Historedia
EuropeEvent

International white slave trade affair scandal exposed in Brussels

When
1879–1881
Where
Brussels
Episodes
3

The White slave trade affair was an international scandal in Brussels, Belgium, in 1880–81. It exposed the illegal sex trafficking of foreign girls to Brussels brothels, revealing involvement by authorities. The case attracted international infamy and became the starting point for the international campaign against sex trafficking.

Episodes

  1. September 1879 · BrusselsAdeline Tanner Case

    Nineteen-year-old Adeline Tanner stated she was kidnapped from London by Belgian brothel owner Eduoard Roger in September 1879.

  2. 1 May 1880 · BrusselsPublication by Josephine Butler

    Josephine Butler published information provided by Dyer in the article 'The Modern Slave Trade' in the Shield on 1 May 1880.

  3. February-July 1881 · BrusselsOfficial Resignations

    During the trials, Police Commissioner Lenaers lost his position in July 1881 over an illegal alcohol monopoly, and Mayor Félix Vanderstraeten resigned in February 1881 after the brothel house sale was revealed; official Schröder was also deposed.

Background and detail

Background. Between January 1878 and January 1880, at least forty women under 21 worked in Brussels brothels. At least ten under-aged girls were registered, with confirmed cases of coercion. In autumn 1879, a British businessman was offered sex from a kidnapped British woman, highlighting the illegal nature of the trade prior to the 1880 exposure.

Exposure. In 1880, it was revealed that about fifty foreign girls had been sex trafficked illegally to work in brothels in Brussels. The case became a major scandal attracting international infamy, especially because some people within the authorities had been involved in the trade.

Consequences. The scandal attracted international attention to sex trafficking and became the starting point of the international campaign against it. Campaigns started in Belgium after the 1880 scandal, spreading to Great Britain in 1885, France in 1902, and the United States in 1907.

People involved

Sources

  1. White slave trade affair Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-02

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.