Genealogy Chat

Brenda and Joan!!!! LOL!! Zoe - Blimey, I wish I had your rellies!! Merry

Don't laugh but I have said this before. On the 1981 census I put STRIPPER because I was a stripper in an ox tongue factory. Now I am a nurse......honest . Name withheld !

In the 1920s my nan scrubbed the steps of a cinema and the floor of a pub. I wonder how she described her occupation on the census!

Merry Henrietta is my relative!! She was actually an actress and 'living in sin' with Henry Labouchere - a politician and journalist. It caused a great scandal at the time because she was recently divorced from her alcoholic husband and had a child with another man whilst 'engaged' to Henry. We have always assumed she or Henry stated her occupation as concubine because of the reputation surrounding their relationship. Henry was still single in 1881 but quotes and biographies suggest he was a bit of a ladies man prior to falling for Henrietta. They eventually married each other in 1887 and lived together well into their old ages in Florence.

There are several hundered Prostitutes listed in 1881, but the vast majority are living in institutions (workhouse/hospital/asylum/prison) where their occupations would have been reported to the enumerator by someone in authority who didn't need to ''soften the blow'' as it were! Given that only a small proportion of working girls would have been in institutions, yet most recorded this bluntly (as prostitute) are living in just those places, means there must be thousands in their own homes going under ''other occupations'' which probably include all the ones we have listed so far and a whole lot more besides! Saw in 1881- H. Laboucher, a 49 year-old ''married'' Member of Parliament and journalist, living with his ''wife'' Henrietta. She is down as occupation, Concubine!! I wonder what the Prime Minister made of that??!!!! Mind you, the handwriting is not the same as the rest of the page, so maybe someone was holding a grudge?? Merry

Whilst researching I came across an entry in the 1881 census that shows 23 Prostitutes in residence at the Lock Hospital in Aldershot Lock Hospital’s were set up for the treatment of venereal diseases. Often to be found in area’s where there were military bases, they set out to ‘supervise and decontaminate prostitutes in garrison towns’ Some had ‘Asylums for the Reception of Penitent Female Patients’ attached to them, where girls were taught needlework and other skills, in an attempt to stop them returning to the streets. Dee xx

I have a rellie in the 1861 census, living in a 'Home for Friendless Girls', most of whose occupations were described as 'General Duties'.

I have found one of mine occupation A Prostitute. Mind you she was in gaol at the time. Before that she was a house maid. I really think she had been left to fend for herself and found this the only way to make a living. The house where she was a house maid on the next census had a relative who was a relative. So I think she had been given to boot to make way way for someone else. This line has been very interesting. I have ended up feeling very sorry for this woman. Funny thing was her brother ended up a vicar. Germaine x

Some people seem to be under the impression that you won't find occupations like 'prostitute' at all on official census forms, and if the woman concerned actually filled in the form herself that is possibly true, but for those who lived in the workhouse, the staff of the institution were not so kind when filling it in on their behalf. The 1881 census records for the Chorlton Union workhouse list at least half-a-dozen prostitutes, plain and simple:- Lavinia Charles (Unmarried, Age 19, Pauper) PROSTITUTE, born Birmingham Alice Day (Unmarried, Age 17, Pauper) born Manchester Eliza Mahomed (Unmarried, Age 18. Pauper) PROSTITUTE, born Manchester Susan Pullen (Unmarried, Age 20, Pauper) PROSTITUTE, born Calais, France Emma Simcoe (Unmarried, Age 18, Pauper) PROSTITUTE, born Nantwich Anne Wilkinson (Unmarried, Age 19, Pauper) PROSTITUTE, born Warrington Florence Wilkinson (Unmarried, Age 19, Pauper) PROSTITUTE, born N.Y., America There are literally hundreds of 'Charwomen' too (plus Laundresses, Washerwomen and Domestic Servants), but most are well into their 60s or 70s with just a couple of exceptions. A few seamtresses and dressmakers there in the workhouse, but again they are all quite old and are what they say they are I should think. I would have thought a succesful young prostitute with a good client list wouldn't need the help of the workhouse anyway and could live on her own means?? Couldn't see any other 'dodgy' occupations though. I'd love to see what people in the year 2101 will make of all those people who put 'Jedi' down as their religion in the census just gone. Surely there's nothing to stop someone putting down 'Drug Dealer' or 'Bank Robber' as an occupation is there? (Apart from a pair of size ten's policeman's feet kicking down your front door of a morning on a tip-off from the census office...). Michael

This is the first time i have heard some dressmakers were also prostitutes, although it sort of fits. A few months ago i was looking down the list of inmates of an asylum and i couldn't believe the amount of DRESSMAKERS that was listed as INSANE, i remember reading that hatmakers went insane because of poison they used and thought maybe dressmakers used it too... You live and learn....MOE!

I have one on my tree whos occupation is concubine!! My 4x gt grandfather had 19 children - of which only one of the 4 boys survived. In the 1851 all his girls aged 15 and over (atthis time about 7 of them) are at home listed as dressmakers with daddy as an 'gentleman accountant'. When I first heard the whole dressmaker suggestion I had visions of him running his family as a business with 'gentleman accountant' actually being a pimp. Then it occurred that maybe only one boy survived as he decided he could only keep family members who were profitable or could add up. It was only when I found his father in laws will that it all got ruined cos he was actually a gentleman who kept the accounts for his wife's inheritance and just happened to be unlucky when it came to male survival rates. Was fun for a bit tho. Especially the one still working as a dressmaker aged 69 in the 1901 census (must have been a specialist market for older gents)

oh Merry was she that ugly really ???you did make me laugh

Dont worry! I'm just imagining my tree to be a bit more interesting!

Hullo folks, I think that you might find that a 'preferred' trade for a lady of loose virtue, was ''Street Singer'' Bob

I have a tailoress in my tree, but I think its got something more to do with her brother and father being 'shoe makers'. Or maybe that means 'Hitman'?

My mother was a professional, ' apprenticeship time-served' couture dressmaker. She may have been a bit of a lass in her time and liked the gentlemen, but was definitely never a 'working girl'.

Most dress makers - were.................................................... dressmakers!!! and char women - cleaners who'd pay to sleep with a 70 year old cleaner!!!!!! Some prossies might have called themselves dressmaker,maid, shop asst but most would have really been the worker they purported to be. Just a thought Prostitutes etc today don't put down prostitute, robber, rent boy or drug dealer though!!! They'll just be unemployed on the census!!!

Michael makes a good point - probably most of the ''ladies'' who were prostitutes did other work as well, so which one would you put on the census?? Prostitute or charwoman? (you do a bit of cleaning in the mornings)......Prostitute or dressmaker? (you do a bit of sewing between clients)....etc etc Merry

I only subscribe to the charwoman theory because I've been reading far too much about Jack the Ripper, and those victims of his that were part-time casual prostitutes invariably did a bit of part-time charring, cleaning or 'hawking' as well. Whatever it took to make ends meet I suppose. Poverty was widespread, and I read a book in the local Record Office that claimed 1 in 3 police arrests in 1860's Manchester were of women, and 1 in 12 of all arrests were for prostitution - and quite a high percentage could read and write - the true figures are probably much higher than that. I wouldn't read too much into a woman's occupation. It's all guess-work. A small part of me hopes I'll find a female relative in the Victorian police archives complete with a mugshot, just so I can get a picture of someone back then to look at, even if it is somewhat unflattering! I can't believe I want to find a famous criminal in my family - I must be going crazy! Michael

It's very easy to be suspicious .......................... I have two sisters - agri labs daughters, both remained unmarried and by their 40's they are under the same roof and 'living on own means'. Where have their 'own means' come from??? Doing what, exactly...................?????!!!! Bev x