The Case Of Eliza Armstrong

Storyline

W.T. Stead a pioneer of modern investigative journalism, with a flair for the sensational, was a supporter of the Social Purity movement. Through Rebecca Jarrett, a reformed prostitute and brothel-keeper, Stead staged the purchase of a young girl, a certified virgin, the 13-year-old Eliza Armstrong, whose alcoholic mother Elizabeth was in need of money. The mother agreed to sell her daughter for a total of £5 "to serve as a maid to an old gentleman" on June 3 1885. Both parties were fully aware of that the affair was about prostitution. On Saturday July 4, W.T. Stead's article was published in the Pall Mall Gazette.