watercress seller = prostitute? COMPLETED

[Adamb]

I have found out a bit about the grim life of the watercress sellers in Victorian London.  A member of my family was one  circa 1914.

But, has anyone ever heard that watercress seller might be a euphemism for prostitute?  My wife is sure she's come across that somewhere in her reading, but I'm not sure!

Adam

[stanmapstone]

I have never come across Watercress Seller as a euphemism for Prostitute.
According to Charles Booth, in almost all cases prostitution was not seen as a permanent way of life. To some it was a temporary or occasional employment, as Booth described it for East End tailoresses or dressmakers 'who return to their trade in busy times'. Though disease and mortality would overtake the  unfortunate, it was a less hazardous profession than many of its alternatives.

Stan

[GR2]

Maybe just a case of multi-tasking  . I've looked up Eric Partridge's Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, but it is not there. Maybe you should be censoring a certain person's reading material 

[Redroger]

Actress, laundrywoman, lady of no occupation are all commonly used euphemisms for prostitute. Modern terms include "Lady of the night" and one I particularly like "Pavement princess".

[Adamb]

Ok thanks everyone, I'll leave it at that!  I do know that several of my ancestors must have lived off their wits eg when husband or partner died and before the next one came along.  I have two bigamist husbands and certainly two common-law marriages in my ancestry, nothing surprises me any more.  I'm just amazed at how the women managed to cope - they have my full admiration.

[stanmapstone]

and certainly two common-law marriages in my ancestry

Just to point out that in England and Wales there is no such thing as "common law marriage" (in spite of what you sometimes see in the media), whereby unmarried persons who live together and behave as if they were married are treated as man and wife. It has not been possible to enter into an informal marriage in this country before and since the passage of Lord Hardwicke's Act in 1753.
There is a difference between using the term 'common law wife' and a 'common law marriage.' A 'common law wife' may be a wife in fact but in law, common or otherwise, she has no such status. So a child of an unmarried, co-habiting couple is illegitimate.

Stan

[Redroger]

Whilst there is no such thing as a common law marriage; when I worked as a personal officer over 50 years ago the staff records of people in such unions were endorsed CLU acronym for Common Law Union.

[LiamJDB]

As an additional point to those above, there wasn't even such a thing as common law marriage before the 1753 Act - I'd highly recommend "Marriage Law for Genealogists" by Professor Rebecca Probert, who's the world's leading authority on the history of marriage laws and practices. She's also written several academic articles on the law prior to 1753, and it's clearly one of her big bugbears that the idea that CLM existed before March 1754 has become the prevailing misunderstanding in the past few years. In actual fact, the only way of marrying before the 1753 Act was before an Anglican clergyman, and her research shows that only a vanishingly small number of couples lived together as husband and wife without going through a formal Anglican ceremony - her book's fascinating reading - highly recommended.

[stanmapstone]

I don't think that saying " It has not been possible to enter into an informal marriage in this country since the passage of Lord Hardwicke's Act in 1753" means that there were such things as 'common law marriages' before then, it is that the Act was an Act for the better preventing of clandestine Marriages, and laid down in law the legal requirements for marriage.

Stan