It struck me that the list of records of the Liverpool Girls’ Reformatory, discussed in my previous post, was missing one important category of documents:

Letters, confiscated

Every letter written by the girls to their friends and families would, of course, have been checked by the staff. And any notes complaining about or discussing the conditions in the Reformatory – strict rules, birchings received – would have been confiscated.

Haron and I lay in bed on Sunday morning speculating on the contents of the file – after, that is, I’d given her six cuts of the cane (much deserved for her somewhat inebriated behaviour the evening before).  Our conclusion was that the most interesting letter in the archive wouldn’t be one intended for a recipient outside the Reformatory; rather, it’d be an intimate billet-doux from one girl to another:

28 June 1922

My dearest Eileen,

It’s so tough in here. Your kisses mean so much to me. I long for the secret moments we find together, for the gentle touch of your fingers.

With love from your sweet friend,

Flora

A good historian would doubtless correlate the date on the letter with the contents of the Admission Register to identify the girls – both aged 18, it would seem – and the Reformatory Punishment Book:

29 June 1922. Eileen Turner. Indeceny. 12 strokes. Cane.

29 June 1922. Flora Denby. Indecency. 12 strokes. Cane.

Both entries would show the govenor’s signature. The only matter left for speculation would be where the punishments took place. In his office, bent over next to one another, taking alternate strokes? In his office, the first girl called in to be caned as the other listened, trembling, outside the door? Or my hunch: in the refectory, after lunch, bent over in full view of the other girls – the caning both punishment and deterrent?