their never-ending supply of sex-starved sailors were well within walking distance and it even became fashionable for West End gentlemen to visit the area for an excursion known as ‘slumming’. Consequently, any woman finding it hard to make ends meet and able to disregard her self-respect, could earn money by plying her trade on the streets.
The landlords of lodging houses (particularly those not subjected to Police scrutiny) used prostitution to feather their own nests. Many acted as quasi-pimps; although they would not find punters for the girls, they would provide them with protection from the numerous gangs that prowled the streets extorting money from the street-walkers. These gangs usually comprised between three and ten youths. Most lived just outside the area they stalked. The Old Nichol estate, which lay just north of Spitalfields, spawned many of these gangs. The youths would walk down to Spitalfields in the evenings and generally make a nuisance of themselves, pestering elderly street-vendors and intimidating the local prostitutes from whom they would often extort money. However despite their frightening appearance, these gangs were comprised of cowards who only singled out those weaker than themselves for rough treatment. The appearance of one of the lodging-house doormen would usually send them packing. Consequently, the doormen became indispensable to the working girls.
Many of the local prostitutes were rather pathetic, gin-soaked women whose alcoholism had caused their families to abandon them many years earlier. Most were in their forties and possessed rapidly fading looks. They plied their trade on the streets, taking punters down the nearest alleyway for a quick knee-trembler. The lucky few managed to make enough money to hire their own room in one of the numerous courts. Miller’s Court, off Dorset Street was a perfect location for prostitutes. The fact that the court only had one exit meant that punters going in and out could be observed and the girls’ nightly intake could be easily assessed. Additionally, the proximity of the neighbouring rooms meant that the girls were afforded a much larger degree of mutual protection than they would have enjoyed had they resorted to doing their business out in the street.
The new landlords’ acquisition of property in the Dorset Street area really paid off in 1883 when the now rather aged Spitalfields Market began a phase of massive redevelopment. Over the next 15 years, the main market area acquired a new iron and glass roof and the old 17th-century buildings surrounding it were demolished. In their place, new buildings were built around the market area, including four blocks containing shops at street level, basements below and three-storey residential accommodation above. These new buildings still survive today at the eastern side of the market. The huge amount of building work at the market meant that, in addition to the traders and porters, masses of men involved in the building trade arrived in the area seeking somewhere cheap to sleep. Obviously, the streets closest to the market benefited the most from this sudden influx of workers and landlords of property in Dorset Street, Whites Row and Brushfield Street really reaped the benefits.
However, while the lodging-house keepers were busy cashing in on the development of Spitalfields Market, their properties and their dubious business activities were about to come under the spotlight of public scrutiny. Journalists decided it was time that the more educated classes got to know how the poor really lived. Soon a flurry of articles and pamphlets appeared, most of which dealt with the deplorable housing conditions suffered by the poor.
One of the first journalists to write about the issue was George Sims, who composed a series of articles for Pictorial World entitled ‘How The Poor Live’ early in 1883. Later the same year, he followed with a series called ‘Horrible London’ in the Daily News. In
The landlords of lodging houses (particularly those not subjected to Police scrutiny) used prostitution to feather their own nests. Many acted as quasi-pimps; although they would not find punters for the girls, they would provide them with protection from the numerous gangs that prowled the streets extorting money from the street-walkers. These gangs usually comprised between three and ten youths. Most lived just outside the area they stalked. The Old Nichol estate, which lay just north of Spitalfields, spawned many of these gangs. The youths would walk down to Spitalfields in the evenings and generally make a nuisance of themselves, pestering elderly street-vendors and intimidating the local prostitutes from whom they would often extort money. However despite their frightening appearance, these gangs were comprised of cowards who only singled out those weaker than themselves for rough treatment. The appearance of one of the lodging-house doormen would usually send them packing. Consequently, the doormen became indispensable to the working girls.
Many of the local prostitutes were rather pathetic, gin-soaked women whose alcoholism had caused their families to abandon them many years earlier. Most were in their forties and possessed rapidly fading looks. They plied their trade on the streets, taking punters down the nearest alleyway for a quick knee-trembler. The lucky few managed to make enough money to hire their own room in one of the numerous courts. Miller’s Court, off Dorset Street was a perfect location for prostitutes. The fact that the court only had one exit meant that punters going in and out could be observed and the girls’ nightly intake could be easily assessed. Additionally, the proximity of the neighbouring rooms meant that the girls were afforded a much larger degree of mutual protection than they would have enjoyed had they resorted to doing their business out in the street.
The new landlords’ acquisition of property in the Dorset Street area really paid off in 1883 when the now rather aged Spitalfields Market began a phase of massive redevelopment. Over the next 15 years, the main market area acquired a new iron and glass roof and the old 17th-century buildings surrounding it were demolished. In their place, new buildings were built around the market area, including four blocks containing shops at street level, basements below and three-storey residential accommodation above. These new buildings still survive today at the eastern side of the market. The huge amount of building work at the market meant that, in addition to the traders and porters, masses of men involved in the building trade arrived in the area seeking somewhere cheap to sleep. Obviously, the streets closest to the market benefited the most from this sudden influx of workers and landlords of property in Dorset Street, Whites Row and Brushfield Street really reaped the benefits.
However, while the lodging-house keepers were busy cashing in on the development of Spitalfields Market, their properties and their dubious business activities were about to come under the spotlight of public scrutiny. Journalists decided it was time that the more educated classes got to know how the poor really lived. Soon a flurry of articles and pamphlets appeared, most of which dealt with the deplorable housing conditions suffered by the poor.
One of the first journalists to write about the issue was George Sims, who composed a series of articles for Pictorial World entitled ‘How The Poor Live’ early in 1883. Later the same year, he followed with a series called ‘Horrible London’ in the Daily News. In
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