satisfaction. The girls do welcome the practices of discipline that are favoured by the gentry; also our girls do each have such powerful cravings for some thing firm and sliperie to fill her bottom that she will not permit a man to pleasure her any other way. So never does an unwanted child come to one of our girls, to embarrass the household where she works. This is most conducive to domestic bliss for her employers; Our girls are always in great demand as servants, for they give great satisfaction in the houses where they work, in all possible wayes. As I have described, all successes of my methods have builded upon the extraordinary generosity and charity of those gentry who gave of their time to spank the nether parts of the young girls and bring them to enjoy firm and slipperie things in their bottoms. I have laid out here the secrets of my methods and successe at the Great Orfanage of London in full detail because they may be of use to others who have the charge to manage similar charitable houses for young people. Also I am now so fairly exhausted by the burdens placed on me daily for more than fortie years by these labours that I plan to leave soon to cultivate flowers of another kind in a cottage at No.15 High Street in the village of Barnes-upon-Thames. I hope many of my young friends from their days at the Orfanage will visit me at my cottage whenever they can spare the time; they will alway be most welcome to dine and find there a bed for the night. Your Servant, Henry Browne FINIS |