The true tragedy of Annie’s situation is that, unlike the majority of women by whom she was surrounded, she needn’t have lived in such reduced circumstances on ‘the worst street in London’. Jack Sievey would have brought in an income, and failing that, they could always rely on her 10 shillings a week, which would have paid for a better room elsewhere, as well as for food and coal. Instead it paid for alcohol – at least until December 1886.
