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| In 18th-century England, those with money flaunted it. But they lived in fear that those without money would steal it – and there were plenty of people who had no other way of surviving. When work was in short supply or a person was unemployable – because they were old, sick or pregnant and unmarried – there was nowhere they could go for help. |
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Although their own parish was supposed to support them, in many cases the authorities would drive them out rather than accept that responsibility. But if they left their parish, they could only receive poor relief if they went into the workhouse. There, conditions were so harsh that children would die within weeks. In the cities of England at this time, most prostitutes were not volunteers but abandoned girls who went on to the streets when they had no other way of earning money.
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