Sodom and Gomorrah in Georgian London

Everybody is appalled that sex trade today has grown into a multi-billion pound industry. The problem is that it hasn’t grown into that, it had been just that in Georgian London, if you convert the known figures into today’s money. And we are only talking about the known figures.

In his book The Secret History Of Georgian London which was published by Random House, Dan Cruickshank explores the depth of depravity that was Georgian London. His estimate that about every fifth woman was a sex worker might hit near the mark with all the evidence he’s putting forth. Stripping away the romanticist embellishments added by the Victorians, he gets into cases to prove his points.

The female sex workers upheld a strict caste system, I suppose everybody needs somebody to look down upon, starting in the gutter with the streetwalkers, next came harlots who worked from brothels, then prostitutes who formed part of a ‘nunnery’, and at the top the courtesans as kept mistresses of the rich and the powerful. Some few even managed to marry into a peerage, like the Gunning sisters.

Courtesans were celebrities in their own right and would be received in most except the most high ton establishments such as Almack’s. One well known celebrity was Emma Hamilton, the mistress of Lord Nelson. But the star of them was probably Sally Salisbury who is believed to have written her own autobiography. Amongst her clients and protectors she could name Lord Bolingbroke, the Duke of Richmond and George II. But like so many, she succumbed to alcohol and ended her life in goal.

Brothels were run by brawds, harlots having become too old for the trade. They collected the day’s arrivals from the country directly from the coaches coming into London to take them to their homes. Offering friendship they then pressurized their pickings by presenting them with fake bills and debts they would have to work off.

Charlotte Hayes was a famous keeper of a nunnery. One of her protégées was Emily Warren who was to become Sir Joshua Reynolds muse. William Hickey, the Georgian memoirist, wrote about her:  ‘I however, that night, experienced the truth – that she was cold as ice, seemingly totally devoid of feeling. I rose convinced that she had no passion for the male sex.’

In her will, Hayes left the staggering sum of 20,000 pounds (well over a million pounds in today’s money) she had amassed through her dealings. Inspired by James Cook’s accounts of Tahitian erotic rituals, she organised a tableau in which ‘12 beautiful nymphs, unsullied and untainted’ were to be deflowered by 12 young men. The high paying audience to this life event were later asked to join in the frolic.

Cruickshank covers the range well, adding to the picture the child abuse quite common at the time, as it was believed that the intercourse with a child would relieve sufferers of venereal diseases they had picked up leading their debauched lives. The asking price for a virgin was around 150 pounds in these dealings and could mean children as young as eight. On the other hand, Cruickshank completely ignores the male sex workers which obviously, considering Hayes little tableau, existed at that time just as today.

The streetwalkers were forbidden their trade by law in 1820, and with the start of the Victorian age and its double standards of morale, the sex trade was driven underground to produce even more exotic flowers than in the Georgian era.

For those who have read books by Georgette Heyer, the book is an eye-opener as to the good old days portrayed by her. And those who haven’t read her books, reading some after this book might give you a better feel for the period’s upper and lower classes, as she is a masterly writer on period detail.