Emma Goodhall was brought before the Rochester bench of magistrates in June 1861, on a charge of drunkenness and using obscene language in a public place. Identified in court as a prostitute (though this had no bearing on the charges that had brought her to court that day), Goodhall publicly acknowledged that she earned a living in this way. She offered, by way of explanation, that ‘she had no other means of obtaining a livelihood’, before being convicted and imprisoned for fourteen days with hard labour. ¹