Prostitution in coastal port during Napoleonic wars - question?

I am playing a role in August in a theatre show being directed by one of the Onedin Line producers, its set in the Napoleonic Wars, (England side of things!) and I am playing a 25 year old whore who hangs around a coastal fort and the soldiers there. I am trying to do some historical research about such women to develop my character, and google is showing nothing other than about prostitution in London (not a regional coastal area). Can anyone reccomend me books / websites to look at? I have a decent general overview of the period, but wanted to research more in depth, especially about the lives of people like my character, and impress the director :D

Thank you! :)

Prostitution in coastal port during Napoleonic wars - question?say yes

Prostitution was rife in these port towns during this period, and before, as Royal Navy ships would allow prostitutes to travel on board the ships. However due to the very nature of the business, it is difficult to find evidence about there lives, unless something specific has happened to them, as with the White chapel prostitutes. If it was me, I'd keep trying the Internet, or I'd try and find info from sailors journals at that time(because they do exist), so ask the maritime museums in the area. But it all depends how long you have to research,

good luck

After Note: My sources Bill P involve many years studying history at all levels. However I admit these views are my opinions as I have never actually researched 'Port City Prostitutes' (you used the term whore), but I do know that they were allowed on Royal Navy Ships. With the amount of press ganging going on it was the least the Admiralty could do for the sailors. And furthermore I'll match that bet about libraries stockpiling 8-10 books on Portsmouth Prostitues, because I reckon you wont find one. But good luck anyway poster

Prostitution in coastal port during Napoleonic wars - question?palace theatre opera theater

the above answerer will have to state his sources on the Royal Navy allowing prostitutes onboard ship while the ship is at sea. The only women that would be onboard would have been, the Captain's wife, and maybe some wives of senior officers. Those are hardly whores.

My main question would be "if you are in a port city, why are you hanging around a fort manned, more than likely by either soldiers or Marines?"

The reason for that question is that sailors coming in from the sea will have the money; soldiers will not.

I can really speak only for the far east, having never sailed into Europe, but if Marines or soldiers were ashore for regular duty, they disappeared when the ships came in. It is simply called the dynamics of economics.

In the orient, I never saw a streetwalker. Not in any city in Japan, Okinawa, Guam (where I never saw a whore at all), not int he Philippines where prostitution ran rampany, not in vietnam, not in Bangkok, and not in Hong Kong - They were found in brothels or certain bars where they could be "bought out" for the evening even if all you wanted was a date to be with.

I would bet that if you went to some library of consequence where they had a good research department, they would find you 8-10 books that covered the subject that you were looking for and that is what y ou need to do.
Prostitutes (or "Jennies" in sailor slang) hung around ports and were the bain of the Navy. Usually women whose husbands had left them, they performed their acts in the back allies while standing for mere pennies. At the end of the night, a group of the prostitites would pool their money, usually just enough for a room for the day and food. As usual their "protector" (pimp) might get a slice of the profits. A step up might be the prostitutes of a brothel because they had somewhere to sleep for the night, but the pay was equally awful.

The Jennies also had every disease known to man, which would be transmitted to the sailors. Medicine traeting these diseases was like gold to captains, because so many of their crew was affested. Blackbeard the pirate once held the entire city of Charleston ransom for just a chest of such medicine.
I have a little information about Brighton. There was a large military encampment there.

In 1776, The Times noted that the Prince's own regiment was the most popular in the Army among fashionable young men. "They associate with no one but their own corps. Most of them keep their own blood horses, their curricles and their girls." The local paper revealed that "The Cyprian corps stationed in this town is now estimated to amount to over 300, exclusive of those at Brighton Camp." The fact that those "good-natured but unfortunate creatures could be supported by the wages of prostitution cast a melancholy reflection on the increasing depravity of the age." This is from the Gazette,17 October 1796. A week later, the paper reported that "The Paphian Temples at Brighton are now quite deserted, the presiding goddesses having taken their flight to dispense their favours in the more polluted brothels of the Metropolis".

This seems to me to imply that there was one class of girl who took up with the officers or soldiers at the Brighton Camp - possibly "non-professionals" - and another class who were the professional prostitutes who came down to Brighton for the seasonal business. I should imagine that the two groups did not mix and that the professionals would resent any of their trade being taken any from them..

Of course, a possible example of the former type is Lydia Bennett in Pride and Prejudice.