Victorian London - Crime - Prostitution - London Labour and the
London Poor - Seclusives, Or Those
That Live in Private Houses and Apartments
London Labour and the London Poor
A
Cyclopædia of the Condition and Earnings of Those That Will Work, Those That
Cannot Work, and Those That Will Not Work.
By Henry Mayhew.
London:
Griffin, Bohn, and Company, Stationers' Hall Court. 1862.
[digitised copy kindly provided by Les
Butler, ed.]
[... back to index]
Seclusives, Or Those
That Live in Private Houses and Apartments
Two classes of prostitutes come under
this denomination - first, kept mistresses, and secondly, prima donnas or
those who live in a superior style. The first of these is perhaps the most
important division of the entire profession, when considered with regard to
its effects upon the higher classes of society. Laïs, when under the
protection of a prince of the blood; Aspasia, whose friend is one of the most
influential noblemen in the kingdom; Phryne, the chère amie of a well-known
officer in the guards, or a man whose wealth is proverbial on the Stock
Exchange and the city, - have all great influence upon the tone of morality
extant amongst the set in which their distinguished protectors move, and
indeed the reflex of their dazzling profligacy falls upon and bewilders those
who are in a lower condition of life, acting as an incentive to similar deeds
of licentiousness though on a more limited scale. Hardly a parish in London is
free from this impurity. Wherever the neighbourhood possesses peculiar charms,
wherever the air is purer than ordinary, or the locality fashionably
distinguished, these tubercles on the social system penetrate and abound.
Again quoting from Dr. Ryan, although we cannot authenticate his statements-
"It is computed, that 8,000,000l.
are expended annually on this vice in London alone. This is easily proved:
some girls obtain from twenty to thirty pounds a week, others more, whilst
most of those who frequent theatres, casinos, gin palaces, music halls,
&c., receive from ten to twelve pounds. Those of a still lower grade
obtain about four or five pounds, some less than one pound, and many not ten
shillings. If we take the average earnings of each prostitute at 100l. per
annum, which is under the amount, it gives the yearly income of eight
millions.
Suppose the average expense of 80,000
amounts to 20l. each, 1,600,000l. is the result. This sum deducted from the
earnings leaves 6,400,000l. as the income of the keepers of prostitutes, or
supposing 5000 to be the number, above 1000l. per annum each - an enormous
income for men in such a situation to derive when compared with the resources
of many respectable and professional men.
Literally every woman who yields to
her passions and loses her virtue is a prostitute, but many draw a distinction
between those who live by promiscuous intercourse, and those who confine
themselves to one man. That this is the case is evident from the returns
before us. The metropolitan police do not concern themselves with the higher
classes of prostitutes; indeed, it would be impossible, and impertinent as
well, were they to make the attempt. Sir Richard Mayne kindly informed us that
the latest computation of the number of public prostitutes was made on the 5th
of April, 1858, and that the returns then showed a total of 726 (1).
It is frequently a matter of surprise
amongst the friends of a gentleman of position and connection that he exhibits
an invincible distaste to marriage. If they were acquainted with his private
affairs their astonishment would speedily vanish, for they would find him
already to all intents and purposes united to one who possesses charms,
talents, and accomplishments, and who will in all probability exercise the
same influence over him as long as the former continue to exist. The
prevalence of this custom, and the extent of its ramifications is hardly
dreamed of, although its effects are felt, and severely. The torch of Hymen
burns less brightly than of yore, and even were the blacksmith of Gretna still
exercising his vocation, he would find his business diminishing with startling
rapidity year by year.
It is a great mistake to suppose that
kept mistresses are without friends and without society; on the contrary, their
acquaintance, if not select, is numerous, and it is their custom to order their
broughams or their pony carriages, and at the fashionable hour pay visits and
leave cards on one another.
(1) Life and Adventures of Col.
George Hanger, 1704.
They possess no great sense of honour,
although they are generally more or less religious. If they take a fancy to a
man they do not hesitate to admit him to their favour. Most kept women have
several lovers who are in the habit of calling upon them at different times, and
as they are extremely careful in conducting these amours they perpetrate
infidelity with impunity, and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred escape
detection. When they are unmasked, the process, unless the man is very much
infatuated, is of course summary in the extreme. They are dismissed probably
with a handsome douceur and sent once more adrift. They do not remain long,
however, in the majority of cases, without finding another protector.
A woman who called herself Lady ----
met her admirer at a house in Bolton Row that she was in the habit of
frequenting. At first sight Lord ---- became enamoured, and proposed sur le
champ, after a little preliminary conversation, that she should live with him.
The proposal with equal rapidity and eagerness was accepted, and without
further deliberation his lordship took a house for her in one of the terraces
overlooking the Regent's Park, allowed her four thousand a year, and came as
frequently as he could, to pass his time in her society. She immediately set
up a carriage and a stud, took a box at the opera on the pit tier, and lived,
as she very well could, in excellent style. The munificence of her friend did
not decrease by the lapse of time. She frequently received presents of jewelry
from him, and his marks of attention were constant as they were various. The
continual contemplation of her charms instead of producing satiety added fuel
to the fire, and he was never happy when out of her sight. This continued
until one day he met a young man in her loge at the opera, whom she introduced
as her cousin. This incident aroused his suspicions, and he determined to
watch her more closely. She was surrounded by spies, and in reality did not
possess one confidential attendant, for they were all bribed to betray her.
For a time, more by accident than precaution or care on her part, she
succeeded in eluding their vigilance, but at last the catastrophe happened;
she was surprised with her paramour in a position that placed doubt out of the
question, and the next day his lordship, with a few sarcastic remarks, gave
her her congé and five hundred pounds.
These women are rarely possessed of
education, although they undeniably have ability. If they appear accomplished
you may rely that it is entirely superficial. Their disposition is volatile
and thoughtless, which qualities are of course at variance with the existence
of respectability. Their ranks too are recruited from a class where education
is not much in vogue. The fallacies about clergymen's daughters and girls from
the middle classes forming the majority of such women are long ago exploded;
there may be some amongst them, but they are few and far between. They are
not, as a rule, disgusted with their way of living; most of them consider it a
means to an end, and in no measure degrading or polluting. One and all look
forward to marriage and a certain state in society as their ultimate lot. This
is their bourne, and they do all in their power to travel towards it.
I am not tired of what I am
doing," a woman once answered me, "I rather like it. I have all I
want, and my friend loves me to excess. I am the daughter of a tradesman at
Yarmouth. I learned to play the piano a little, and I have naturally a good
voice. Yes, I find these accomplishments of great use to me; they are,
perhaps, as you say, the only ones that could be of use to a girl like myself.
I am three and twenty. I was seduced four years ago. I tell you candidly I was
as much to blame as my seducer; I wished to escape from the drudgery of my
father's shop. I have told you they partially educated me; I could cypher a
little as well, and I knew something about the globes; so I thought I was
qualified for something better than minding the shop occasionally, or sewing,
or helping my mother in the kitchen and other domestic matters. I was very
fond of dress, and I could not at home gratify my love of display. My parents
were stupid, easy-going old people, and extremely uninteresting to me. All
these causes combined induced me to encourage the addresses of a young
gentleman of property in the neighbourhood, and without much demur I yielded
to his desires. We then went to London, and I have since that time lived with
four different men. We got tired of one another in six months, and I was as
eager to leave him as he was to get rid of me, so we mutually accommodated one
another by separating. Well, my father and mother don't exactly know where I
am or what I am doing, although if they had any penetration they might very
well guess. Oh, yes! they know I am alive, for I keep them pleasantly aware of
my existence by occasionally sending them money. What do I think will become
of me? What an absurd question. I could marry to-morrow if I liked.
A Night House - Kate Hamilton's
This girl was a fair example of her
class. They live entirely for the moment, and care little about the morrow
until they are actually pressed in any way, and then they are fertile in
expedients.
We now come to the second class, or
those we have denominated prima donnas. These are not kept like the first that
we have just been treating of, although several men who know and admire them
are in the habit of visiting them periodically. From these they derive a
considerable revenue, but they by no means rely entirely upon it for support.
They are continually increasing the number of their friends, which indeed is
imperatively necessary, as absence and various causes thin their ranks
considerably. They are to be seen in the parks, in boxes at the theatres, at
concerts, and in almost every accessible place where fashionable people
congregate; in fact in all places where admittance is not secured by vouchers,
and in some cases, those apparently insuperable barriers fall before their
tact and address. At night their favourite rendezvous is in the neighbourhood
of the Haymarket, where the hospitality of Mrs. Kate Hamilton is extended to
them after the fatigues of dancing at the Portland Rooms, or the excesses of a
private party. Kate's may be visited not only to dissipate ennui, but with a
view to replenishing an exhausted exchequer; for as Kate is careful as to who
she admits into her rooms - men who are able to spend, and come with the
avowed intention of spending, five or six pounds, or perhaps more if necessary
- these supper-rooms are frequented by a better set of men and women than
perhaps any other in London. Although these are seen at Kate's they would
shrink from appearing at any of the cafés in the Haymarket, or at the
supper-rooms with which the adjacent streets abound, nor would they go to any
other casino than Mott's. They are to be seen between three and five o'clock
in the Burlington Arcade, which is a well known resort of cyprians of the
better sort. They are well acquainted with its Paphian intricacies, and will,
if their signals are responded to, glide into a friendly bonnet shop, the
stairs of which leading to the cœnacula or upper chambers are not innocent of
their well formed "bien chaussée" feet. The park is also, as we
have said, a favourite promenade, where assignations may be made or
acquaintances formed. Equestrian exercise is much liked by those who are able
to afford it, and is often as successful as pedestrian, frequently more so. It
is difficult to say what position in life the parents of these women were in,
but generally their standing in society has been inferior. Principles of lax
morality were early inculcated, and the seed that has been sown has not been
slow to bear its proper fruit.
It is true that a large number of
milliners, dress-makers, furriers, hat-binders, silk-binders, tambour-makers,
shoe-binders, slop-women, or those who work for cheap tailors, those in
pastry-cooks, fancy and cigar shops, bazaars, servants to a great extent,
frequenters of fairs, theatres, and dancing-rooms, are more or less
prostitutes and patronesses of the numerous brothels London can boast of
possessing; but these women do not swell the ranks of the class we have at
present under consideration. More probably they are the daughters of tradesmen
and of artizans, who gain a superficial refinement from being apprenticed, and
sent to shops in fashionable localities, and who becoming tired of the
drudgery sigh for the gaiety of the dancing-saloons, freedom from restraint,
and amusements that are not in their present capacity within their reach.
Loose women generally throw a veil
over their early life, and you seldom, if ever, meet with a woman who is not
either a seduced governess or a clergyman's daughter; not that there is a word
of truth in such an allegation - but it is their peculiar whim to say so.
To show the extent of education among
women who have been arrested by the police during a stated period, we print
the annexed table, dividing the virtuous criminals from the prostitutes.
