We have seen that Mr. Mayne in 1840 stated his opinion to be that there were about eight thousand regular prostitutes in London, qualifying that statement by a profession of total ignorance as to the irregulars who did not make prostitution their only means of living. Mr. Mayne had peculiar sources of information open to him, and it is more than probable that his opinion was well founded. From the above calculation, from the best sources available to us on this very obscure question, we are satisfied to assume ten thousand as at least a probable approximation to the number of regular prostitutes in London.
Mr. Mayne, in his statement on this subject, mentioned that there were 3335 brothels. Some authors have attempted to make a calculation of the number of prostitutes on the basis of this number of houses; one has assumed three, another ten. Dr. Wardlaw has fixed upon five women per house, without, as it appears to us, any precise reason for preferring that figure. These different opinions may be thus worked out:
| 5 women in each house would give | 16,675 | prostitutes. | ||
| 4""" (as in Dublin) | would give | 13,340 | " | |
| 3""" (as in Cork) | "" | 10,005 | " |
We have not been able to obtain Mr. Mayne’s statement ipsissimis verbis, and failing that we may be in error, but we should be inclined to think that, in his official capacity as a magistrate, and in his personal character as a lawyer, Mr. Mayne would be apt to assign the term “brothel” indiscriminately to all houses trading in prostitution, whether houses of assignation or houses in which prostitutes habitually reside. If our reading of the word “brothels” in this sense be correct, it is clear that any attempt to enumerate on the basis of the women attached to each house would be fallacious. The expression used by the Dublin police is “houses frequented or occupied,” and its ambiguity shows that the authorities there considered the word “brothel” in the sense given to it by English jurists.
How does this number of ten thousand regular prostitutes bear on the population?
In London there are, above twenty years of age,
| Male. | Female. | |||
| Bachelors | 196,851 | |||
| Spinsters | 246,124 | |||
| Husbands | 398,624 | |||
| Wives | 406,266 | |||
| Widowers | 37,064 | |||
| Widows | 110,028 | |||
| Totals | 632,545 | 762,418 | ||
Omitting fractions, the proportions would be,
| On bachelors and widowers | 1 | in | 23 | |
| "total male population | 1 | " | 63 | |
| ""female " | 1 | " | 76 | |
| "aggregate population above twenty years of age | 1 | " | 139 |
This would establish ten thousand as the nucleus of the prostitution system of London. Those females who come within the designation of “irregular prostitutes” are in no respect less prejudicial to the community than the “regulars.” The difference is that they have some other real or nominal occupation, which they follow according to circumstances. An even moderately correct estimate of their number is little better than guess-work, and we therefore think it expedient to put our readers in possession of our own limited means of information, and take them on to a conclusion. There are so many elements to be taken into the account, and the data are so scanty, that we only consider ourselves justified in intimating an opinion rather than announcing a satisfactory conclusion.