How did Mary conduct her "transactions?"

[GUT]

G'Day Miss Marple

But prostitution itself was still legal.

[miss marple]

It is worth mentioning the famous Criminal Amendment Act of 1885 which rendered all aspects of prostitution illegal. Under the act procuring and brothel keeping were illegal.Brothel owners and agents could be fined £20 or three months hard labour for a first offence and £40 and four months for subsequent offences. Procuring young girls for prostitution and attempting to introduce them into a brothel had severe penalties.
This had the effect of criminalising brothel keepers and bawds for the first time. Many brothels in the West End had to close down or operate under cover. There were famous rooms, cafes, divans, smoking rooms that operated as brothels openly in the West End, Haymarket and Windmill St
After this time brothels became more private.
So even in the East End no one would openly operate a brothel. The street girls would have to be fairly discreet.There were not flaunting themselves. The ripper victims were in a sense, amateurs, poor women who who needed a few pennies now and again, while also seeming to have other sources of income either through shacking up with a man or doing a bit of cleaning. Very few women would described themselves as prostitutes unless arrested and fined. Mary only went back to it when Joe lost his job and could no longer support her.
The fourpence or drinks they earned was barely worth the trouble, not the rate a West End whore would expect, anything from five bob to ten shillings. Some girls made a good living and retired on their earnings and married respectably. Others of course had terrible lives.

The mystery of Mary Kelly is that had she been in a West End Brothel and to France, that how she sank so low to end up in Whitechapel slum.
Drink may have been one reason, or stroppiness.[ taking Mrs Buki to knightsbridge to claim back some fancy dresses] perhaps she valued her independence, did not like being dictated to and preferred to take her chances in the east end.

Miss Marple

[GUT]

G'Day Mark

I'll try and find the source I think it was in one of my wife's history books may "Damn Whores and God's Police" I'm really not sure. But I do recall reading 1s for "a night" was the gong rate.

[markmorey5]

GUT,
I wasn't sure about the cost but from what I could find out, sixpence was the rate for a knee trembler and less for an older woman. I thought it would cost more in a bed such as 13 Millers Court, but George Hutchinson's statement about Mary Kelly asking for sixpence made me think otherwise. Maybe Mary Kelly was selling herself short, but like many things in her life we will never know.

A prostitute for the night in a lodging house sharing a double bed ought to cost more than sixpence, given it was for the night. Mary's room was for as long as it took, so that was a different scenario.

I did find out it was tuppence for a drink at the hotel, and a working woman would earn about 1 and 6 for a 10-hour shift in a factory.

[GUT]

G'Day Mark

My research says that the 6p would have been for a knee trembler up a dark alley, more for a bed.

Just think a bed for the night in a doss house 4p for a bed with a 26 or 28 year old for the night maybe as high as 1s.

[markmorey5]

I have written a novel which takes in more of life in nineteenth century Britain than the Whitechapel Murders, although Mary Kelly does feature in my story. My hypothesis was that Barnett lost his job and she resorted to working on the streets to make ends meet, before taking Maria Harvey into her room for a few days. Barnett leaves and that allows Mary Kelly to take men to her room, as we already know from her movements on that last night. From what I could find out the going rate was thruppence for an older woman to sixpence for someone younger and attractive like Kelly, so Hutchinson's statement of Mary asking for a loan of sixpence is more likely Mary asking Hutchinson for sixpence for something else.

At the time prostitution was not illegal but living off the earnings was, and Barnett would have been wary of admitting too much in his statements to journalists and at the coronial enquiry for fear of incriminating himself. Probably Hutchinson didn't want to be publicised as a client or potiential client of a prostitute.

[GUT]

G'Day JTR

What I was wondering was: when Mary went out to prostitute herself, do you think she did as the other prostitutes did, take her client to a secluded area and commit the trasnaction outdoors, or take them back to her flat (both before, during, and after Barnett was living with her)?

1. She probably wasn't on the game when Joe was earning, that's based on his evidence.

2. When she was it probably depended on what they could afford, f it was a 6p or less I doubt she would have taken them back to her room and risked not being able to get rid of them

Also, I have always wondered if someone misquoted Barnett about him leaving Mary for bringing other prostitutes to stay with her? I always have considered that what barnett really said was when Mary went out prostituting herself, she was bringing back her clients to the room and this, naturally, made Barnett angry.

What of the evidence of Maria and Julia then?

[JTRSickert]

Hello all,

Something just occured to me. Mary Kelly was living at 31 Miller's Court for a few years. Now, we know that Joseph Barnett was angry because Mary was bringing back fellow prostitutes to sleep in the room, which caused him to move out.

What I was wondering was: when Mary went out to prostitute herself, do you think she did as the other prostitutes did, take her client to a secluded area and commit the trasnaction outdoors, or take them back to her flat (both before, during, and after Barnett was living with her)?

Also, I have always wondered if someone misquoted Barnett about him leaving Mary for bringing other prostitutes to stay with her? I always have considered that what barnett really said was when Mary went out prostituting herself, she was bringing back her clients to the room and this, naturally, made Barnett angry.

Any thoughts?