If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
I was just (to my shame) browsing through that Monaghan book (JtR's Secret Confession) and noting that the Secret Life stated that he paid women 5, 10 shillings--sometimes up to 10 and 20 pounds.
There's also the odd story of a man giving a woman in Hanbury Street "two brass medals, or bright farthings, as half sovereigns" on the morning of Chapman's murder:
http://www.casebook.org/victims/polly.html I believe Donald Rumbelow was the one who discovered the prices for sexual services but I cannot remeber the book just now. It is mentioned in the above link. Hope this helps, Dave
Hi there,
I know that this has been covered in other threads, but I'm b***ered if I can find the posts again...
I just wanted to find the source for the fourpence encounter with prostitutes in our geographical and temporal range of interest...I was just (to my shame) browsing through that Monaghan book (JtR's Secret Confession) and noting that the Secret Life stated that he paid women 5, 10 shillings--sometimes up to 10 and 20 pounds. Clearly, this top range related to higher class (class in the vernacular, not necessarily higher social class) and younger women in rooms and houses offering particular services...but, even looking at the lower end, the difference between 4d and 5 shillings seems to me to be a heck of a chasm.
So, can anyone please point me to a reference that states the sum that our ladies would have charged? It would be most appreciated; I am going to be asked about it in my MPhil viva, I am sure, and I am woefully ill-prepared! Thanks, muchly, as usual.
Leave a comment: