The nymphs of the pavement: sin, scandal and vice in Victorian Lincolnshire

In 1842 the mayor of Lincoln reportedly lamented that ‘there is more debauchery in Lincoln than in any other town of its size in the kingdom.’ Lincoln races had long been a magnet for vice: by 1828, one newspaper reported up to 500 ‘thieves, prostitutes and gamblers’ on the course.

But as the nineteenth century progressed, small market towns such as Louth and Horncastle and the little ports of Boston and Grimsby began to report growing numbers of ‘fallen women’ arriving from neighbouring villages where there was little work, and where many families faced severe poverty and malnutrition.

This fascinating volume explores an extraordinary underworld of ‘unfortunates’, criminals, gamblers 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.