The largest number (19) was in 1856, while in 1854 there were none at all. But we have already drawn attention to the difficulty the police have in dealing with these cases.
Of those arrested:
| 1 | was | a clerk, |
| 1 | „ | sailor, |
| 13 | were | servants, |
| 3 | „ | tailors, |
| 1 | was | a printer, |
| 1 | was | a sawyer, |
| 1 | „ | interpreter, |
| 1 | „ | cabinet-maker, |
| 1 | „ | brass-founder, |
| 1 | „ | green-grocer, |
| 1 | „ | butcher, |
| 2 | were | milliners, |
| 3 | „ | laundresses, |
| 9 | „ | labourers, |
| 2 | „ | smiths, |
| 6 | „ | carpenters, |
| 3 | „ | general and marine store-dealers, |
| 1 | was | a carver and gilder, |
| 4 | were | shoemakers, |
| 2 | „ | watch-makers, |
| 2 | „ | painters, |
| 3 | „ | bricklayers. |
The rest were of no trade or occupation, and depended for a livelihood solely upon this disgraceful means of subsistence.
It is odd to see butchers, printers, tailors, carpenters, brass-founders, interpreters, bricklayers, and cabinet-makers combining this with their own legitimate trades, and if this is a common thing among the trades, how wide-spread the evil must be, for we have only an average of about 12 arrests annually, and this very small amount, with the perhaps light punishment awarded the offender by the sitting magistrate, or if committed by the judge, is evidently purely insufficient and ineffectual to act as a deterrent to others holding the same demoralizing views, and practising the same odious profession.
A few pages back, while commenting upon crime amongst bawds and prostitutes, we took the liberty of criticising some remarks of Dr. Ryan’s about the prevalence of murder in immoral houses. The best proof presumptive he could have adduced in support of his theory he utterly neglected to bring forward. I mean the returns of the metropolitan police of the number of persons reported to them annually as missing.
This return, so enormous, so mysterious, so startling, is certainly very alarming before it is analysed. But when with the eye of reflection we calmly and dispassionately look at it, our alarm diminishes as rapidly as it was excited.
Number of Persons reported to the Police as lost or missing, and the number found and restored by the Police, during the years 1841 to 1860.
| Reported lost or Missing. | Restored by the Police. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1841 | 1,000 | 560 |
| 1842 | 1,179 | 623 |
| 1843 | 1,218 | 623 |
| 1844 | 1,111 | 543 |
| 1845 | 2,201 | 1,000 |
| 1846 | 2,489 | 1,082 |
| 1847 | 2,216 | 1,111 |
| 1848 | 1,866 | 1,009 |
| 1849 | 1,473 | 994 |
| 1850 | 2,204 | 1,137 |
| 1851 | 1,876 | 928 |
| 1852 | 2,103 | 1,049 |
| 1853 | 2,034 | 900 |
| 1854 | 2,286 | 941 |
| 1855 | 2,178 | 964 |
| 1856 | 2,371 | 1,084 |
| 1857 | 2,171 | 1,198 |
| 1858 | 2,409 | 1,264 |
| 1859 | 2,374 | 1,054 |
| 1860 | 2,515 | 1,164 |