Margaret Hames

[Rosella]

Good evening Maria,

Pimps to the Unfortunates of Spitalfields should be easy to trace - men who died of starvation. As the Unfortunates barely made enough to pay their own doss.

Roy

Exactly, Roy. McCarthy has been suggested on this forum as a pimp for Mary. If he took half her earnings, at 6d a time it would take a long time for him to get up to a one pound note, perhaps a couple of months! Don't give up the day job, John!

[SirJohnFalstaff]

I'm quite certain there were pimps, but they were probably associated with more expensive prostitutes, or enforcers in brothels.

[Pcdunn]

Sorry, but seeing the handwriting sample provided, I too, see it as "hip" singular

Dave

I agree. I looked again at the samples, and noticed that the "p" in both "hip" and "ship" is formed with a straight vertical line, then a curved line which does not quite meet the downstroke at the top and side... It is the loop of the "p", but not quite attached to the downstroke. It is more pronounced in the word "hip" than in "ship", but is present in both.