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You may find this hard to credit, but a chap called Wallace Stort - who had a bit of a thing about girls with missing limbs - had literally hundreds of letters praising the charms of women he dubbed "monopedes" published in a weekly glamour magazine called London Life between 1924 and 1941. The website reports that:

"A probably less than enthusiastic lady artist provided most of the the rather vapid illustrations of a demi-monde where young women rest contentedly on chaise-longues, their delicately chaste gowns revealing fewer limbs than even the heroine possesses. She is in every scene, in and out of the boudoir, resting or sweetly poised on her one dainty leg. Even when she is obliged to toy with an equally dainty crutch, it leaves her hand invitingly free for dalliance with a clean-cut (and unimpaired) hero."

Mm, yes, that's right. Were Lady Bracknell to lose any of her limbs, she would immediately become so helpless that she would have no option but to throw herself on the mercy of an "unimpaired hero". Particularly one who got off on the fact that she had a stump or two. Not.

Somewhat unfairly, the OverGround site goes on to report that: "One or two plaintive letters from men inquired whether there were ladies who found limbless males especially attractive, but no response emerged."

Lady Bracknell wishes to make it clear that she does not, under any circumstances, condone devoteeism. She is, however, intrigued to discover that its proponents achieved such a wide coverage over almost three decades in the early part of the 20th century. Should you wish to, you can read all of Stort's contributions .

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