Prostitution
Described as one of the oldest occupations, if not the oldest, prostitution has existed in Hastings, as with other towns since time immemorial. Hosting a number of barracks, as well as the shipping activities associated with a busy sea-port at least until the 19th century would also support a wide trade, with many of the women plying their trade from the various 'Shades' around town.
In "Women of Victorian Sussex"[1], (Hastings Press 2003), Helena Wojtczak writes:-
Although prostitution itself was not illegal the activities of ‘unfortunates’ landed them in court repeatedly. The statistics for 1872 also reveal that 16% of all women arrested were known to be prostitutes. About half of their offences were drink-related; sleeping out, brawling and robbery made up the rest.
They would have a few gins or beers (drunk and disorderly); accost men in the street (obstruction); tell them in graphic terms what was on offer (using obscene language); sometimes collapse in the street (drunk and incapable). Finally, if they failed to earn enough cash to pay for a bed for the night, sought refuge in a shed or boat (sleeping out).
Many prostitutes were brazen ladies who defended themselves, their associates and their ‘patch’ passionately and, occasionally, with violence. Some women viewed it simply as a trade. Jane Manser, of 59 All Saints’ Street, when charged with being drunk and using obscene language in Robertson Street, said that she wished ‘to get an honest living as far as her calling would allow.[2]
If prostitution was a trade then Harriet Clapson was its shop steward. One night Clapson saw Ellen Stanley – ‘a showily-dressed woman’ - on her ‘patch’, the Anchor Inn, George Street. She marched up to her and accused her of being a rival from London, intent on stealing trade from the locals, and announced ‘in language unfit for ears polite’ that she did not intend to tolerate her and others plying their vocation in Hastings. Harriet ‘proclaimed herself, with a considerable amount of pride, to have been a prostitute in Hastings for ten years and invited Ellen to step outside for a fight, following this up with a violent blow with her fist to Ellen’s head’. The latter sued and Harriet was fined 10s.[3]
Ann Colvin (b. 1821) a married woman with seven children, kept a shop in Albion Street, Halton, above which she ran a brothel. In 1866 she sued (in her husband’s name, because of coverture) Caroline Cornelius, a prostitute living with her, for £1. 3s rent and money lent. Caroline told the County Court, ‘in a bold manner and in loud tones’, that Mrs. Colvin took ‘three parts of what she got whilst she was there’ – meaning, presumably, that Colvin took three-quarters of her immoral earnings. She also openly admitted in court: ‘I get my living by walking the streets’. The Judge found in favour of Colvin and, when Cornelius refused to pay, he said that she would make ‘a valuable adjunct’ to Lewes prison.[4]The following year, Colvin assaulted an ‘unfortunate’ attached to another establishment:
"Mrs. Colvin went to complainant’s house, and after passing the compliments usual on such occasions, challenged Miss Atkins out to fight. The invitation being declined, Mrs. Colvin pushed complainant and her friend across the room, and ‘knocked our heads together’, tore complainant’s dress, and finished her off by administering a bucket of water shower-bath fashion."[5]
Shades Bars
Often attached/near to well-known hotels, shades bars were often frequented by those of lower status/morals during the late 18th/early 19th century, attracting women occupied in the 'earliest profession' to ply their trade*.
