The first half of the 19th century was a time of great change. Industrialization brought new opportunities for employment, changing ideas of work, and economic cycles of boom and bust. During this ...

By the second half of the 19th century, the pace of life in Europe ... police in port and garrison towns to detain any woman suspected of sex work and force her to submit to an invasive medical ...

Marriage for working-class women was an economic necessity in 19th-century Britain, as they rarely earned enough to support themselves, let alone any children. For widows, children could be ...