Hooker Havens

[Barrister]

Can anyone provide the name of a doss house where men and women were allowed to share a bed without benefit of marriage? I am looking for a place where a prostitute would know she could comfortably bring a john. Many thanks.

[Amanda]

Can anyone provide the name of a doss house where men and women were allowed to share a bed without benefit of marriage? I am looking for a place where a prostitute would know she could comfortably bring a john. Many thanks.

Hi Barrister,

56 Flower & Dean Street was a 'mixed' doss house with a bad reputation. As long as one or the other party had the 4 shillings to pay for a bed, the landlady 'turned a blind eye' to the goings on.

Amanda

[jerryd]

Can anyone provide the name of a doss house where men and women were allowed to share a bed without benefit of marriage? I am looking for a place where a prostitute would know she could comfortably bring a john. Many thanks.

I believe Spitalfield Chambers at 8, White's Row allowed this as well. Frances Coles and Sadler were shown to their room by Charles Guiver, the night watchman.

[Hutch Orris]

You DO mean in 1888 Barrister? You're not just planning on coming over for a holiday?

[Ginger]

I may well be wrong, but I'd been of the impression that only the 'socially improving' (i.e., nonprofit/religious) places like the Night Refuge really cared who roomed together, or what they did in the room, so long as you didn't cause trouble.

[miss marple]

it was usual for many poor to hook up without legal marriage, nobody asked for bits of paper, there was no social disgrace it was part of the culture. Costers were well known for picking a partner when very young and just staying together taking the man's name. It was much more common than people realise. Examples from literature, Nancy anf Sykes in Oliver Twist and Doolittle in Shaw's Pygmalion / My Fair Lady, where Eliza's Dad inherits money from a rich American and becomes 'respectable' so has to marry Eliza's mother. My own great grandparents had many children and lived together for twenty years before gettung married.
Joe Barnett hooked up with Louisa but seems not to have married her.

The term 'hooker haven' is a misnomer for the social life of the 19th century East End

Miss Marple

[DJA]

The term 'hooker haven' is a misnomer for the social life of the 19th century East End

Miss Marple

+1

There is no evidence of Eddowes prostituting herself.

Ditto Mary Kelly,for that matter.

[Barrister]

How cheeky you are, Hutch. Yes, I am seeking information from 1888.

[Barrister]

Thanks for the useful clarification. I meant no offense to the poor women who were forced by cruel poverty to engage in such conduct.

[GUT]

+1

There is no evidence of Eddowes prostituting herself.

Ditto Mary Kelly,for that matter.

Well maybe other than her death certificate which lists her occupation as Prostitute.