Josephine Butler (Mrs George Butler)

Josephine Butler (1828 - 1906) was a zealous social reformer in the cause of women. She lived in Liverpool from 1866 to 1882 while her husband was Principal of Liverpool College. She is chiefly remembered for her work on behalf of prostitutes. She established refuges, fought successfully for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, and campaigned in Europe and at home against the white slave trade. Alexander Munro was a close associate of the Pre-Raphaelites. He carved a series of statues of scientists to decorate the new Oxford Museum, one of the outstanding gothic revival buildings of the 1850s, and it was through this project that he became a good friend of the Butlers who were then living in Oxford.