Hero's portrait goes under hammer
He was a campaigning newspaper reporter and editor whose work led to a change in the law – and who sat calmly reading a book in Titanic's first class smoking room as the vessel sank in 1912.
Now, collectors can bid for a rare photograph of WT Stead, one of Hayling Island's most remarkable residents.
William Thomas Stead lived at Seacourt from 1895 and was resident there when he died on the Titanic's maiden voyage.
Although his death alone would have been sufficient to earn him a place in history, Stead was a pioneer, whose work saw him jailed but also inspired a change in the law which remains in place today.
In 1885, while editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, Stead published a series of articles against child prostitution, entitled The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon.
To prove child prostitution was rife, he bought 13 year-old Eliza Armstrong from her family for 5.
As a result, he was jailed for three months but not before the government introduced the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which raised the age of consent to 16 and which Stead's expose was credited with inspiring.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Portsmouth
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: East
