The Nymphs of the Pavement : Sin, Scandal and Vice in Victorian Lincolnshire

In 1842 the mayor lamented, `There is more debauchery in Lincoln than in any other town of its size in the kingdom.' Lincoln Races was a magnet for vice: by 1828, one newspaper reported up to 500 `thieves, prostitutes and gamblers' on the course. But as the century progressed, market towns such as Louth, Horncastle and the ports of Boston and Grimsby began to report growing numbers of `fallen women' from the neighbouring villages, where poverty ran rife. This book explores an extraordinary underworld of `unfortunates' and bon vivants, all held in the thrall of the brothel-keepers - most of whom were female. Informative, tragic, compassionate and surprising, it reveals some incredible truths about life in Victorian Lincolnshire.