Transcripts: Letter of complaint about a brothel, May 1917
Both letter and report comprise two pages each:
Dear Sir,
I wish to call your attention to the house situated at 90 Rendlehsham Rd which I feel sure is being used as a disorderly house her husband is away at the front and night after night there are soldiers and different civilians going [page 2] in and out this has being going on now for a long time now. hoping you will give this your attention as I think this is a disgrace to a respectable Road.
[What background do you think that the writer is? Probably a poorly educated lower-middle class or upper-middle class. The handwriting hints at education, yet the sentences are poorly punctuated. The author is also concerned with the respectability of the address.]
Hackney Station “J” Division, 20th May 1917.
With reference to attached anonymous letter complaining that no 90 Rendlesham Road, Hackney is being used as a Disorderly House.
I beg to report that the above address is occupied and owned by Mrs Carlotta Martin whose husband Pte [Private] Martin attached to the East Surrey Regiment is at present serving the H M [His Majesty’s] Forces in Palestine.
Mrs Martin has two children and 2 and 4½ years respectively.
The house contains six rooms. The front basement kitchen being occupied by Mrs Blanche Macey (a widow) employed as a Daily help, and the back basement kitchen is occupied by a Mrs Ridgeway, a shorthand typist clerk. The top portion of the house being occupied by the owner.
I have kept casual observation on the premises during the evenings since 12th May but have not seen anyone only the occupiers enter or leave the house. From outward appearance
(the) [end of page 1]
the occupants seem to be very respectable and sober persons.
I have made quiet enquiry in the neighbourhood and have ascertained that on several occasions one or two wounded soldiers have been entertained to tea in the garden.
The lodgers registration forms which are properly filled in have been inspected by me.
Mrs Emily Feline who has resided at 88 Rendlesham Road for the past 20 years informs me that Mrs Martin and her lodgers are very quiet and respectable neighbours and has never had cause to complain of them in any way.
The inhabitants of Rendlesham Road and other roads in the vicinity have been known to occasionally invite wounded soldiers to tea or small parties, and probably this is the cause of the complaint being made.
The above facts combined suggest that there is no foundation in the allegation that the house is a disorderly one, and I respectfully suggest that no further notice be taken of the letter.
T. Bateson
Souvenir of the Tottenham outrage