Tait was an interesting guy. He tried singlehandedly to eliminate prostitution in Edinburgh, with his book "Magdalenism". The problem he found with that book, just as he was about to publish it, was that his documentation was *so* thorough he'd inadvertently created a directory of the city's whores. He had to obscure the data in a hurry.

One interesting anecdote in "Magdalenism" is about the Eglinton Tournament of 1839, the first-ever mediaeval re-enactment event. It was on such a huge scale that most of the prostitutes in Edinburgh went there looking for business and left the city with a serious labour shortage in that department. The madams of the local brothels had to advertise for amateurs (mainly milliners and dressmakers) to step in and fill the gap.

I should hope that modern re-enactment events have enough women participants with a real commitment to authenticity in the role of camp-follower that this wouldn't be a problem today.