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 a group of sixty women who served as camp followers for the British Army at the Curragh Camp in County Kildare during the Victorian era. This was part of a larger trend, fueled by Victorian neo-Puritanism and concerns about venereal disease among soldiers, that led to the enactment of Contagious Diseases Acts in the 1860s.