Park women, properly so called, are those degraded creatures, utterly lost to all sense of shame, who wander about the paths most frequented after nightfall in the Parks, and consent to any species of humiliation for the sake of acquiring a few shillings.

“Buy buy buy buy buy-- bu-u-uy!” cries the butcher. The Punch years gave Mayhew the opportunity to meet talented illustrators who he later employed to work from daguerreotypes on London Labour and the London Poor. ” “Here‘s ha‘p‘orths” shouts the perambulating confectioner.

Henry Mayhew (25 November 1812 – 25 July 1887) was an English social researcher journalist playwright and advocate of reform. He is also known for his work as a social researcher publishing an extensive series of newspaper articles in the Morning Chronicle that was later compiled into the book series London Labour and the London Poor (1851) a groundbreaking and influential survey of the city's poor.