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More than 10,000 prostitutes plied their trade in the streets of London. Henry Fielding – magistrate and author of Tom Jones – wrote that pauper boys became 'thieves from necessity' and ... their sisters are whores from the same cause ... Who can say these poor children had been prostitutes through viciousness? No. They are young, unprotected and of the female sex, therefore they become the prey of the bawd and the debauchée. |
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Life was hard for the city poor, and alcohol was one way of dulling the pain. It has been estimated that, in 1730, the poor drank more than 6.6 million gallons of legally sold gin. This did not include the illicit gin sold not only from wheelbarrows but, by the middle of the century, in prisons, workhouses and hospitals.
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