Read The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London Online
Authors: Judith Flanders
Tags: #History, #General, #Social History
The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London (86 page)
153
. According to the
Dictionary of National Biography
, Hanger was considered ‘among the dregs of society’ by his contemporaries.
154
. The female age of consent had been twelve since the sixteenth century; in the nineteenth century, intercourse with a girl under the age of ten was a felony, with a girl aged between ten and twelve a misdemeanour. The age of consent was raised to thirteen in 1875, and to sixteen in 1885. Historically there has never been a male age of consent for heterosexual sex.
155
. In Greek mythology, Cyprus was devoted to the worship of Aphrodite, and so a Cyprian was a prostitute. If one wants to carp, ‘gay Cyprian’ is the equivalent of saying a prostituted prostitute.
156
. It is worth remembering, too, that at the beginning of this period, as well as being the main red-light district at night, the Haymarket was, in the daytime, just that: a market where hay was sold: ‘The whole right hand side of the street going downwards, from the Piccadilly end to the Opera House, used to be lined with loads of hay’, with the pavement ‘crowded by salesmen and their customers’.
157
. I suspect that ‘bare to the waist’ here means without the handkerchief that would normally have been worn at the neck of a low-cut dress, thus with the breasts partially exposed, which Walter’s ‘half naked’ in the next sentence appears to back up. (See also note on p. 184.) Although this passage is corroborated by Walter, I have found Flora Tristan unreliable on the subject of prostitution more generally. She replicates whole passages from Ryan’s
Prostitution in London
, which cannot be taken at face value (see p. 395), and she doubles Colquhoun’s estimate of the number of prostitutes in London, purely because, she writes, the population had doubled.
158
. Walter seems overly optimistic about their income. If a woman paid 15s a week for her rooms, and once a year bought a dress for £5, plus other items of clothing for another £5, food (7s a week), fuel (3s), candles or other lighting (3s) and laundry (1s), at a minimum her outgoings would be nearly £3, probably closer to £4 to cover only the basic necessities of life and her trade. This would require eight clients a week paying the maximum to cover the basics, leaving no room for anything to go wrong, no seasonal fall in trade, as in August, and with no money going towards dependants. That some women in the West End or prosperous locations could indeed make a living this way and set money aside for the future can be seen in the stories of women like the coffee-house proprietor Munby knew (see p. 400); but it was just as obviously not possible for everyone.
159
. Walter claimed in the 1850s that the overseer of a house in James Street, which had eight good rooms and two small, less desirable ones, took £20 a day. Eliminating the two small rooms, if we assume that the eight rooms charged 5s per customer, then to make £20 a day, each room would have to process ten customers a day, a hot-sheet hotel indeed. Even if the actual income were only half this, the house’s turnover would be over £2,500 a year for a forty-six-week year.
160
. The cases relate entirely to male homosexual transactions; if there were female homosexual street encounters, we have no evidence: unlike male homosexual acts, which had been illegal from 1533, there have never been any legal constraints on female homosexual acts, and therefore the court records, which supply so much evidence for men, are of no assistance.
161
. The man who was arrested with them swore in court that he had thought they were women, and that earlier, when he had seen them dressed as men, he had thought they were women in men’s clothes. But as he was facing prosecution for intent to commit sodomy, to quote a more modern sex-trial witness, he would, wouldn’t he?
INDEX
NOTE: Page numbers in
italic
refer to illustrations and captions. Works by Charles Dickens (CD) appear directly under title; other works under author’s name)
Abbey Mills sewage station,
225
Aberfield, William (‘Slender Billy’),
347–8
Abney Park cemetery, Stoke Newington,
223
accommodation houses,
381
n,
402
,
411–12
Acton, William,
395
,
395–6
,
398–9
,
416
,
418
Adelphi Terrace,
226
advertising,
241–6
age of consent,
399
n
Aix-la-Chapelle, Peace of (1814),
364
Albert Bridge,
65
Albert, Prince: birthday celebrations,
365
; cause of death,
215
n; celebrates end of Crimean War,
309
; death,
314
; funeral,
323
; public attitude to,
312
; at theatre,
313
; visits burnt-out Covent Garden theatre,
331
; at Wellington’s funeral,
343
,
345
Albion (supper house),
302
ale, porter and stout,
287
Alexandra, Princess of Wales (
later
Queen of Edward VII): reception on arrival in London,
308
,
315–17
; wedding celebrations,
366
Alhambra Music Hall,
347
All Soul’s Church, Langham Place,
265
n
All the Year Round
(magazine),
6
,
225
,
326
,
403
Alsatias,
270
& n
American Civil War,
322
Anatomy Act (1832),
374
Angelo, Henry,
388
Anglesey, Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of,
345
animals: baiting,
347–9
; street shows,
258
; waste,
207–8
Anne, Queen,
261
n
Anti-Duelling Association,
370
Apsley House (‘No. 1, London’),
307
,
335–6
Argyle Assembly Rooms, Windmill Street,
406
,
418
artesian wells,
273
Artful Dodger (character,
Oliver Twist
),
176
Asclepius,
242
n
Astley’s Amphitheatre (and Equestrian Show),
278
,
304
,
347
Asylums for the Houseless Poor (Refuges for the Destitute),
196–7
Atkins (showman),
278
Bachelor’s Pocket Book, The
,
404
,
413
backslang,
249–50
Badcock, Jonathan:
Real Life in London
,
98
& n,
156
,
248
,
289
,
348
Bailey (character,
Martin Chuzzlewit
),
87
bakers,
26
Baldwin, Jemmy,
355
Ballard’s Menagerie,
278
Ball’s Alamode Beef House, Butcher Hall Lane,
296
Banks, Joe (‘Joe the Stunner’),
360
& n
barbers,
136
Bardell, Mrs (character,
Pickwick Papers
),
245
,
274
Barham, Revd Richard,
277
Barking Creek,
225
Barley Mow public house, Strand,
414
Barnaby Rudge
(CD),
421
Barrett, Michael,
390–2
Barrow, John,
357
Barry, Sir Charles,
104
n,
271
,
272
n,
276
Bartholomew Fair,
278
baths,
211–12
Baths and Washhouses Act (1847),
212
Bathyani, Prince,
98
Battersea: old wooden bridge,
64
Battersea Fields,
267
Battersea Park: free access,
43
Bay Tree, St Swithin’s Lane (chophouse),
298
Bazalgette, Sir Joseph,
225
Beale, Sophia,
73
,
104
,
241
,
313
,
317
,
341
,
375–6
bear-baiting,
348
beating parish bounds,
318
Bedford Estate, Bloomsbury,
261–2
,
264
Belgrave Square,
263
Belgravia,
182
Belton, Fred,
340
Bemerton Street, King’s Cross,
193
Benjamin, Walter,
12
Bennett, Alfred Rosling,
35
& n,
52
n,
72
,
248
,
255
,
283
Bentham, Jeremy,
214
Berkeley Square,
263–4
Berners Street: hoax,
17–20
Bethnal Green: market,
134
; sanitary conditions,
38
; slums,
182
Beverley Brook,
200
bill-stickers,
243–4
Billingsgate fish market,
126–7
Binny, John,
397
Black Ditch (river),
200
Blackfriars railway station,
106
n
Blackmore, Edward,
416
Blake, William: burial place,
220
n
Bleak House
(CD): on clocks,
22
n; describes Thames,
200
; on fog,
204–5
; Tom-all-Alone’s location in,
49
; walking in,
27–8
,
184
Bloomsbury: squares,
261–2
Boffin, Mr (character,
Our Mutual Friend
),
32
Boiled-Beef House, Old Bailey,
296
boots: second-hand sale,
137–8
Boucicault, Dion:
The Streets of London
,
274
Boulton, Ernest and Frederick Park,
401
,
416–18
,
417
boys: street amusements and behaviour,
304–5
; working in streets,
154–7
;
see also
children
Braidwood, James: at Tooley Street fire,
112–13
,
117–18
; funeral,
118–21
,
118
; heads Fire Engine Establishment,
327–98
Brand, Jack,
415
Brass, Sampson (character,
Old Curiosity Shop
),
325
Bricklayers’ Arms (railway station),
316
& n,
317
,
339
bridges: advertisements on,
244
; as river crossing points,
64–5
; toll-free,
48
Britannia theatre,
288
British Museum: admission,
174
n
Broad St, Soho (now Broadwick Street),
218
Broad Street railway station,
106
n
Broadcasting House,
266
n
Brompton Cemetery,
223
Brontë, Charlotte and Anne: visit London,
30
,
294
Brooks, Shirley,
234
brothels,
189
n,
395
,
411–12
;
see also
accommodation houses; prostitutes
Brougham, Henry Peter, Baron,
265
,
335
Browne, Hablot Knight (‘Phiz’),
12
n
Buccleuch, Walter Francis Scott, 5th Duke of,
226
Bud, Rosa (character,
Edwin Drood
),
423
Builder, The
(magazine),
81
n
Building Act (1844),
216
bullies
see
pimps
Bunyan, John,
220
n
burials,
219–22
Burke, Richard O’Sullivan,
390
Burke, William and William Hare,
375
n
Burton, James,
262
buses
see
omnibuses
butchers: and animal slaughter,
132
Byron, George Gordon, 6th Baron:
English Bards and Scotch Reviewers
,
19
Caithness, James Sinclair, 14th Earl of,
121
Caldwell’s dancing establishment, Dean Street,
407
Camberwell Workhouse,
172
Canning, Charles John, Earl,
276
Cannon Street: built,
189
Cannon Street railway station,
106
n
Carker, Mr (character,
Dombey and Son
),
64
,
156
Carlton Gardens,
266
Carlton House Terrace,
266
Carlyle, Thomas: disturbed by cock crowing,
208
; on dog theft,
379
; on Smithfield market,
128
; witnesses burning of Parliament,
331
Carnaby market,
131
Caroline, Queen of George IV,
310
n
carriages: cost,
85–6
; hackney,
79
; lamps and lighting,
88–9
; numbers,
86
,
274
; technological development and types,
87–8
;
see also
coaches; stagecoaches
Carrington, Charles Robert Carington, 3rd Baron,
370–1