Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Fleet-street lady n.

a prostitute.

[1675		Woman Turn’d Bully V ii: Some well-meaning Punck, on my life, following her Calling. It is easier to see a Court-Lady in her natural Complexion, than Fleet-street and the Temple without this kinde of Cattle].
[c.1685		‘Answer to the Poor Whore’s Complaint’ [broadsheet ballad] From Fleet-street to the Tower, in all the Nanny-housen, There’s common Cracks ... Full five and fifty Thousand].
1695		The fortunate lawyer n.p.: [H]aving cast an Owl-Light Glance upon a certain Fleet street Evening Walker, of the soft Feminine Gender; [he] very courteously invited the Fair Pilgrim to [...] his Temple Chamber, for a gentle Nights Repose.
1697		J. Dunton Night-Walker Jan. 20: An Account how he was Trapan’d and Pox’d, by a Fleet-Street Jilt.
1700		A new summons n.p.: We have lately [...] recounted the Prodigious Feats of Chivalry, performed by a certain Knight-Templer, upon the Body of a Fleet-street Lady.
a.1704		T. Brown Comical View of London and Westminster in Works (1760) I 145: If rainy, few night-walkers in Cheapside and Fleet-street.
1709		N. Ward Compleat and Humorous Account of Remarkable Clubs (1756) 271: Thence turn Fleet-street Stroler in a Sarsnet-Hood and White Apron, only a fit Mistress for a Water-Lane Pick-pocket.
1788		G.A. Stevens Adventures of a Speculist I 232: Spied a couple of Fleet-street walkers dressed clean, like servant-maids, there. Took 1s. 6d. off them for hush-money.
[1844		New Sprees of London 36: Cornwell-road. This is the residence of many of the blowens who frequent Fleet-street, Strand, New Cut, &c, and scarcely a crib in it [...] but is a nunnery].