Chapter One
In the Beginning
V
ictorian Britain does not deserve its reputation for prudery. The idea that the nineteenth century middle class was so offended by nakedness that piano legs were covered up is a ludicrous legend. The truth, albeit concealed, was that pornography was rife, as was prostitution, especially child prostitution. More than 50,000 prostitutes operated in London in the middle of the century. As for the protection of children, the age of consent stood at twelve until 1871 and was then raised only to thirteen. In the first 50 years of Victoria’s reign, nearly a quarter of the prostitutes in York were aged 18 or under. In addition, life expectancy in Victorian Britain was horrifically low. Between 1838 and 1854, men need not to have expected to live beyond the age of 40. For women, the figure was 42. Epidemics of cholera and typhoid killed thousands. More routinely, 7,000 people died of measles every year. No wonder. Public hygiene was disgusting. Human excrement and slaughter-house refuse was routinely pumped into the Thames, causing such a stench that Disraeli walked about the Palace of Westminster with a handkerchief clutched to his nose. Brighton flushed its sewage onto local beaches until 1874. Torquay was four years behind. Food was deliberately adulterated. A report issued in 1863 indicated that one fifth of all meat came from diseased cattle. Overcrowding helped disease spread fast and London was the most densely populated city in the world. The number of families living in one room was put at 150,000. When education was made compulsory in 1870, the full extent of the debility of children became apparent. Vast numbers of them were found to be suffering from defective eyesight and hearing, awful dental problems and a widespread lack of personal cleanliness. Barely 30 years later, only two out of every five men volunteering for the Boer War were deemed fit for military service. Work was both hard and hard to come by. A medical officer at the London Hospital reckoned that the worst paid and most industrious people he saw were seamstresses. They could work from 3am until 10pm and earn between only three shillings [15P] and four shillings [20P] a week. When the social researcher, Charles Booth, conducted his extensive survey of life in London at the end of the nineteenth century, he found that close to one-third of all Londoners were living on or close to the poverty line. Life for the working classes, then, was wretched. Entertainment provided the only escape from grim reality. In the early years of the nineteenth century, customers at inns staged their own entertainment. When tavern owners began employing professional entertainers, local unpaid amateurs continued to perform. These places were known as free-and-easies.