Prostitutes St. Marys

Historical records from the 18th century frequently mention the presence of prostitutes near St. Marys church, particularly in adjacent alleyways and taverns. This activity reflected broader urban challenges during the city’s rapid expansion, with church officials repeatedly condemning the “vice and debauchery” undermining the parish’s moral authority.

Social Conditions and Legal Responses

Magistrate reports from 1734-1751 detail over 60 arrests of women identified as “St. Marys streetwalkers,” with punishments ranging from public whipping to confinement in workhouses. Contemporary social reformers attributed the prevalence of prostitution near St. Marys to extreme poverty, overcrowded tenements, and the influx of merchant sailors at nearby docks.

Urban Transformation Efforts

By the Victorian era, sanitation campaigns and church-led moral reforms targeted the areas surrounding St. Marys. Diarist Edmund Wells noted in 1843: The cleansing of those wretched haunts behind the church remains imperative. These efforts gradually displaced but failed to eliminate the trade, pushing it into neighboring districts.

*TAGS* – 18th century vice districts, church parish records, magistrate court documents, urban poverty history, Victorian moral reforms