I don't know for sure, but this sounds like it might be based on the commission into women and children in the mines in the 1840s - fascinating document.
[edit] yes, it is based on the mining commission - Kershaw is listed here:
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/ashley.html
The commissioner's description of the girl, after hearing her testimony is an excellent exampleofthe tone of the enquiry:
Quote:
This girl is an ignorant, filthy, ragged, and deplorable-looking object, and such an one as the uncivilized natives of the prairies would be shocked to look upon.
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