| Edinburgh | 800 | |
| Glasgow | 1800 | |
| Liverpool | 2900 | |
| Leeds | 700 | |
| Manchester | 700 |
All parties are, however, agreed in representing that it is impracticable to form any thing like a correct estimate of “the number of female servants, milliners, and women in the upper and middle classes of society who might properly be classed with prostitutes, or of the women who frequent theatres, barracks, ships, prisons, etc.”
In 1851, the police of Dublin published in their statistical returns the number of prostitutes in that city, which is the only public or official paper on the point having any appearance of system or accuracy. It is as follows:
| 1848 | Brothels | 385 | Prostitutes | 1343 | ||||
| 1849 | " | 330 | " | 1344 | ||||
| 1850 | " | 272 | " | 1215 | ||||
| 1851 | " | 297 | " | 1170 |
This table shows a steady decrease in the number of these women. We are uninformed as to any local causes for this, nor do we know whether it has been balanced by an increase of “sly” or occasional prostitution.
From the preceding figures a calculation has been made of the regular prostitutes relatively to the population in the several towns. It appears to have been based on the number of inhabitants at the date of the various estimates. That of Dublin is according to the census of 1851, the remainder according to that of 1841.
Proportion of Prostitutes to Population.
| Number of Prostitutes. | Proportion to Population. | ||||||
| To Males. | To Females. | To total Population. | |||||
| Liverpool | 2900 | 1 to | 43 | 1 to | 45 | 1 to | 88 |
| Manchester | 700 | 1 to | 156 | 1 to | 169 | 1 to | 325 |
| Leeds | 700 | 1 to | 70 | 1 to | 75 | 1 to | 145 |
| Edinburgh | 800 | 1 to | 106 | 1 to | 130 | 1 to | 236 |
| Glasgow | 1800 | 1 to | 87 | 1 to | 97 | 1 to | 184 |
| Dublin | 1170 | 1 to | 101 | 1 to | 119 | 1 to | 220 |
| Cork[311] | 350 | 1 to | 113 | 1 to | 134 | 1 to | 247 |
The mean of the above maybe taken as a fair representation of the general state of the kingdom. The qualifying circumstances to which we have already made allusion as peculiar to each city or district are, of course, neutralized by the aggregate.
For example, Liverpool is a great sea-port town, and a large number of regular prostitutes would be inevitable there. In Manchester, a large manufacturing city, with an immense pauper and factory operative population, the trade of prostitution would meet with less profitable custom; accordingly, we find the proportion much smaller. Glasgow is both manufacturing and commercial; there, again, the proportion is larger. Dublin has but little commerce, but is a capital city, and has a court and a large garrison. The combination of all these circumstances is found in London, and a fair estimate would be obtained by adding all the preceding proportions together, which would give a mean of about 1 in 232, and this upon the population (2,362,000) is within a fraction of ten thousand.