Death at the Savoy Mansions: Post-War London's Drug Underworld

Summary

After Dark: Death at the Savoy Mansions – A Deep Dive into Post-War London's Drug Underworld

Podcast: After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal
Hosts: Anthony Delaney & Maddy Pelling
Episode: Death at the Savoy Mansions: Post-War London's Drug Underworld
Release Date: March 6, 2025

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Introduction and Overview

In this gripping episode of After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal, historians Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling explore the shadowy underbelly of post-World War I London. Titled "Death at the Savoy Mansions: Post-War London's Drug Underworld," the episode delves into the tragic demise of Billie Carlton, a rising West End star, whose death exposed the rampant drug culture permeating 1920s London. Accompanied by esteemed guest Professor Virginia Berridge, a specialist in history and health policy, the hosts navigate through the complexities of societal change, drug legislation, and the intertwining of glamour with vice.

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Setting the Scene: London in the 1920s

The episode opens on a jubilant evening at the Royal Albert Hall in London, celebrating the end of the Great War. Amidst the festivities, we meet 22-year-old West End sensation Billie Carlton and her friend, fashion designer Reggie Devoy. However, the following morning, Billie's lifeless body is discovered in her apartment at the Savoy Court Mansions, sending shockwaves through society.

Maddy Pelling paints a vivid picture of the era:
"It's an electric and exciting time coming out of this trauma of the war. Hemlines are rising, hair is getting shorter, and women are asserting their independence." (07:25)

Professor Virginia Berridge adds context about the political landscape:
"Straight after the war, the Prime Minister was Lloyd George... society was very uncertain about the world after the war. Everything had changed." (06:20)

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Billie Carlton: A Rising Star Entangled in Dark Waters

Billie Carlton, a charismatic and attractive West End performer, symbolizes the new breed of independent women emerging in the post-war era. Her association with Reggie Devoy and attendance at opium parties depict the allure and danger of the burgeoning social scene.

Anthony Delaney introduces Billie’s prominence:
"She was a rising star, attractive, and appealing to many, especially with the rise of the popular press promoting personalities more than before the war." (08:08)

Professor Berridge explains the term "bachelor girl":
"A bachelor girl is an unmarried woman who chooses to remain single, which was seen as threatening because it undermined societal norms about women's roles." (24:26)

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The Opium and Morphine Scene in 1920s London

The episode delves into the prevalence of drug use during the 1920s, particularly focusing on opium and morphine. Opium parties, often hosted in the opulent circles of London's West End, became a clandestine affair where leisure mingled with addiction.

Virginia Berridge elucidates the nature of opium parties:
"There would be a kind of communal opium smoking... they would divest themselves of their clothing and put on pajamas... and smoke opium communally." (09:14)

The discussion highlights the limited but significant recreational drug scene, primarily concentrated in the West End and among specific social circles, including theatre and cinema.

Anthony Delaney raises the distinction between recreational and medical use:
"What was being talked up was really a quite limited drug scene... recreational use was quite limited." (11:52)

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The Tragic Death of Billie Carlton

Billie Carlton's untimely death serves as the focal point of the episode, unraveling the intricate web of drug use, societal pressures, and emerging legislation. Her overdose, attributed to cocaine, brought the concealed drug culture into the public eye, igniting moral panic and legislative action.

Virginia Berridge recounts the inquest findings:
"The original finding was that she died from an overdose of cocaine, and her friend Reggie Devoy was put on trial for manslaughter." (22:07)

The press portrayed her death as part of an alarming epidemic, intertwining themes of race, gender, and morality.

Maddy Pelling reflects on the societal implications:
"There is a sense of predator behavior in that drug dealers are selling to these women who are admired... to have that taken away is an element of the sexual politics between men and women." (28:35)

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Legal Repercussions and Changing Legislation

Billie Carlton's case was a catalyst for significant legal reforms in the UK's drug policy. The episode traces the journey from scattered regulatory measures to comprehensive legislation, largely influenced by international treaties and domestic pressures.

Professor Berridge outlines the legislative evolution:
"Regulation 40B was passed under the Defence of the Realm Act, requiring morphine and cocaine to be issued on prescription only... Brilliant Chang's case in 1923 led to the Dangerous Drugs Amendment Act, tightening regulation further." (31:50)

The introduction of stricter controls marked a shift from permissive attitudes to stringent oversight, aiming to curb the rising tide of recreational drug use.

Anthony Delaney observes the paradox of increasing regulation amidst a hedonistic social scene:
"There is cocaine and morphine presence recreationally in nightclubs and private settings, even as regulations tighten." (21:27)

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Women, Race, and Society: The Intersectionality of Drug Culture

The episode delves into the societal attitudes towards women and racial minorities involved in the drug underworld. Billie Carlton's status as a bachelor girl and the racial tensions of the time added layers of complexity to public perception and legal proceedings.

Virginia Berridge discusses the gender dynamics:
"Women were exploited in sexually charged scenarios, not as independent drug dealers but as intermediaries." (38:03)

Racial prejudices also influenced the narrative, with figures like Ada Ping Yu being singled out, reflecting the era's racial tensions.

Maddy Pelling contemplates the media's role:
"The press often linked drug use with racial and sexual deviance, exacerbating societal fears." (26:25)

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Legacy and Modern Reflections

Concluding the episode, Professor Berridge draws parallels between the 1920s drug culture and contemporary issues, highlighting the cyclical nature of societal attitudes towards drug use and legislation.

Virginia Berridge reflects on the evolution of public discourse:
"The knee-jerk reactions of the past are unlikely today... there's more considered and informed reporting now." (35:13)

The episode underscores the enduring impact of Billie Carlton's case on drug policy and societal perceptions, emphasizing the lessons learned and the ongoing challenges in balancing regulation with personal freedom.

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Conclusion

"Death at the Savoy Mansions" offers a compelling exploration of post-war London's clandestine drug scene, illuminated by the tragic story of Billie Carlton. Through insightful analysis and vivid storytelling, Anthony Delaney, Maddy Pelling, and Professor Virginia Berridge uncover the intricate interplay between societal change, drug culture, and legislative response. This episode not only sheds light on a lesser-known facet of history but also invites listeners to reflect on the enduring complexities surrounding drug use and societal norms.

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Notable Quotes:

• "Straight after the war, the Prime Minister was Lloyd George... society was very uncertain about the world after the war. Everything had changed." – Virginia Berridge (06:20)

• "A bachelor girl is an unmarried woman who chooses to remain single, which was seen as threatening because it undermined societal norms about women's roles." – Virginia Berridge (24:26)

• "The original finding was that she died from an overdose of cocaine, and her friend Reggie Devoy was put on trial for manslaughter." – Virginia Berridge (22:07)

• "Women were exploited in sexually charged scenarios, not as independent drug dealers but as intermediaries." – Virginia Berridge (38:03)

• "There is cocaine and morphine presence recreationally in nightclubs and private settings, even as regulations tighten." – Anthony Delaney (21:27)

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Transcript

[Anthony Delaney]

Hi, we're your hosts Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling. And if you would like After Dark, Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal ad free and get early access, sign up to.

[Maddy Pelling]

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[Anthony Delaney]

Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com subscribe.

[Maddy Pelling]

It's Wednesday 27th November 1918 in the Royal Albert hall in London. The venue, influenced by designs of ancient Roman amphitheatres, with its iconic domed roof and eye catching red brick, has hosted some of the nation's most important and impressive events since its opening a few decades ago. In recent years there's been more of a charitable focus, from a Titanic band memorial concert in 1912 to to countless fundraising events for the war effort. But tonight, the creme de la creme of society celebrities from the political, entertainment and military worlds are rubbing shoulders for a much more jubilant reason. They're celebrating the end of the Great War. The armistice signed just 16 days ago. The war to end all wars. Everyone knew someone who didn't make it. The crowd partying at the ball are not the same people they were just a few years earlier. Among the attendees is 22 year old West End star Billie Carlton. Billie is causing a stir in the theatre world and her star is rapidly on the rise. She's with her friend Reggie Devoy, the fashion designer who created the exclusive, extravagant black dress she's wearing tonight. Together they talk fast and excitedly, chatting to old friends and new. And the party will continue long into the small hours. The next morning at the Savoy Court Mansions, located just behind the luxury hotel, a maid heads to Billy's apartment to serve breakfast and start her daily chores. Hearing an unusual silence after entering the flat, she heads to the bedroom. As she opens the door, she sees Billy's lifeless body on the bed. Billy Carlton is dead. And it wasn't long until the rest of the world would find out.

[Anthony Delaney]

Hello and welcome to After Dark. I'm Anthony.

[Maddy Pelling]

And I'm Maddie.

[Anthony Delaney]

And today we are listening to and hearing a history that I was not very aware of. So it's actually quite exciting to be discovering this brand new. We're talking about the death, as Maddie was describing, a West End star and it is a death that shocked the nation at the time, made headlines Billy Carlton. So this is the person we're going to be talking about today. And it opens up a history about the industry that was happening around cocaine and around morphine nightlife. Of course and then the London Underground. We're in the 1920s. Change is in the air, hemlines are rising. You need to think flapper dresses at this time if you're not sure what the 1920s were like. And trauma, I suppose, trauma that has come in the wake of World War I. So this is quite widespread in English society or European society at this point. This is all linking in to a brand new series on the BBC called Dope Girls, which Maddie and I have had a quick look at and are so, so excited.

[Maddy Pelling]

The 1920s, with the exception maybe of Peaky Blinders, we haven't really seen it on screen. I mean, I love a good Jane Austen on repeat preferably, but it's so exciting to see the early 20th century on screen. I love it.

[Anthony Delaney]

And you will know that Maddie and I are not experts in the early 20th century. We far more comfortable in the 18th century. So today our guest is going to help us guide through all of these themes. And the story of Billy Carlton, of course, is Professor Virginia Berridge. And Professor Berridge is a professor of history and health policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Thank you so much for joining us today.

[Virginia Berridge]

Thanks.

[Maddy Pelling]

We are so excited to have you, Virginia, and to step into this world that, as we say, we don't know that much about. I know it's very glamorous. I know it's a. I suppose has a darker edge because of the trauma of the First World War just being finished. But before we get into it, I am going to ask Anthony at the top of this episode. We usually do this about halfway through, don't we? But I'm going to make you do it up front. I'm going to make you describe an image because this is an incredible photo. Tell us what we're looking at.

[Anthony Delaney]

It's very simple in many ways. It is a black and white image of a woman dressed in almost fairy like costume. I would say she's holding up. I guess what's giving me the. The fairy like imagery is she's holding up the sides of the dress into what looks like wings almost. And she's just holding those out at her side. She's corseted slightly, although not obviously an older corset. It's a. It's a looser corset. Her arms are bare. She has a bit of a plunging neckline, I suppose. So this is probably a risque stage outfit. I'm imagining loads of layers to some.

[Maddy Pelling]

Great shoes as well.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah, some great character shoes that are laced up around her Ankles. And she's very command. She's not looking directly at us. It looks as if she's looking off to her left hand side and just working out my rights and lefts there on the spot.

[Maddy Pelling]

We get the basics correct on this podcast.

[Anthony Delaney]

And yeah, she's very commanding. She's very poised. It's almost balletic. I would know instinctively that this is a performer, but she's quite a striking, striking person.

[Maddy Pelling]

She looks like a character, doesn't she? Now, we are gonna talk about who this person is and her background, but let's get a little bit of context now, Virginia. The 1920s in London. We've got a lot going on. There's a lot of social change, isn't there? Can you give us a lay of the land? What's happening in terms of those changes? Who's the prime minister at the time? What's the political landscape like? What's going on? What would it feel like to step back into that moment?

[Virginia Berridge]

Well, straight after the war, the Prime Minister was Lloyd George, who was really the last Liberal Prime Minister that we had. You know, the great wartime Prime Minister. But it was really the end of the Liberal Party as a political force in. In the way which it had been in the 19th century. So he was representing kind of an older version of politics in a way. I think society was very. People were very uncertain about the world after the war. Everything had changed. There'd been a very definite way in which society was organized before the war. After the war, things were much more fluid. Dresses were shorter, much, much shorter. A lot of concern about the role of women, I think, and women's independence. The new bachelor girl that people talked a lot about. So a bit like the debts we had concern about a few years back as well.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah, I suppose the silhouette of women is changing, isn't it? As we said, the hemlines are rising, the hair is getting shorter and shorter in the 20s as well. And I suppose that we could tie that in to a certain extent with the suffragette movement that's still ongoing at the early 1920s, isn't it?

[Virginia Berridge]

Yeah. And of course, women have just got the vote. Or some women have got some women.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So things are changing. This feels like an electric and exciting time coming out of this trauma of the vote. And of course, lots of people are bringing that trauma with them. We heard in the opening narrative that there were military people socializing in this party at the beginning. Was that a normal sight post war in the 20s, to see people in uniform out and about, were they marked by their presence in London.

[Virginia Berridge]

Yeah. A lot of people were still in the armed forces or people coming back. People didn't come back immediately, so they were gradually coming back into society. Yeah, yes.

[Anthony Delaney]

Right. So now that we've established a bit of the context, I had described an individual woman at the start of this episode, Virginia, and that was Billy Carlton. Can you tell us a little bit more about her?

[Virginia Berridge]

Yeah. Billie was. She was only 22, but she was already a kind of rising star. She'd been in various things, including just recently a play at the Haymarket Theatre in London. So she was, and I think she was one of Charles Cochrane's young girls, you know, in the theatre. So she was definitely somebody that becoming known. She was an attractive personality. She, you know, appealed to a lot of people. And this is the period when also you've got the popular press becoming much more important. Papers like the Daily Mail and Daily Express and so on. And so they're promoting those people who are personalities much more than had been the case before the war.

[Maddy Pelling]

And of course they're going to promote them, but I suppose also tear them down, you know, in true tabloid form. We know, Virginia, that Billy attended opium parties. Now, what is an opium party in the 1920s?

[Virginia Berridge]

Well, there had been a tradition for a long while of kind of middle class people going down to the East End of London to Limehouse to smoke opium amongst the Chinese community down there. But what seems to have happened during the war and also immediately afterwards was for people associated with that world down in Limehouse to come up to the West End and to bring opium with them. And so there would be a kind of communal opium smoking. So there was a lot of talk during the Billy Carlton case, which occurred after her death, about opium smoking parties off Piccadilly and in other areas of the West End. And somebody called Ada Ping Yu, who was the Scottish wife of a Chinese seaman down in Limehouse, would come up from Limehouse with the opium, distribute it to people who were in a flat. The reporting in the popular press said, oh, they would all divest themselves of their clothing and put on pajamas. Which doesn't sound exactly exotic to us nowadays, but it was very exotic in the terms of the time. And they would smoke opium communally. So that's an opium smoking party.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah. I mean, it certainly sounds odd to our ears today, doesn't it? Is this something where part of the enjoyment of it is to be seen at these parties in amongst this fashionable crowd? Or is it the. Of the opium itself and the state that that would then open up to you. That is the desirable effect.

[Virginia Berridge]

Yeah, I don't think there were huge. I don't think it was a party with huge numbers of people. It was a fairly small group. But the idea was the sort of altering of consciousness, the opium stupor that people might have had after smoking.

[Anthony Delaney]

And is it the same. This might be a silly question. Is it the same opium that people are using in the 19th century or. Cause I know we're going to get into a link between morphine and cocaine. Is there a change in the substance or is it just they're known as opium parties but there's different substances being used.

[Virginia Berridge]

Well, the opium they're using is opium, which is the raw drug, which is put at the end of an opium pipe and twizzled around over a flame. But what was also around were called alkaloids, the active principle of opium. One of those is morphine, which comes into the Billy Carlton story. Another one is heroin, which doesn't come in, but which was discovered in the 1890s, I think, which wasn't very widely used at this time.

[Anthony Delaney]

So, Virginia, give us an idea then of how popular or usual recreational drug use was during the 1920s.

[Virginia Berridge]

I don't think it was very popular or usual at all. I think what was being talked up was really a quite limited drug scene, probably focused on the West End of London in certain theatrical cinema. One of the people involved was a cinema actor. So those sorts of circles and possibly some people still going down to Limehouse to smoke opium as a kind of, you know, rather daring thing to do. But really recreational use was quite limited. And when the Rolleston Committee later on took evidence about this, most of the people they found who were taking drugs on a long term basis were people who were taking, not for really recreational reasons, but because they've been prescribed it a long while before and had continued to take it.

[Anthony Delaney]

It does show, doesn't it, like that in the hundred year period, let's say, that we've traversed since, there's probably not very many households now that haven't in some way been touched by drug use or influenced by drug use or damaged or in many different ways. Whereas it really does sound like it's a very, very unusual thing in the 1920.

[Virginia Berridge]

But remember, everyone probably would have had an opium based medicine in their medicine cabinet.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Virginia Berridge]

So there's a kind of medical use which could have shifted into something more, but that went under the radar, really.

[Maddy Pelling]

So how prevalent was opium usage? I'm looking at my notes Here. And it says, before the First World War, Britain actually signed the International Opium Convention at the Hague in 1912. So is this seen as an acceptable thing in society? Is it a growing problem?

[Virginia Berridge]

How was it perceived going back into the 19th century, opium had been very widely available up to round about the 1860s because people could access it completely without any controls at all. So there'd been very widespread use because it was a common sort of pick me up self medication. When people didn't have access to orthodox medicine, they would take some kind of over the counter opium preparation, laudanum for example, which is opium and alcohol combined. So opiate use had been very, very widespread. Some controls were introduced in the 1860s under the Pharmacy Acts. So opium products over a certain strength had to be sold by a qualified pharmacist. You couldn't just go down to the corner shop and buy what you wanted. And those pharmacy acts had been altered, made somewhat more stringent throughout the 19th century. But basically when you get to the First World War, it's the Pharmacy acts which are still controlling drugs in the uk.

[Maddy Pelling]

So there is some control.

[Virginia Berridge]

Yeah, there's some control. But you know, people were very used to those sort of over the counter medicines and they were also used for children as well. Things like Goldfri's cordial, Collis brands, chlorodyne, which you may have heard of. It's been around, I think it's still around in the present, was one of those opiate based patent medicines.

[Maddy Pelling]

So I mean, it seems remarkable to us, doesn't it today, that children would be taking this. But I know that as well as the sort of shock of children taking it, that in the First World War there was concern about troops taking some of these drugs, that soldiers going off to fight in the First World War had this in their system.

[Anthony Delaney]

I wonder why they might be concerned that troops had opium.

[Maddy Pelling]

I believe today you are kicked out of the army if you do not pass a drugs test. So I think there are higher standards today. But I mean, how prevalent was this as an issue in the military?

[Virginia Berridge]

What you're starting to get from about the early years of the 20th century is a concern about people using drugs for more recreational purposes. So the use back in the 19th century hadn't really been that recreational. There were occasional periods of concern about recreational use, but there's a big gulf kind of opening up between ordinary everyday use and use to change consciousness deliberately or for non medical reasons. Really. Yeah. During the First World War there began to be concern, there was concern about smuggling of Morphine and cocaine during the war, because they were needed. They were drugs, particularly morphine, which was needed as a painkiller for the war effort. And there was also concern that troops were starting to use drugs, and this focused particularly on Canadian troops who were billeted in Folkestone. Why did you flee the Canadians?

[Anthony Delaney]

Why?

[Virginia Berridge]

Well, this came to the fore, I think, probably because there was potentially more of that sort of usage in North America. So it only became obvious when there was troop movement during the war. Canadians were billeted on the south coast and people were coming to the camp and selling cocaine and morphine. And there was not very much that could be done under the existing pharmacy acts to control that.

[Maddy Pelling]

See, it's fascinating to me that you say about they're doing this when they're in camp, they're not necessarily doing this when they're deployed to the continent to fight in the First World War. This is potentially recreational, you know, outside of work hours, even if it is on a military camp. That when you spoke there about morphine being a painkiller, used certainly in medical procedures in the field, in the arena of war. But this is something else altogether. This is just for fun. This is quite shocking.

[Virginia Berridge]

Yes. Although there was another side to this, because I think it was in 1916, Harrods and Savory and Moore, the chemists, had been marketing little kits with ampoules of morphine and cocaine under the headline, the byline of a useful present to send to friends at the front. Oh, wow.

[Maddy Pelling]

Wow.

[Virginia Berridge]

And this was, you know, a bit like sending a packet of cigarettes out, maybe, and they were prosecuted because that didn't conform to the pharmacy acts. But it did happen, you know, it was something that you could just go and buy something and send it to.

[Anthony Delaney]

We've talked a bit about the opium and the morphine side of things.

[Virginia Berridge]

Let's just.

[Anthony Delaney]

Just quickly, for people who might not be aware, look at the cocaine side of things. So what exactly is cocaine? And you talked there about how readily available it might have been. But there are so many other readily available uses of cocaine at this time too, like Coca Cola, I'm thinking, But just give us a bit of a kind of the backstory of cocaine.

[Virginia Berridge]

Cocaine is the alkaloid, the active principle of the South American drug coca. And coca was not something that was widely available in the uk, and its alkaloid was discovered later than morphine. But coca became quite the rage in the 1870s, 1880s. A lot of medical men discovered its use as something that could aid hard work, which of course, it had always been used for many years in South American countries. And so there was a lot in the medical journals at that time about how people were going on walks in the Highlands and taking chewing coca as they went and, you know, that enabled them to do much longer treks than they did usually. And then of course cocaine came on the scene, the alkaloid, and that had quite widespread usage, but particularly as an anesthetic. So it was quite widely used as a dental anesthetic in particular, where other drugs didn't work.

[Maddy Pelling]

It's really fascinating, isn't it, that line between recreational and medical, and they're often overlapping actually. So we have morphine, opium in its various forms and then we've got cocaine. And this is all combining in the area around Soho in the 1920s towards the west End. This is presumably all appearing not for medical purposes but almost exclusively for social reasons.

[Virginia Berridge]

Part of the concern about the troops was that some of the troops were coming up to the West End and buying drugs around the Piccadilly Circus area, which of course has been long standing area where drugs are bought and sold. I mean, it was the same sort of area in the 1960s and there was very little that could be done. The Army Council, which was in charge of the army during the war, used a decoy to try and get people prosecuted for what they were doing. That didn't work very well. And so there was a lot of concern about what this might do to the war effort, undermining the war effort and so on. And so in 1917, a regulation, Regulation 40B was passed under the Defence of the Realm act, which was a kind of catch all act that enabled regulations to be passed very quickly under wartime conditions. And that required morphine and cocaine to be issued on prescription only. And the prescription could only be issued once, much more control.

[Anthony Delaney]

It's interesting that you're describing this, these elements of control that are coming in. And then we have, as you were kind of saying, the backdrop of Soho, where that control seems to unravel slightly and it seems to be a little bit more hedonistic. I mean, people throw that word around probably quite liberally, but there's, I think.

[Maddy Pelling]

You could say Soho in the 1920s probably was that a little bit more.

[Anthony Delaney]

Hedonistic than the regulation that we're talking about there. And you know, we're talking about the real growth of nightclubs. There is cocaine and morphine presence there recreationally and in private settings as well. And then one of the most famous clubs. And that links to this story is the 43 Club. So I think that's one of the places that we're going to be talking about as we come into this. But we want to shift focus slightly now and talk about Billy's court case, the actress that we heard about from the start of the episode. So we have an inquest. Tell us a little bit about what happens there. What are the findings of the inquest?

[Virginia Berridge]

I think the original finding was that she died from an overdose of cocaine and then her dress designer friend Reggie Devoe, who'd been at these opium smoking parties, had apparently supplied her with the drug. So he was put on trial for manslaughter. And, you know, a lot of evidence was produced about what had gone on in Billy's circle during that court case.

[Maddy Pelling]

I suppose that's the sort of dark side of this, isn't it, that we have drugs being used outside of those parameters of the law in this space that is incredibly social. All these different types of people are coming together. We've got West End stars, we've got soldiers, ex soldiers, we've got people who've come up, as you say, from Limehouse to socialize, but also potentially to sell and to deal in the drugs. And you have all these different lives and these different perspectives converging and everyone's sort of letting go of their control, you know, within these environments. Was there a feeling at the moment and thinking particularly about, you know, Billy Carlton being this big star on the rise and that she is someone who is admired and looked up to, and she's starting to appear in the popular press and everyone kind of has a sense of who she is and who she's going to go on to be. Was there then a feeling of darkness associated with this, that the 1920s, coming out of this period of trauma and war, I suppose everyone wants her to be lightness and happiness and fun and jovial good times all round. Is there a sense that this is laced with something a bit darker when she dies? Does her story take on those proportions and sort of challenge the changes that are taking place in terms of society and drug use?

[Virginia Berridge]

Yeah, I think people. Well, certainly the way in which it was written up in the popular press is very much, you know, there's a kind of epidemic of drug taking which is over, potentially undermining everything. And there was lots of stories which read really strangely to us now, like cocaine eye and morphine twitch and so on. And often those stories were tied up with these bachelor girls who were potentially taking to drugs and to all sorts of, you know, Alternative ways of living.

[Maddy Pelling]

Virginia, you mentioned they're a bachelor girl. So what is a bachelor girl and why are they considered to be dangerous or threatening to society?

[Virginia Berridge]

Well, a bachelor girl is an unmarried girl. Not somebody who's waiting around in the hope that she'll get married, but somebody who might choose to be unmarried in her lifestyle and her life. And that was seen as threatening because it was undermining what people saw as the point of being a woman was to get married and have children. And that kind of norm has been undermined a bit by the war.

[Maddy Pelling]

And I suppose Billie Carlton really falls into that category, doesn't she? She's not waiting around for a man. She's gone and got her life. She's on the West End. She's this rising star. She's this exciting new celebrity. And I suppose her independence is a problem for people, isn't it?

[Virginia Berridge]

I guess so. Although I suppose people in the theatrical world were always a bit different. And the idea of the bachelor girl, too, was somebody who might be studious and study and get qualifications and so move on into a different kind of life, too.

[Maddy Pelling]

That's interesting. There is nothing more dangerous than a lady who's studying.

[Anthony Delaney]

Single lady.

[Maddy Pelling]

Watch out. There's something interesting there, isn't there, about women in particular taking these drugs? And we've heard about how it's prevalent amongst men in the military. Is there a different moral standard that's applied to women at the time? Is it shocking that she's died potentially from an overdose because she's a woman?

[Virginia Berridge]

Potentially, yes, that was the case. And also because of the connection with Reggie, people didn't talk about homosexuality in the way which you might do in the present. But he was always referred to as somebody who, you know, had these rather queer mannerisms and, you know, was a rather alternative sort of person. So it was connected with that idea too, of, I think, shifting sexual roles within society.

[Anthony Delaney]

You talked about the press coverage and you talked about some of the racist elements that were coming in there. And earlier on you'd spoken about the Chinese community that had been linked to some of these parties in the domestic spaces. I'm just wondering how prevalent it was that they were brought up during this press coverage. Were they targeted specifically? Was this something that they really wanted to hone in on, or was it just a sideline feature to the bigger names like Billy, or was it really part of the story?

[Virginia Berridge]

Yeah, it was an element because people had been writing about the Chinese and opium smoking in the East End of London since the 1870s. 1880s, really. I mean, Dickens and Oscar Wilde, Portrait of Dorian Gray. But I think there's an added element to it after the war. Much more kind of racial tension, lack of racial harmony and so on. And so the, you know, the idea of people who are somehow different from mainstream society comes a lot more to the fore, I think.

[Anthony Delaney]

And tell me this, were any individuals from that community singled out during this time, or was it just a blanket community issue that was being presented in the press?

[Virginia Berridge]

Well, there was a lot of talk about the, you know, Ada Ping Yu, who was the wife of the Chinese person in Limehouse. So I guess if anyone was singled out, it was her, which was strange, really, because she was Scottish. But.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Virginia Berridge]

But the idea of kind of sexual relationships across racial boundaries was also something that was alluded to.

[Maddy Pelling]

And I suppose the fact that it is a young white woman who's died as well, presumably that's picked up in the press. And there's a sense of, I suppose, predator behavior in that drug dealers are selling to these women who are seen as, especially in the case of Billy Carlton, you know, sort of, as I say, rising stars and someone put on a literal pedestal on a stage and admired for her sort of vitality. And to have that taken away, is that an element, the sort of sexual politics between men and women?

[Virginia Berridge]

Yes, that definitely comes into it. Yeah.

[Anthony Delaney]

Almost inevitably, it feels like, doesn't it, there's going to be a crackdown in the wake of Billy's death. And based on all the headlines that have happened, can you give us an overview of the legal actions that kind of come afterwards?

[Virginia Berridge]

Well, the legal actions that came afterwards actually started well before the Carlton case. So I probably need to go back to that, the early years of the 20th century, and really back to China itself. Because the Americans who were seeking to expand their influence in China saw the Indochinese opium trade as a kind of barrier to expanding American trade in China. So they started a whole process of attempted regulation or ending of that trade, starting at something called the Shanghai opium Commission in 1909. And that gradually expanded over the next few years to take on board morphine and cocaine as well. And an international treaty had been signed at the Hague just before the First World War. Now it was only the Americans who were keen to expand this to be a global system. The British weren't at all keen, mainly because the Indo Chinese opium trade was coming to an end anyway. So they didn't see the need for all this international regulation. So that treaty was on the international statute books. Before this First World War broke out, but only the Americans had done anything to put any regulation into place. And they passed the Harrison narcotics Act in 1914, which led to a kind of prohibition system in America. British hadn't done very much at all. They'd done a bit of talking about what might happen, and the idea was that they would just basically continue something rather like the existing Pharmacy Acts, and it would probably be regulated by a government agency called the Privy Council Office, which overlooked the Pharmacy Acts. But the war and the. The Carlton case, I think, helped to change all that. The Hague Convention became part of the peace settlement in 1919, so it became part of the Treaty of Versailles. And it meant that the British government had to do something just a few years before that. Into the scene had stepped the Home Office, the Justice Department and a civil servant called Sir Malcolm Delevingne. And Sir Malcolm Delevingne was very determined that there was going to be much more penal system and the Home Office was going to be in charge of it. And so he became a really important figure in international drug control right up until 1930s, 1940s.

[Maddy Pelling]

So this case has a really long impact then. It really does change the way that drugs are perceived, certainly in the press, in the public, but also in terms of legislation. What did that mean for the drug dealers themselves? I'm thinking about. I have in my notes here, there was a drug dealer called Brilliant Chang, and he. He feels the force of these new legislations, doesn't he?

[Virginia Berridge]

Yes. That was the death of Frieda Kempton, who was a nightclub dancer, and she died of an overdose of cocaine, I think it was, in 1922, 1923. And it led to another court case, not as high profile as the Billy Carlton one, but Brilliant Chang came into that as somebody who'd supplied the drug, and he ran a restaurant in Regent Street. So again, there was a similar kind of mixture of. Of race and sex coming into the press. And a Dangerous Drugs act had been passed in 1920, which Britain had to do in line with her international obligations. And this led to a tightening up of legislation in 1923 with dangerous drugs Amendment act, and that led to a lot more regulation and oversight.

[Anthony Delaney]

So, Virginia, with that regulation, it occurs to me that there probably was some form of public debate, or was there a form of public debate at this time around usage of opiates and cocaine or whatever. Was that part of the conversation at the time, or am I putting too modern a spin on that?

[Virginia Berridge]

There was a lot of popular press debate, but how much public debate is Debatable really, because often when the laws were passed, there was no political debate. They really passed almost without discussion, just something that had to be done because, you know, this was Britain's obligation. The only debate that started up, and this was quite significant, was amongst doctors and pharmacists because doctors felt that, or some doctors felt that these regulations were unnecessary. They were closing down what the medical profession could do. And they didn't like the fact that the Home Office was in control because they felt that the newly established Ministry of Health, which had only been set up in 1919, just after the war, really should have been in control of drug control. But they weren't and they still aren't. It's still a Home Office issue. And so doctors started to be quite vigorously opposed to this continual restriction of drugs. So the Ministry of Health appointed a committee in 1924 called the Rolleston Committee. It was chaired by Sir Humphrey Rolleston, who is a very eminent leading doctor of the. And that took some evidence about drug use and prosecutions, what was going on in the drug field and so on, and it brought out its report in 1926. And this was a very significant report, again something that was not noticed at all at the time, which said that if you needed drugs for a medical purpose, if you were, maybe if you were addicted, but you needed to take drugs on a long term basis under the supervision of your doctor, then that should be something that was allowable and that continued something which became known as the British system of drug prescription drug taking.

[Maddy Pelling]

It seems to me, Virginia, there's a lot of echoes of this moment in the 1920s in terms of this changing legislation, the changing attitudes. How different is it now? Where are we in terms of our cultural debate around the use of drugs and the possibilities as well as the problems that it arises?

[Virginia Berridge]

Well, I guess the kind of knee jerk reaction that you had in the 19 random Billy Carlton case with these very hysterical press headlines, I think that's probably unlikely to happen nowadays. It did go on being the case for quite a long while, well into the 60s, 70s and 80s. And politicians in particular would in no way be associated with any change in the drug laws. It was kind of political death to be seen to be that, that sort of advocate. I guess that's changed. I guess there's more considered reporting, informed reporting in the media now. And of course many more people take drugs now than was the case back in the period when we're talking about. So I guess there is a changing balance in society.

[Maddy Pelling]

The prevalence of drugs in the 1920s was largely, or at least in part, let's say, due to the popular press and the sort of glamorizing of it. Because, of course, you know, we've spoken here about people taking drugs recreationally. They are still to a certain extent in control of the drug that they're taking, the amount that they're taking. Of course, they're not quite necessarily in control of where it's come from or how much they're being given, but it is their choice. And the darker side of this, of course, is addiction and very serious health problems, societal problems that arise from that. Do you think the popular press was interested in those problems in the 1920s as it is today? Or do you think there was a glamorization that led to people like Billy losing their lives?

[Virginia Berridge]

I think they were only interested in addiction insofar, you know, the idea that once you started taking something, you were almost inevitably addicted, and it was a downhill track, a downhill spiral. I don't think they were interested in the kind of medical side of addiction, addiction treatment or anything like that. The sort of addicts that doctors were trying to defend, really, the medical addicts or the people who are taking it because they'd been given it on a prescription and then continued to take it, really didn't enter into the public discussion at all. Whereas I think nowadays we have much more discussion about those sorts of people, don't we?

[Anthony Delaney]

I suppose a good place to finish would be to link back to where we started. And the inspiration for us doing this episode was Dope Girls TV series. And I would be interested to know what your take is on where women, particularly at this moment in time, fit into these conversations. We've heard of kind of male drug dealers. Is there anything to go on that tells us that women played a part in the traffic of these substances? Or is it very much a story of the fact that women have overdosed and they're dying?

[Virginia Berridge]

Well, some of the Piccadilly Circus dealings, and I think some down in Folkestone as well, they were using prostitutes as a kind of intermediary to pass the drug onto people who wanted to buy. So there's, again, it's women in this kind of sexually exploited kind of scenario, not women as kind of independent people who are selling drugs. So I think it's always women who are exploited by men in some ways.

[Maddy Pelling]

Well, I think that's all we have time for. Thank you so much for being our guest today. It's a fascinating world and I can't wait to watch more of Dope Girls and to dive into this multi layered time in history. If you've enjoyed this episode on the 1920s we do have other episodes. We've got the Edith and Percy Thompson triangle. Do you remember that?

[Virginia Berridge]

No, they.

[Maddy Pelling]

Oh, Anthony never remembers a single episode.

[Anthony Delaney]

We do the alien abduction people.

[Maddy Pelling]

No, they're the love triangle murder.

[Anthony Delaney]

Oh, I loved that one.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah, that's good. And Freddie Bywater was the other person from that. Yeah, he's the other element of that triangle. Oh, yes, it's a fantastic episode. So we had a lot of fun. We did. You might not remember.

[Anthony Delaney]

No, no, I remember. I like that one. I like that one.

[Virginia Berridge]

Yeah.

[Maddy Pelling]

If you have suggestions for any other topics from the 1920s or any other era of history, then you can get in touch with us.

[Anthony Delaney]

It's after [e-mail] watch Dope Girls on BBC iPlayer.