Prostitution Only?

[belinda]

Could any of the women have made enough money to survive by prostituition alone?
They weren't in their prime any more except for Mary so it occured to me could they really have made enough to live on without doing any other kind of work.

[Jane Coram]

Hi Belinda,

Polly Nichols spent almost her entire time in and out of workhouses in the later years of her life, and she would just have worked in the laundry or kitchen there. She probably only resorted to prostitution in the gaps between work houses and casual wards. She was placed as a domestic with the Cowdrys at Ingleside for a couple of months, but that soon went out of the window and it's more or less certain that she existed purely on prostitution or possibly theft between that time and the time she was murdered. The fact that she was at the White House for the last ten days or so of her life, probably meant that she was getting her bed paid for by one or more men in payment for services rendered.

Annie certainly used to make a living selling bric a brac, crochet work and silk flowers at Statford and allegedly sold along Hanbury Street and even at number 29 according to at least one newspaper report. It seems that she only resorted to prostitution when she couldn't get money any other way.

Elizabeth allegedly did cleaning work around the area, and she certainly cleaned a couple of rooms at her lodging house on the day she was murdered, so it seems very likely that she did earn a fair bit of her money, either charring or as a seamstress. The piece of green velvet might support the latter. I can't imagine she would have procured a piece of green velvet if she couldn't do anything with it. She was a known prostitute though, so it would seem pretty certain that she made her income up with the odd leg-over.

Kate and John had just returned from hopping and it seems likely that John brought in more income than Kate generally and that she probably just did odd jobs charring and whatever work she could find for them to get by. It's not certain that she was a part-time prostitute, but it would seem, looking at the evidence that she did prostitute herself when all else failed.

Mary appears not to have had any work, so when Joe lost his job at Billingsgate, it looks as if she went back to prostitution full time and used that and the pittance that Joe gave her to keep her bones together.

Hard times.

Hugs

Janie

xxxxx

[Henry Flower]

I may be wrong, but was there not some mention of Mary Jane Kelly and her temporary room-mate doing the odd bit of laundry for cash?

I can't find a link for that right now, and I am virtually hallucinating from anti-flu medication so I may be entirely wrong - but it's something I think I remember reading somewhere on casebook.

Michael

[Henry Flower]

I think it highly likely also that, judging by her behaviour on the night of Nov 8th / 9th 1888, Kelly was in the habit of singing about violets until her neighbours paid her to stop singing and let them get some sleep.

[Phil Carter]

I think it highly likely also that, judging by her behaviour on the night of Nov 8th / 9th 1888, Kelly was in the habit of singing about violets until her neighbours paid her to stop singing and let them get some sleep.

Hello Henry,

It could have been a lot worse, she could have been singing a bawdy 13th Century verse about Maid Marion. Or reciting the self-made musical long version of The Canterbury Tales...

PS Get well soon... been there this autumn.. it's a nasty one this year.

best wishes

Phil

[sleekviper]

Or "100 bottles of ginger beer on the wall, 100 bottles of ginger beer...take one down, pass it around, 99 bottles of ginger beer on the wall"...

[Jane Coram]

Hi,

'Laundress', or 'seamstress' was often a euphemism for prostitution back then. Apart from anything else, Mary had no facilities to take in washing and launder it, so if she did dash away with the smoothing iron, it certainly wasn't in Miller's Court.

Hugs

Janie

xxxx

[corey123]

Hello All,

Don't forget it was Polly Nichols worked in various places apart from prostitution. As did they all at some point.

Edit: sorry if this post seems redundant. Jane summed it all up quite nicely.

[Henry Flower]

Hello Henry,

It could have been a lot worse, she could have been singing a bawdy 13th Century verse about Maid Marion. Or reciting the self-made musical long version of The Canterbury Tales...

PS Get well soon... been there this autumn.. it's a nasty one this year.

best wishes

Phil

Phil Carter - thank you for your best wishes. Sore throat gone, only faucet-nose remaining to plague me. And, er, what's wrong with bawdy verse?! It beats violets and dead mothers, surely!?

[Henry Flower]

Or "100 bottles of ginger beer on the wall, 100 bottles of ginger beer...take one down, pass it around, 99 bottles of ginger beer on the wall"...

Sleekviper - previously I've looked at the photos of Millers Court and thought that I couldn't imagine anything that could make the scenario any more of a nightmare than it was. But then... the bottles of beer song..... for hours....

Now I'm not sure she was even a Ripper victim. If she sang that song, my money is on one of her neighbours being the culprit.

[Henry Flower]

Hi,

'Laundress', or 'seamstress' was often a euphemism for prostitution back then. Apart from anything else, Mary had no facilities to take in washing and launder it, so if she did dash away with the smoothing iron, it certainly wasn't in Miller's Court.

Hugs

Janie

xxxx

Thank you Jane - I'm sure that's what it probably was. We've never spoken here before but I'm a long-time admirer of your contributions.

(That sounded like a Frankie Howerd euphemism, but honestly wasn't meant to!)

[belinda]

Thanks for your great post Jane.That's my point they all did other work.The myth seems to be that they were all surving by prostitution alone but they don't seem to have made much from it.It seems to have been more of a last resort when they had no doss money ect.

A Side Note

I like to think that somewhere somebody has a piece of Annie Chapmans crochet work that has been kept as a family heirloom.

[jason_c]

Thanks for your great post Jane.That's my point they all did other work.The myth seems to be that they were all surving by prostitution alone but they don't seem to have made much from it.It seems to have been more of a last resort when they had no doss money ect.

A Side Note

I like to think that somewhere somebody has a piece of Annie Chapmans crochet work that has been kept as a family heirloom.

Which may have been quite often considering some of their drinking habits.

[YankeeSergeant]

occupational hazards

Which may have been quite often considering some of their drinking habits.

Though it is strictly speculation on my part, I would not be surprized to learn one or all of them resorted to petty theft. I use the chance opportunistic theft of a sailors wallet and the trigger for the Tabram murder in my novel and it seems to me a workable hypotheses that one or all may have on occassion indulged ina little petty larceny.

[Canopy]

Thanks for your great post Jane.That's my point they all did other work.The myth seems to be that they were all surving by prostitution alone but they don't seem to have made much from it.It seems to have been more of a last resort when they had no doss money ect.

A Side Note

I like to think that somewhere somebody has a piece of Annie Chapmans crochet work that has been kept as a family heirloom.

It's a great pity that there is no way of knowing, but I like that thought.
I too was of the understanding that many of the victims had other means of making money other than prostitution. I am sure that I read somewhere that the clothing burnt at MJK's room to fuel the fire during the night/morning of her murder was that left in her care by a friend (also a prostitute) for laundry...I would think prostitution would be a very last desperate resort for any woman...

All the best,
C. (still smiling at that "100 bottles of ginger beer on the wall" post!)