New Zealand's 'Incorrigibles' : tackling the vices of the socially problematic, 1870-1930 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
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2024-10-04
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Massey University
Chapter Four (©2022 The Author) was first published online on February 14, 2022. Citation: Blondell, D. (2023). Till Death Do Us Part: Laborers’ Marriage Practices in Late Victorian New Zealand. Journal of Family History, 48(1), 81-102. DOI: 10.1177/03631990221078588
Chapter Four (©2022 The Author) was first published online on February 14, 2022. Citation: Blondell, D. (2023). Till Death Do Us Part: Laborers’ Marriage Practices in Late Victorian New Zealand. Journal of Family History, 48(1), 81-102. DOI: 10.1177/03631990221078588
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Abstract
Some of those on the edge of New Zealand society have been labelled 'incorrigible'. Examining their experiences offers a way of understanding the lives of poorer people during the period of major social change between the 1870s and the 1930s. This period saw the State expand its scope in response to social clamours, moral panics, and newfound responsibilities. As a result, it was thrust into the position of not only governing, but also of exploring social problems; that is, regulating them or providing some form of institutional response. This required a balance between accommodating some elements of the problem and controlling the unacceptable extremes.
For the most part, attempts to deal with the incorrigible were attempts to deal with the ‘undeserving poor’, and looking at those labelled incorrigible shows considerable overlaps with generalisations made about that group. Despite being identified as the cause of social problems, the undeserving have largely been excluded from established narratives, or recognised by historians mainly for the ways in which they allegedly undermined social morality. This thesis shifts the focus by centring five groups associated with unrespectable behaviours. Prostitution in New Zealand saw older common prostitutes convicted as incorrigible rogues. Among railway labourers, an unexpected number of informal and bigamous marriages leads to questions about a working-class subculture with values different from those of the majority. The actions and motives of women who provided a home for unwanted children were distrusted when the baby-farming label was used to generate moral panic. Difficult reformatory girls housed at Te Oranga Home, the national girl’s reformatory, were supposed to be turned into useful domestic servants, but those who resisted reform were termed incorrigible. 'Mental defectives' were the subject of a Committee of Enquiry report in 1925 as interest in eugenics led to a particular focus on hereditary in degeneracy. The families used as case studies demonstrate how readily these ideas were accepted and imposed on the New Zealand context. The approach taken primarily focuses on the people themselves, with evidence about their lives gathered using genealogical tools and practices.
State efforts to control social behaviours were often mitigated by the desire for the transformation of those behaviours into more acceptable forms, with recognition of a lack of capacity to address the contributing factors. New Zealand society and the State tolerated informal marriages due to unwillingness to accept divorce, it allowed troublesome older women to be labelled common prostitutes, it tolerated baby-farmers as they provided necessary foster-care, and it provided institutions to care for young women rather than provide support for families. As society developed ways of dealing with social problems, it seems to have been accepted that eradication was not possible, nor was it necessarily desirable. There was often a practical underlying reason, a real issue that the behaviour addressed, and social labels served a useful purpose, enabling a degree of community policing and control of the objectionable. Investigating groups of 'incorrigibles' deepens our knowledge of how society attempted to control those it feared. In addition, this thesis also shows how people dealt with being labelled. The perceived problem was often symptomatic of other less obvious tensions and expectations. In fact, the 'misfit' was part of the community, and their behaviours show the strength of middle-class norms, despite the obstacles the underserving encountered.
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informal marriage, cohabitation, divorce, labourers, working-class, delinquency, female sexuality, prostitution, Vagrant Act, Contagious Diseases Act, Mental Defectives Act, pedigree chart, family studies, Infant Life Protection Act, illegitimate children, foster-care, baby-farmer, unwanted babies, New Zealand