Friday, 4 April 2008

Ladies Smoking Forbidden

LADIES SMOKING FORBIDDEN

As always, accounts of 'Police News' in the popular press provide fascinating insight into the manners and mores of Victorian society. The limits placed on women in the period are always interesting, and it's here we find out that smoking was one area where the battle lines were drawn, as late as the 1890s (St. Pancras station, opened in 1868, contained a ladies smoking room, I believe, although some considered it scandalous). For an interesting history of society and smoking, including some nice stuff on the Victorians, see 'Giveup.ca'.