Harriet Kettle: Pauper, Prisoner, Patient, and Parent in Victorian Norfolk

Harriet Kettle (c1838-1916) was a rebel against authority in Victorian times. With the death of her mother and with her father transported to Australia, she grew up in the workhouse. Becoming a sex worker in Norwich, she got into trouble and was imprisoned several times. Diagnosed with ‘moral insanity’ she spent periods in asylums before marrying, settling in Toftwood and having four children. Disputes led to her assaulting the schoolmistress at the school and taking neighbours to court. A survivor, in old age, she died in the workhouse.As well as providing a detailed narrative of Harriet’s life, this book explores in depth the contexts in which it was lived: the village of Cranworth, Gressenhall Workhouse, the courts and yards of Norwich, Walsingham and Wymondham Houses of Correction, the Norfolk County Lunatic Asylum, the Bethlem Hospital in London and Toftwood, a suburb of East Dereham. In so doing, it provides a vivid picture of the grittier sides of life in Victorian times.