|
 |
 |
|
|
|
| Author |
Message |
    
Baron von Zipper
Detective Sergeant
Username: Baron
Post Number: 148
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 12:50 pm: | 
|
All,
I am spending a lot of time trying to get details on the social situation in Whitechapel. I'm having no luck. Here's what I'm interested in finding out:
1. Prostitution: What did they earn on average? An article by John Holingshead from victorianlondon.org says this: " The female population in these courts and alleys, as usual, forms the greatest social difficulty [-49-] to be dealt with. Their husbands may be dock labourers, earning, when employed, if on the "permanent list," 3s. a day - if on the "casual list," only 2s. 6d. a day; their children, after an education in the streets or the ragged schools, may be drafted off into lucifer-match or brush factories, where cheap and juvenile labour is in much demand; but for the woman, and the grown up daughters, although it may be necessary for them to help in maintaining the poor household, there is nothing but ill-paid needlework, which they may never have learnt. Domestic servitude in this neighbourhood, with a few exceptions, is not to be coveted, as there is little more, for the local-bred servant, than a choice of low gin-shops, or lower coffee-houses. The best paid occupation appears to be prostitution, and it is a melancholy fact that a nest of bad houses in Angel Alley, supported chiefly by the farmers' men who bring the hay and straw to Whitechapel market twice a week, are the cleanest-looking dwellings in the district."
Clearly this indicates that prostitution was often a choice and a chance to earn better wages than most single women in that area. This being said, the question is posed: Was the downtrodden condition of our victims the exception rather than the rule, and was it an up and down (no pun intended... really) profession that had moments of plenty (in comparison to the washerwomen) and moments of despair. Some accounts I've read talk about them (prostitutes) as being enamored of new clothing, and being painted unlike the other Victorian women.
2. What were the pub hours? I know that they became less liberal in the Victorian era, culminating in the hours established in the Defense of the Realm Act. Is this accurate? Did pubs, much as they did in western Ireland until a few years ago, stay open after hours for those customers who were still buying? Were these ladies waling the streets from 11:00 (pub hours) until 5, 6, or 7 in the morning, or were they allowed to hang out in a pub fraternizing with the clientele, so long as the police weren't concerned about pub hours?
3. Did Maybrick take his journal with him on the train to London? (just kidding about this one)
Cheers
Mike
"La madre degli idioti è sempre incinta"
|
|
Use of these
message boards implies agreement and consent to our Terms of Use.
The views expressed here in no way reflect the views of the owners and
operators of Casebook: Jack the Ripper.
Our old message board content (45,000+ messages) is no longer available online, but a complete archive
is available on the Casebook At Home Edition, for 19.99 (US) plus shipping.
The "At Home" Edition works just like the real web site, but with absolutely no advertisements.
You can browse it anywhere - in the car, on the plane, on your front porch - without ever needing to hook up to
an internet connection. Click here to buy the Casebook At Home Edition.
|
|
|
|
