Society for the Suppression of Vice (U.K.)
The Society for the Suppression of Vice (U.K.) was a British organization established in 1802, primarily focused on censoring materials deemed obscene and blasphemous. Originating from concerns about the decline of the Proclamation Society, the Society aimed to address various societal issues, including fraud, cruelty to animals, and prostitution, with a significant emphasis on controlling access to explicit literature and art. The society garnered support mainly from the bourgeoisie, reflecting fears about the impact of accessible reading materials on the increasingly literate lower classes. Among its notable achievements was the successful prosecution of obscenity cases, contributing to the passage of the Vagrancy Act in 1824, which aimed to regulate street life and indecent materials.
The Society served as Britain’s main censoring body until the Obscene Publications Act in 1857 and was instrumental in over 150 successful prosecutions between 1845 and 1868. However, financial challenges led to its decline in the 1870s, and it ultimately ceased operations in 1880. The organization was briefly revived as the National Vigilance Association following a public demonstration in 1885 aimed at combating prostitution. The Society for the Suppression of Vice reflects the complex interplay of morality, censorship, and societal norms in 19th-century Britain.
Society for the Suppression of Vice (U.K.)
Founded: 1801
Type of organization: British procensorship body
Significance: This organization played a leading role in opposing such vices as pornography and prostitution in nineteenth century Great Britain
Concerned with decline of an organization called the Proclamation Society in 1801, a British procensorship group published “A Proposal for Establishing a Society for the Suppression of Vice and the Encouragement of Religion and Virtue.” The new group’s concerns were initially broad, covering confidence games, honest measurements, fortune telling, cruelty to animals, prostitution, and various common amusements. The group’s chief goal, however, was censoring obscene and blasphemous materials, such as literature, titillating reports of true crime, magazines, photographs, postcards, and art prints—anything offered for sale by London’s notorious Holywell Street pornographers. Since pornography in nineteenth century Great Britain was not just a working-class amusement, but an elite obsession, the society drew most of its support from the growing bourgeoisie, who feared what kinds of dangerous materials the increasingly literate lower classes might begin reading. One early society success was the 1824 Vagrancy Act, which controlled street people and prohibited the sale or display of indecent materials.
The society was Great Britain’s primary censoring body until passage of the Obscene Publications Act of 1857. Between 1845 and 1868, it was responsible for 154 successful prosecutions for obscenity. The group dwindled due to lack of funds through the 1870’s and ceased its work in 1880. It was revived as the National Vigilance Association after an August 22, 1885, Hyde Park demonstration in support of journalist W. T. Snead’s purity campaign against prostitution.