London Labour and the London Poor, Vol. 4

by Henry Mayhew

TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF DEPREDATORS, OFFENDERS, AND SUSPECTED PERSONS WHO HAVE BEEN BROUGHT WITHIN THE COGNIZANCE OF THE POLICE IN THE YEAR 1837, COMPREHENDING:—

1. Persons who have no visible means of subsistence, and who are believed to live wholly by violation of the law, as by habitual depredation, by fraud, by prostitution, &c.

2. Persons following some ostensible and legal occupation, but who are known to have committed an offence, and are believed to augment their gains by habitual or occasional violation of the law.

3. Persons not known to have committed any offences, but known as associates of the above classes, and otherwise deemed to be suspicious characters.

Character and description of Offenders.		Metropolitan Police District.
		1st Class.		2nd Class.		3rd Class.		Total all Classes.
Rampsmen[14]	Burglars	77		22		8		107
	Housebreakers	59		17		34		110
	Highway robbers	19		8		11		38
		——	155	——	47	——	53	——	255
Mobsmen	Pickpockets		544		75		154		773
Sneaksmen	Common thieves		1667		1338		652		3657
Animal stealers	Horse stealers	7		4				11
	Cattle stealers
	Dog stealers	45		48			48	141
		——	52	——	52			——	152
Shofulmen	[15]Forgers			3				3
	[15]Coiners	25		1		2		28
	Utterers of base coin	202		54		61		317
		——	227	——	58	——	63	——	348
Flatcatchers	[15]Obtainers of goods by false pretences	33		108				141
	[15]Persons committing frauds of any other description	23		118			41	182
		——	56	——	226			——	323
	Receivers of stolen goods		51		158		134		343
	[15]Habitual disturbers of the public peace		723		1866		179		2768
	Vagrants		1089		186		20		1295
Cadgers	[15]Begging-letter writers	12		17		21		50
	Bearers of begging-letters	22		40		24		86
		——	34	——	57	——	45	——	136
Prostitutes	[15]Prostitutes, well-dressed, living in brothels	813		62		20		895
	[15]Prostitutes, well-dressed, walking the streets	1460		79		73		1612
	Prostitutes, low, infesting low neighbourhoods	3533		147		184		3864
		——	5806	——	288	——	277	——	6371
	[15]Classes not before enumerated		40		2		438		470
	Total	10,444		4353		2104		16,901

The estimate made for five of the principal provincial towns in the same year was as follows:—

TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF DEPREDATORS, OFFENDERS, AND SUSPECTED PERSONS BROUGHT WITHIN THE COGNIZANCE OF THE POLICE OF THE UNDERMENTIONED DISTRICTS, IN THE YEAR 1837.

District or Place.	Number of Depredators, Offenders, and Suspected Persons.				Average Length of Career.	Proportion of known bad Characters to the Population.
	1st Class.	2nd Class.	3rd Class.	Total.
Metropolitan Police District	10,444	4353	2104	16,901	4 yrs.	1 in 89
Borough of Liverpool	3,580	916	215	4,711	......	1 in 45
City and County of Bristol	1,935	1190	356	3,481	......	1 in 31
City of Bath	284	470	847	1,601	......	1 in 37
Town and County of Newcastle-on-Tyne	1,730	222	62	2,014	2¼ yrs.	1 in 27
Total	17,973	7151	3584	28,708

By the above table it will be seen that, in 1837, there were 28,708 persons of known bad character, infesting five of the principal towns in England: nearly 18,000 of the entire number had no visible means of subsistence, and were believed to live wholly by depredation; 7000 were believed to augment their gains by habitual or occasional violation of the law; and 3500 were known to be associates of the others, and otherwise deemed suspicious characters. According to the average proportion of these persons to the population, there would have been in the other large towns nearly 32,000 persons of a similar class, and upwards of 69,000 of such persons dispersed throughout the rest of the country. Adding these together, we have as many as 130,000 individuals of known bad character in England and Wales, without the walls of the prisons.