Monday, April 5, 2010
























Catherine Read, 1906 Victorian mugshot
"Prostitutes were often tattooed with letters or initials
that seemed to make no sense at all. In Manchester,
Catherine Read had the following letters tattooed.
Right arm J A A N M A J N O D M A B.
Left arm: M J W W K H N C M A J S J W.
This fashion was not confined to the north-west;
'unfortunates' from all areas of the country had
similar lists of apparently meaningless alphabetic characters."
Source