Another case saw the false adoptions of girls to men who then spirited these luckless innocents away and into the most horrifying of situations. Brussels saw the trial of 12 men in connection with the immoral trafficking of English girls, many of whom had been taken by force, and this has enabled the law to charge these evil individuals with the crime of kidnapping. It was only with the aid of two agents of the London Society for the suppression of this terrible industry, Mr. Alfred S. Dyer, of Paternoster Row, and Mrs. Steward, of Ongar, that the case was ever brought to court. It appears that the policemen of Brussels had previously accepted the word of the domestic servants in the houses where the girls were kept, and who acted as translators, conveying the girls’ assertions that they were not kept there under duress. The exposé of such a practice was very damaging to the reputation of the police and the case created enough hue and cry to be brought before the court.

But such trafficking is not restricted to the fair city of London, or the Continent of Europe. In 1899 The Illustrated Police News carried within its pages such a black tale of deceit and enslavement as I have ever had the misfortune to read. In Vancouver, the shipment of Chinese girls in crates on board freight trains was a customary, although illegal, practice. The girls were packed into the crates and shipped from the seller to the procurer, surviving by being passed food and water by a sympathetic train hand. The practice only came to public attention when a crate carrying two young girls aged 15 and 16 was left overnight on a side track, and, being clad only in their day clothes, the girls both caught a violent chill. On the revelation of their illness, the man who had purchased one of them demanded damages from the railway company for the injury done to his property. This revealed the vile trade to the wider society and it has been widely condemned.

Prostitutes and Their Types: -

But what of those women who ply their wares in the industry known as ‘The Great Social Evil’ of our time, those without the assistance of a procurer, a seducer or madam? What of those ladies who walk the street, unfettered by the machine of industry that serves to traffic girls across continents, what of them I wonder? A man can find as many a loving companion on the street as he can in a privately held house and for far less damage to his purse. A girl on the street will be happy with a single shilling to pay for her services and a goodly sight more cheerful about the prospect.

But even here I find there exists the different orders. The women of the west of the great city of London are as different to those in the east as chalk is to cheese. In the West a woman is joyous, juvenile and juicy; fair and free. The neighbourhood off the Regent’s Park and the streets diverging from the Edgeware Road will be her localities. Here these professors of voluptuous gymnastics will be flourishing and on those fine autumnal afternoons they may be seen airing themselves in the parks or walking down Regent Street, heavy in a toggery designed to allure and entice the amorous observer. Many of these ‘unfortunate’ creatures have been well educated and are connected, by birth, with most aristocratic families. This can make them occasionally difficult to detect from a truly virtuous lady. I would counsel a cautious approach on all occasions, as you would not wish to risk offering insult to any respectable woman. There are, however, some painted, silk-bedizened dolls who promenade the Haymarket and for all their finery are instantly known for their true purpose.

Now what of those glowering chits who stalk the Ratcliffe Highway? What a marked difference this feminine character has to her sister in the West. Those bejewelled butterflies appear quite frail in comparison to the Eastern beauties, who nightly prowl the docks and are known by that charming turn of phrase, ‘Wapping Polls’. This East-Ender is far more dangerous than her western counterpart, being invariably in business for herself and operating under the motto that she will do ‘nuffin for nothing for nobody’. These enterprising ladies are not always devoted to the task at hand as their sole means of employment. Many are driven to seek out further compensation for the meagre earnings they receive at the hands of a noble and supposedly respectable employer. Take the glove makers of Worcester, who in their respectable daylight trade will work an average rate of sixteen hours a day, six days a week, receiving only four shillings in return. Out of that, she must pay one shilling and tuppence for the silk to make her gloves and the remaining two shillings and ten pence is left to pay for lodgings, coal, candles and to subsist upon!

It is of little surprise that such circumstances drive out into the owl-light the young women of Worcester! And yet their employers are afforded every comfort and luxury whilst railing against the Great Social Evil they themselves have created. Is it any wonder that the year 1871 saw Manchester record some three thousand women as known prostitutes? Until industry pay meets the needs of its workers, other industries will flourish, driven by necessity.

The Dangers of Prostitution

Nightly, I have sought the comfort of the women who roam the districts of our metropolis, with little to fear of the dangers of the streets. But what of the women themselves? What dangers do they face choosing a life of immorality? Many would have you believe that they are rejected, denied the comfort of family hearth and home because of their tainted nature. And yet, do we not see women of this sort across the city, the country, nay, across the world?

In every corner the sisterhood of the ‘unfortunate’ thrives and yet is equally reviled by her surrounding fellows. What unfairness do we exact on those whose only fault is to give in to our innate animal passions? None have suffered more than the inhabitants of the East End in this regard. The autumn of 1888 will forever be known as the ‘Autumn of Terror’ as Jack the Ripper stalked the streets of Whitechapel and left his mark on almost a baker’s dozen of the poor women who worked there. In chilling measure, little followed for their protection as a mere four years later saw another rash of murders taken from the ranks of these working women.

Dr. Thomas Neill Cream was charged and hanged for the murder by poison of three women – Matilda Clover, Ellen Donworth and Alice Marsh – and the attempted murder of one more – Louisa Harris – in a violent spree known widely as ‘The Lambeth Poisonings’. All had been unfortunates and had been poisoned by strychnine after Dr. Neill had accompanied them home from a music hall. He was only caught because of his attempts to exhort money from reputable men by writing to them claiming to know they had committed the murder. These letters were passed to the police and their detailed knowledge of the crimes revealed them to be the work of none other than the murderer himself. A search soon identified Dr. Neill as the man responsible. The shiftless blaggard attempted to pass the blame on to another student in his lodgings, but his guilt was assured and he was rightly imprisoned for his timely appearance in court. Great excitement greeted his trial, but I do not think any persons present would blame the women of the East End for extracting some small amount of joy at its deadly outcome, a meagre justice to suit the absence of that owed to those who died at Jack the Ripper’s hands.

The arguments of the ‘Great Social Evil’ have gripped every person in our great nation, from Prime Minister to Pauper. Legislation has attempted to control and suppress, or control and legitimise, but I hope, as our century draws to a close, that we have departed from the older arguments built on the belief that prostitution was a necessity to protect virtuous women from men’s untameable lusts. The Bishop of Manchester has denied that prostitution is desirable either for services to a standing army or for the development of manhood.