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As Oxford streets fell to darkness due to blackouts, a wave of moral panic gripped the city as the abnormal conditions of war gave rise to 鈥渋mmoral behaviour鈥�.

In November 1916, a self-appointed group calling themselves the 鈥淥xford Vigilance Committee鈥� authored a report that catalogued in detail much of this behaviour, speculated on its causes and suggested 鈥渞emedies鈥�.

Self-appointed 鈥渨omen patrols鈥�, working in pairs and wearing armbands, went out on the streets to record what was going on, and to try and move people on 鈥� but they had no official status or powers of arrest.

Historian Malcolm Graham recently uncovered the document, marked 鈥楶rivate and Confidential鈥�, which captures the fears and social dislocation of a city.

With much of its male population away fighting, and with a new male population of soldiers, new recruits and convalescents; nothing was to be the same again.

Location: Carfax, Oxford OX1 1ET
Reading by Sue Rae
Image: Oxford Vigilance Committee Report front page, courtesy of Oxfordshire County Council 鈥� Oxfordshire History Centre

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