W T Stead 1885

In 1885, a journalist called W T Stead purchased a 13-year-old girl from a woman for prostitution. (At that time, the age of consent was 13). The girl’s mother sold her for 5 pounds (several weeks' wages for many people). The buyer made it clear that the child must be ‘pure’ i.e. a virgin. But Stead took the girl to safety in France. Stead then wrote about it to show how easy it was to buy a child. Partly as a result, the age of consent was raised to 16.