Meanwhile, the ‘Wrens of the Curragh’, for instance were a group of some sixty women working as ‘camp followers’ for the British Army garrison at the Curragh Camp, in County Kildare. Both Victorian era neo-Puritanism rooted in the rise and growth of a heavily Evangelical middle class and an escalating fear of venereal disease, particularly as a threat to the British armed forces, led to the introduction of a series of Contagious Diseases Acts in the 1860s.
The 'Wrens of the Curragh' were women who worked as camp followers for the British Army at the Curragh Camp in County Kildare during the Victorian era. This was a result of Victorian neo-Puritanism and concerns about venereal disease among soldiers, which led to the introduction of Contagious Diseases Acts in the 1860s.