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Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies: an 18th Yelp Review for Harlots
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This week's episode takes us to the bawdy streets of 18th-century London. Grace explores the history and cultural impact of "Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies," a notorious directory that rated and reviewed the city's prostitutes. Learn about the key figures behind its creation, the social dynamics of Covent Garden, and how this publication offers a unique glimpse into the lives of women who shaped the era.
Sources used: Covent Garden Ladies
Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, 1788
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Harlots and Hearses'
00:00:16
Speaker
Hey everyone, it's Grace Artis and I am back with you for another episode of Harlots and Hearses. Today's episode, we are going back to another topic that is near and dear to my heart. This episode ties back to one of my fun history facts that I always, always love to tell people. So every time, you know, i tell people like, oh, I majored in history, i got my master's in history, they always hit me with the Oh, like, what's your favorite, favorite fun fact that you love to
Intriguing Facts about 1700s London
00:00:46
Speaker
give? And to that, I always respond of, well, believe it or not, in the 1700s, the mid to late 1700s, if you were in London at the time, you could actually purchase a book that would rate and review all of the known prostitutes of the period.
00:01:06
Speaker
And then everyone, after I tell them that fact, they look at me with a look of shock and also just look like... How the fuck do you know that? And that's when I kind of like go into like, well, I got my master's in, you know, gender and sexuality.
00:01:21
Speaker
And, you know, that's always a fun conversation have. The reality of how I know that is because...
Inspiration Behind the Podcast
00:01:29
Speaker
One day back in, you know, 2020, I was watching a show on Hulu called Harlots, which if you have not seen Harlots, absolutely recommend. it is a phenomenal show.
00:01:44
Speaker
I wish there were more and more seasons of but the show Harlots was actually inspired by the book by one of my favorite historians, Halle Rubenhold.
00:01:59
Speaker
And the book that it was inspired by was the Covent Garden Ladies. and would actually like show it to you. We're going show it, but I have to like censor it because um on the cover, it's a lady flashing her, flashing her nipples, but it's in a phenomenal book.
00:02:16
Speaker
And that, that show in that book is actually kind of like what got me into this period, this time, this area of study So I also just like want to send a message for like anyone listening if there is like a show or period that you are interested in it can absolutely like you can use that kind of it's like the jumping off point to inspire you because Holly Rubin hole definitely did and this book definitely
Exploring 'Harris's List'
00:02:43
Speaker
did for me. So without further ado, we are going to talk about the Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, which is that book that rated and reviewed all of the prostitutes. It had a 38-year print run, and it sold about copies annually
00:03:03
Speaker
in those thirty eight each year that i was published Now, to really get into like the history behind it, a we have to understand the area in which it was located, because that plays a huge pivotal role.
00:03:17
Speaker
And then we also have to know the two men who were behind its creation itself. So with that...
Key Figures in 'Harris's List'
00:03:24
Speaker
Grab your coffee, grab your favorite drink, and we're going to dive into it.
00:03:28
Speaker
The two main people that we have to like really center this story around are Sam Derrick. He is this like mastermind Irish poet, and he is the one who actually wrote the the first editions of Harris's list and that's just what I'm going to refer to this book as from now on.
00:03:48
Speaker
And then we have the namesake of the list itself, Jack Harris, and he was the pimp master as he earned that title and nickname throughout the years. Those are two main
Covent Garden: Commerce and Illicit Nightlife
00:04:03
Speaker
subjects. Now, all of this will take place in Covent Garden and the Piazza Theatre District and surrounding areas in London, starting around the 1750s and like I said, spanning till the 1790s. Now, the location itself will set a huge, huge scene.
00:04:24
Speaker
And the reason behind that is like kind of this area during the day was known for commerce, stores selling huge markets. But at night, the markets shifted to sell like stuff a little bit more of the flesh variety.
00:04:40
Speaker
and then we have the taverns, the coffee houses, and the bar kind of scene.
The Lively Scene of Covent Garden
00:04:47
Speaker
And Halle Rubenhold, like in her book, she has this really great quote, and I'm gonna do it verbatim because I think it kind of like really just sets the scene of like what is going on and the people kind of involved in this background. She goes, the pursuit of pleasure is society's greatest leveler.
00:05:03
Speaker
It brings together the sons of dukes to drink with the daughters of tailors and penniless poets. Wealthy city merchants and military officers, lawyers, painters, and in common criminals interact freely with one another. So these are all the people that are coming to to Covent Garden, that are coming to this Piazza Theater District. And specifically the two locations that that we're gonna be focusing on are Shakespeare's Head in Bedford Coffee House.
00:05:33
Speaker
These are the two places Sam and Jack frequent the most. And this is actually where our story will begin will set the scene. Now what's really
Society and Tavern Culture
00:05:43
Speaker
important, and I'll touch on this a little bit later on in the episode, is that when it comes to women and the women seen here and at these places, it's not women of high society.
00:05:57
Speaker
Respectable women are not seen at these locations. And that was just that was just a known fact. Polite society do not come to these taverns to drink. They do not come to these coffee houses. No, women of polite society, if they are to drink, they drink at the house.
00:06:16
Speaker
So any woman... who is seen these places, who is seen at these establishments. They kind of already have a reputation that follows them. And they go by many names.
00:06:31
Speaker
Rubenhold lists them. Women of the town, strumpets, light girls, jades, hussy, jezebels, wantons, malls, and harlots.
00:06:41
Speaker
And those are the women that would soon fill the books that would become Harris's list of coven garden ladies that would sell throughout London. Before we get to the women themselves, first we need to know about the men.
Jack Harris: A Notorious Pimp's Rise
00:06:56
Speaker
he would write the book. So when it comes to Jack Harris, there are two stories that follow him. There's the one he told everyone at the height of his success, and then there's the truth.
00:07:07
Speaker
So his alias was that, you know, his father was the youngest son and he had no inheritance, so he set his mark for London where he met Jack's mother.
00:07:19
Speaker
His father tried his hand at becoming a political writer. He had some success, but ultimately he attached himself to the wrong politician and he found himself arrested and imprisoned. It was during this imprisonment that Jack said his father installed a life lesson that would ultimately stick with him for the rest of his life.
00:07:40
Speaker
His dad told him, when you get money, my son studies men's passions and ply them. So this is kind of like a very his take on a Machiavellian approach.
00:07:52
Speaker
It's essentially learn the man and then learn how to use the man's weaknesses and passions against the man. Make the man work for you. And after his father would die and leave Jack penniless, this would drive Jack into a career and life of criminality and would make Jack then go to become pimp.
00:08:14
Speaker
However, one of Jack's associates in the 1770s was kind of getting tired of all of Jack's like praises. and hearing like all about like the mystery of Jack and how like Jack is this, Jack is that, you know, Jack's father was a criminal himself and installed all these life lessons.
00:08:36
Speaker
And so like one of his like old, old work friends, if you will, essentially came out with the truth and he was like, yeah, none of that is actually true. And in fact, Jack's not even his like real name.
00:08:46
Speaker
In fact, Jack's real name was John Harrison and he actually grew up being raised in a tavern that his father family owned and this is where i kind of like want to dive in on a little bit of like tavern scenes and like coffee house scenes at the time because i feel like that's really pivotal to understand what we're kind of getting into here so like the taverns at the time are not when we think of taverns i think it's really important to get rooted in what they really were so
00:09:20
Speaker
The taverns and the bars that we have now, they're not very much the same thing. So the taverns and the coffee houses, they're very much male-dominated spaces. So that's where men would go. The taverns, obviously, that is where alcohol would be served. Coffee houses, that where coffee would be served.
00:09:38
Speaker
That is where social gatherings for men would be had. That is where If they were having any sort of like social parties, like any sort of meeting, anything like that, that would happen at a tavern. um So there was really no women there.
00:09:54
Speaker
Food would be served there. They were essentially these meeting places. And it was known that like women, any respectable women, like I said, would not be seen at these places, mainly because there's the ideology that like men, once they had liquor in their system, could not really be trusted.
00:10:14
Speaker
So then if these men could not be trusted, why would we put respectable women around these men? Thus, the women who place themselves there are there for promiscuous reasons.
00:10:31
Speaker
And then that is kind of why the idea of like the prostitute and the tavern and the sex worker, they all kind of go hand in hand because essentially like that is where they could be found. They're all kind of like intertwined in this very big web.
00:10:49
Speaker
And so that is also like where we see the rise of what is called like a pimp waiter. So at these taverns, you have kind of in the same sphere of a legal waiter, they would bring them in the beer, the liquor and the food.
00:11:04
Speaker
And then another thing in which the clientele would want procured for them is women. So that is the something that the waiters would do.
00:11:16
Speaker
hear what type of women that the the clients would want, and then they would match them up. And this is where Jack would come in. He himself would become a pimp waiter. So it would be essentially to usher in appropriate women to the vicinity of waiting, paying men.
00:11:36
Speaker
Because of this, Jack states that all he did was bring two willing parties together, and he didn't see anything wrong with it. And initially, said if you're bringing like two consenting parties together,
00:11:54
Speaker
What is the harm? And there is logic within that. If you're bringing two consenting adults together, yes, that does have validity to it.
Exploitation in the Trade
00:12:06
Speaker
However, as you can see with his success as it continues to grow, and as we'll touch on later, he does brag about how many women he will...
00:12:17
Speaker
begin to accrue and his means of accruing them, it's less innocent than he brings on. And this is all happening at his family's tavern. So this is where he's starting to dip his toes, his toes in the tavern, his like toes in the sand. So this is where he's starting to learn the trait.
00:12:35
Speaker
Now, this would all kind of come to a head in 1750 when Jack would ultimately start working at Shakespeare's Head's Tavern. At this point, he already had success at working at a waiter pimp, and he would be brought under the tutelage of a man named Packerton Tompkins, who taught him even more tricks.
00:12:57
Speaker
Because the success Shakespeare's Head had, ah success that shakespeare's had had It was a very popular location. It was a very popular tavern.
00:13:09
Speaker
There was clientele hunger and the clientele there had growing needs. And along with Jack strive to become one of the most successful pimps there, the need for new women was a constant thing, which meant that Jack had to look further and beyond the boundaries of Covent Garden.
00:13:29
Speaker
So he was no longer just looking in his neighborhood for girls. He was no longer just looking in Covent Garden. He was having to constantly go beyond that.
00:13:43
Speaker
And some of his favorites means of procuring women were as followed. So he said he loved going after servant and working class women, as he felt that the women were no strangers to sex, or they could easily be talked into going to the trade.
00:14:06
Speaker
And this, remember, if we go into two episodes ago, like I talked about with Judith Wackelitz, It kind of does tie into the notion that, you know, those in the working class, women in the working class, you know, they were no stranger to supplementing their income with prostitution. Another thing that I did find interesting is that Jack did like going unhappily married women, and the reason he gave for this
00:14:37
Speaker
is he said that he would tell them that there was financial independence to be had with prostitution of that they can get out of their marriage with the money that they can make from it and then on the darker side of things and this is where we're going of this is no longer two consenting parties, is some of the members of his clientele would pick girls off the street. They would tell Jack to target them.
00:15:08
Speaker
And Jack at the time, and this was known practice, essentially they would tell Jack which girl they wanted for the night. Jack would then take that girl by either a means of telling her,
00:15:25
Speaker
need of a maid i have need of employment i have a place of employment for you getting them set up in a house he would often have like houses that he would rent put the girl in the house lock her there and then have his client go to the house the client would rape And then in the morning, Jack would come back, explain the situation, and be like, you can go back to your work. Or since you know you're already in this situation, you can now start you can now start being a prostitute for me. Or you can now become...
00:16:06
Speaker
so-and-so's kept woman and you'll be paid for it. And that was another means that he procured girls. And it wasn't just Jack who did that. That was a known practice that him and other pimps and other madams did at the time.
00:16:23
Speaker
I'm going to get into it next episode because I'm going to cover Charlotte Hayes, who was one of the most well-known prostitutes and madams during this period. She did that as well, but it was essentially hunts that the clients would send him on and that the clients wanted him to do. And so we can see with all these women that...
00:16:44
Speaker
Jack is now starting to accrue as well as with all the clients that Jack is starting to have with all of their needs. This is where the pimp list would come in.
00:16:57
Speaker
Jack was by no means the first pimp in the history to do this.
The Contents of 'Harris's List'
00:17:02
Speaker
He will be by no means the last to do this. And what essentially it is, it's a written list that details the list of his girls and where to find them. And then maybe it will give a description of them depending on the pimp's ability to write and ability to read.
00:17:22
Speaker
then it will maybe give a description of the girl, their age, the sexual specialty, and then a price. For Harris, it was more. He took this very seriously. To be added to his list, you his girls had to undergo an examination by a surgeon and and like have the surgeon sign off on it saying that they were in good health. Because what Harris valued overall is he wanted all of his girls under him to be of the best quality and of the best material.
00:17:59
Speaker
They then had to pay Harris 20 pounds, essentially saying if like he ever found out if any of the information was wrong, that the girls would have to then pay him. He would also then give a description of the girl, where to find them, she was kept mistress, and if so, by who, and then what was the rate. So this is a description of what one of Jack's pimp list would have looked like.
00:18:24
Speaker
So name Fannie Murray, condition perfectly sound in wind and limb. Description, a fine brown girl raising 19 years next season. A good side box piece will show well in the flesh market wear well, might put off for a virgin any time these twelve months.
00:18:45
Speaker
Never common this side of Temple Bar, but for six months. Fit for high keeping with a Jew merchant. In be a good premium from ditto, then run of the house, and if she keeps out of the lock, may her fortune and ruin half the men in town.
00:19:00
Speaker
Place of abode, the first floor at Miss blank at milliner's at Charing Cross. So essentially it's just pretty like this Fannie Murray and Fannie Murray was also a very well known prostitute at the time.
00:19:14
Speaker
This is the girl. This is where you can find her that this is who is currently keeping her the Jewish merchant. This is her price. This is how well I think she will do and how well I think she can keep or And that is kind of the example of his list of numbers it. And in 1758, that would be kind like height of...
00:19:35
Speaker
ah height of Harris's influence. He said in about six years he had acquired a fortune of about 400 to 500 pounds from pimping alone and his list was rumored to have about 400 names on it.
00:19:51
Speaker
So in that list, and it may have been capped in just a little pocketbook, they would have been and been would have been a been about other entries just like the one I read. Now, if you read that, and if you heard that, you're like, that doesn't sound that interesting to read aloud.
00:20:10
Speaker
While provides great information, it's nothing really that profound. It's nothing attention grabbing. Now, here is where Sam Derrick comes
Sam Derrick's Literary Ambitions
00:20:20
Speaker
in.
00:20:20
Speaker
Sam Derrick was a draper or essentially what is called ah a linen merchant. He comes into the picture. He would hear about this pimp's list and he would see such potential within it.
00:20:35
Speaker
We actually don't know much about Sam, just like we don't really know much about um Jack, but we do know that he came from Ireland and he was born in 1724.
00:20:47
Speaker
And from a young age, Sam always knew that he was going to be a poet. However, his family had much different plans in mind for him. So his aunt and guardian had plans to make a linen merchant out of him and sent him on to become an apprentice to do so. For about seven years at night during his apprenticeship, after his studies, he would write and study poetry and he would save up all of these poems during his apprenticeship to hopefully one day like accumulate and publish them. he somehow managed to complete his apprenticeship, which apparently surprised everyone.
00:21:30
Speaker
And he did success. He did all right as a linen merchant in the beginning. He had a practice over in Dublin, and it was said that in the beginning, he was really good and able to split his time between Dublin and London for bit.
00:21:49
Speaker
However, sam being the poet, being the artist soul that he is, when he was London, he found his way to the piazza. And that is where he discovered artists like him. And while in the beginning, he was kind of able to maintain this double life of going back and forth between London and Dublin, of you know, maintaining his successful, like, linen merchant life and able to save up money on that side of things. And then also...
00:22:24
Speaker
While in London, day you know, lived that artist's life, he was in a few plays, he was able to write a few forms of poetry. After a bit, in 1751, he decided he couldn't do it any longer, and he decided to move to London on a more permanent basis with the money that he had saved.
00:22:44
Speaker
The poetry not grant him as much success as it as he thought he would and he pretty much had to call in every favor that he had saved.
00:22:57
Speaker
And this was also because Sam had two very, very big vices. One was women and the other was his love of very expensive clothes.
00:23:08
Speaker
I remember one part I read, said that he would spend so much copious amounts of money on like six embroidered jackets and then wear only have one under, clean undershirt under it.
00:23:24
Speaker
So the undershirt would be filthy, but he would have a really nice embroidered jacket over it, which just for like little bit of pretext.
00:23:35
Speaker
That's like the complete opposite of what you're supposed to do. Like, cause your undershirt, you're supposed have multiples of those because those are the ones like you take off and you wash constantly because those are the ones that are constantly on your skin and are getting dirty. So you need multiples of those.
00:23:56
Speaker
Whereas your over jacket, your over shirt, The nice embroidered piece, you're lucky if you have like one of those or two of those.
00:24:07
Speaker
Because like I said, those are really expensive. And you know, those are the outers. They shouldn't really be touching your skin, so they shouldn't be getting that dirty. So you don't need a lot of those. Santa had like six, but no clean undershirt.
00:24:18
Speaker
It's just like his priorities were just not there. But he did, like during all this time, he was spending it. at, you know, Shakespeare's head Bedford and he was getting to know like all of the the prostitutes that were there. He was gaining their favor. he was, he was said to be like a very like times. He was like a very lovable guy.
00:24:48
Speaker
Also, times, he just wasn't all there and he kind of just put his passions before, like, practicality, which is also, you know, not great at all. But because he was, like, building all of these relationships and he was spending all of this time at Shakespeare's HUD and at Bedford's coffee shop, he was able to become very observant to what was going on. And he also was...
00:25:17
Speaker
kind of like aware of pieces that were but becoming published and were gaining popularity. Lewd literature was kind of having its heyday during this time. And so with that in mind and with what he knew what was going on he was like, I know about all this really cool stuff.
00:25:39
Speaker
and all of these interesting characters and all these interesting people and the everyday going on of, you know, these coffee shops and these taverns. He's like, what if I actually just write about it?
00:25:51
Speaker
And so that's kind of like what he did. He wrote about the daily life and characters of the taverns and the coffee shop. So the first one that he wrote was the memoir Shakespeare's had. and with the success of that, he then published the memoirs of Bedford coffee shop.
00:26:06
Speaker
And they did have some success. They did hit it off. And with that, it kind of like revealed the life and revealed to the people and kind of garnered some interest. And what stuck out to people was kind of like Harris's, Jack Harris's actions and how he was like procuring girls and kind of like what the life of a pimp was. Honestly, that I'm saying this out loud, this was kind of their version of Vanderpump Rules.
00:26:34
Speaker
It really was their version of Vanderpump Rules. Because not everyone has, like, access to all of this. But the people who do knew the names, knew the innuendos, and they knew all was going on, and they were there for it.
00:26:47
Speaker
And so kind of, like, this garnered attention and helped kind of put a name to him. And what this also did is it put him in close vicinity with Jack Harris.
00:26:58
Speaker
And with that, he was able to kind of like observe Jack Harris's life, kind of like what I've said, what the daily ins and out look like. And it also got him in the know of the Pimp List.
00:27:11
Speaker
And Derek knew that the Pimp List was a gold mine. And he also knew it was a space that he could flex his poetic ability as well. He knew the book would appeal to the same audience members of the Tavern and the Coffeehouse Memoir. He knew that the market was there.
00:27:30
Speaker
Like I said, he knew there was a market for raunchy lewd works as well. and He also wanted it to kind of serve and be a practical guide, like kind of like a how-to guide where to go, like the modern, like their version of like a Yelp of like where to find the best practices and like where to find the best women and where to find like, you know, like your own interests and where to get them. Now, when it comes to the deal made,
00:28:01
Speaker
between the two men. Not much is known. We do know that Jack Harris gave over the rights to use his name. That's pretty much it. We know that Harris probably most likely received it all in like a one-time payment.
00:28:18
Speaker
The reasoning for that is like no one could have predicted it would have been a 38-year print run. And the second reason is because the authorship of the list and the printing and publishing of the list itself, of the book, changed so many times.
00:28:39
Speaker
That's why a lot of historians believe that, and kind of like why I believe too, and just kind of how Harris reacted towards Derek, that it was just like kind of kind of like a lump one-time payment. Now, regarding publication itself,
00:29:00
Speaker
So during the first editions of it several key factors.
Prostitution's Role in Society
00:29:04
Speaker
From the 1760s to the 1780s, every edition started with a sermon praising the merits of prostitution.
00:29:14
Speaker
That was one thing that you could always count on, and that was always written by Derek um and then until he died. And then even after he died, they just re-popped kind of like copied and pasted it.
00:29:28
Speaker
because Derrick believed that the prostitute was a woman who was wrongfully prosecuted by society and who was wrongfully shunned by society when she shouldn't have been. And the reason he believed that is it was actually the prostitute we should thank for keeping the peace because it was her who placates the violent natures of men. And if we didn't have the prostitute, Derrick argues,
00:29:58
Speaker
men would be running and causing chaos and violence around London and around town. So that is why he praised the prostitute so much.
00:30:10
Speaker
And also in part why he wanted to kind of give this book to them as well as a way to quote unquote honor them honor being used very loosely now in terms of how did derek get the names of the prostitutes he may have gotten a few from jack harris's list but we do know for the most part a lot of them came specifically in the first versions from women that derek personally knew
00:30:41
Speaker
that they were most popular on the town or they were one that his friends knew. And then what's kind of really interesting as well is this making it like a whole kind of like TMZ as well as he would ask members of London to be his eyes and ears.
00:31:00
Speaker
He said, quote, send us the anecdotes of their private engagements in places of abode, end quote. So he was, like, kind of asking, like, the members of a London to, like, kind of tattle on them and themselves, tattle on others, and it just shows that, like, not much has, like, really changed with, like, gossip columns and everything, and I do love, like, that element of, like, to quote morbid, of, like, humans are gonna human, people are gonna people, like This was written almost like 150 years ago and it shows that just not much has changed. And anyways, so, and it also like does bring up the question of like how much did this kind of compete with the pimps list itself? And to answer that, it really, it really did it because
00:31:51
Speaker
Yes. Did this provide you with like an overview of where to find them? Yes. This was published once a year. And while this did have to be a maintained, it was still only a once a year occurrence.
00:32:05
Speaker
So it was always going to be outdated and behind the times. Whereas the pimp, like... they daily had to be aware of what was going on and up to date. So it kind of, if anything, it was an adjacent and it was just like an aid.
00:32:22
Speaker
And if anything, it kind of did help them and abate them in any way possible. Now, Harris's List would be in production until 1795.
The Decline of 'Harris's List'
00:32:34
Speaker
And it would generally follow the same format,
00:32:39
Speaker
The material itself, quality-wise, over the years, would have very little resemblance to Derek's first work. So what Derek intended when he first set out for this was the his work would be for men who had some education and for men to understand his wit. man of a higher class and middle class standing.
00:33:05
Speaker
And he really wanted it to serve as a guide to like London's underworld. Once Samuel died in 1769, little can be found about the list following authors.
00:33:18
Speaker
And then the list would start taking on a life of its own. Now it would become more of like a branded, book more so a little bit more gimmicky.
00:33:30
Speaker
It's less guidebook and it's more about the stories. And you can see how authors started taking more so like a very much more literary approach.
00:33:42
Speaker
They did away with like the harsh truce that rang with Derek's work and they tried to make the prostitute into like Venus's and Grace's herself, with a lot more alliterations and references to Greek and like Roman.
00:34:01
Speaker
mythology and art. In the 1780s you see even more of a decline in the work. So the truth becomes even less pervasive. You start to find repeating stories from years prior.
00:34:14
Speaker
And so it's a lot more about archetypes than telling the truth. So it's very prevalent that like in the 1780s they're not really even trying anymore.
00:34:25
Speaker
are not trying to stay up to date. They're just publishing the book because it's been around so long and it has that following and it has that that that following and that branding behind it.
00:34:36
Speaker
It's something they kind of feel like they have to publish just to keep up with it.
Historical Insights from Surviving Volumes
00:34:40
Speaker
95 is the last year that the book would be published. And the long story of how that would become the last year is the book was taken on by new printers, two brothers, the last name Roach and a man named Atkins.
00:34:54
Speaker
Now, due to a new ruling made by King George III, he was really trying to cut down on the publication of lewd materials. They were told to no longer print the book.
00:35:07
Speaker
One of the Roche brothers did anyway, and he got arrested. During his trial, he said he didn't know. He was not believed, and he was sentenced to a year in Newgate prison, and That was not it. He still had to pay a hundred pound fine on top of that.
00:35:28
Speaker
And so it really just showed like how much society had changed and the course of 38, 35 years since its original publishing, when this book was at its heyday and everyone was crowding around it and wanting a copy.
00:35:46
Speaker
Versus now where was trying to be silenced and that was no longer an appropriate subject matter for London society. So even though the publication of Harris's list ran from 57 through 95, we only have volumes from nine years.
00:36:08
Speaker
So from those nine years, are the only ones that have evaded like wear and tear and the censorship of the time. And from that, over a thousand names and short biographies of women have been active in the trade of prostitution are recorded for posterity. With that being said, I will read.
00:36:31
Speaker
a few ah the ones that I found interesting. Let's see which one do want to read. Bette Davis, alias Little Infamy, Russell Streep. Of all the ladies we have inserted in our list, Bette is the most eminent among those of her own class.
00:36:49
Speaker
who have given her the name Little Infamy from her abandoned and libidinous disposition. It is reported she has transplanted an antique gonorrhea by many drunken, vicious husbands to their innocent wives, and to the blood of post-denary, and that many sessions of paper have owed part of its historical existence to heroes of her creating.
00:37:15
Speaker
but isn't me let this be it morris in a morados to be careful a word to the wise is enough sixty-one miss collier craven street the strand to trace this lady through all mazes and wanderings from her first setting out in life to the time of her appearance on the stage and the character of miranda would far it exceed the boundary of our limits we must therefore content ourselves with giving a brief outline of her character which we have opportunities of being well acquainted with She was brought up under a wing of the celebrated birds of paradise who taught her the rudiments of knowledge from which she soon, by the strength of her natural genius, became a complete mistress of the science and which she has cut a conspicuous figure.
00:38:00
Speaker
She's about 28, is slim and tall, has fair complexion, brown hair, good teeth, and is upon a whole very pretty woman. She lately behaves with a great deal in reserve in public, but in private when she likes her company, she is not more agreeable, good-natured, convivial soul in the universe. 1779. Kitty Beckley, Poland Street.
00:38:23
Speaker
This lady has been at the service of every man that has in mind her from 13th year. Her mama was a midwife in Ireland, from which country Miss Beckley came. No woman was ever more hackneyed from the Lord to the porter. Every sect, every country has tasted her sweet body.
00:38:38
Speaker
She is really an elegant figure and a charming sweetness in her countenance. But she is wicked as the devil and extravagant as Cleopatra. She is generally three times a year in the bailiff's hands, but still makes a figure.
00:38:50
Speaker
She is now descending into the veil of years, being at least five and thirty, and is reported to have ruined twenty keepers.
00:39:00
Speaker
Jackson, Late Above Place, Rathbone Place, number 22. Polly is a little fluttering child, about 14 years of age, has full dark eyes and a projecting mouth with tolerable good teeth, but upon nothing striking or and extraordinary. If her youth has not been fledged, our recommendation she is certainly possessed of them. She was debauched about 10 months ago by the noted Captain Jones, who was convicted of unnatural crimes. She has passed her maidenhood since that period of 20 times and has paid accordingly and been under a direction of a very good lady who directs her to play her part to admiration.
00:39:35
Speaker
She is in a very good way of getting money. 1773. It's a child. three to child okay This one just makes me laugh. Paul Forrester, Bow Street. The very opposite of her namesake being disagreeable, ugly, and ill-behaved.
00:39:51
Speaker
She has an entrance to the place of pleasure, as wide as a church door, and breath worse than a Welsh bagpipe. She drinks like a fish, eats like a horse, and swears like a trooper.
00:40:04
Speaker
An errant drab. 1861, I'm sorry. Breath worse than a Welsh bagpipe. I will give Mr. Derek that. That is a good insult. Now I'm going to read some from the 1780s.
00:40:17
Speaker
1788 to kind of show just like how much it shifted. this is a long one, but I think it like perfectly encapsulates like just lowry the language got. So this is Miss Luster, if I had to guess. Number six, Union Street, Oxford Rose. It starts with a very long poem that I'm not going to read, mainly because the poem is very dirty and I don't, this is not that kind of podcast. I'm not going to read it If you want to see this book, it's called Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies. It's all available on Amazon.
00:40:52
Speaker
It's the first one. Such all-pleasing luster leads the train, and smile like the morn unfolds her heaven of beauties. Oh, for Gildo's touch, or Tom's thoughts. To paint the richness of unequal charms, every perfection that can possibly adorn the face and mind of woman seems centered in this bewitching girl. Heather resort, then, ye genius lovers of beauty and good sense.
00:41:17
Speaker
Here, whilst Pluto's reigns, may you reveal nor know severity Here feast the longing's appetite and return and return with fresh figure to every attack.
00:41:29
Speaker
Now arrive at the tempting age of 19. Her imagination is filled with every lustrous idea. Refined sensibility and fierce desire can unite.
00:41:39
Speaker
Her form is majestic, tall, elegant. Her make truly gentle. Her complexion as April's lily fair and bloom as June's brightest rose. Painted by the masterly hand of nature, shaded by the tresses of the darkest brown, enlivened by two stars that swim in all the essence of unsatiated love, her pouting lips distilled nectarous... Nectarous... Take two. Her pout... Nope.
00:42:10
Speaker
Take three. Her pouting lips distilled nectarous balm, and through the flames its thrilling transports start, which when parted display a casket of snow-white pearls range the nicest regularity the neighboring hills below fold.
00:42:29
Speaker
right for manual pressure, firm and elastic and heave at every touch. Dear fucking Lord. The asylum front in the center of a black bewitching grove supported by two pyramids, white as alabaster, very delicate and soft as to, Oh God, that's what, okay. going to skip that.
00:42:50
Speaker
At the approach of their, he does call a guy's part, his favorite member. oh no, his favorite Lord. And for three guineas, oh god, hold on, I am gonna read this part.
00:43:04
Speaker
Their favorite lord of doobadoop. And for three guineas, he is conducted to this harbor of never failing delight. And to all this, she sings well and is a very cheerful companion.
00:43:20
Speaker
And she's only been in life nine months. Yeah, that's the only one I'm going to read because I didn't even think I was going to read the full thing. because Yeah, so that is just a little taste of how kind of how wild they get.
00:43:30
Speaker
i just read some more and I'm like, I can't believe um they do that. Yeah, so that's just kind of like how wild and ludicrous and verbatious they get towards...
00:43:44
Speaker
like the 1780s and 90s um because this whole book that i'm reading here is from 1788 so you can just see how how we're slipping into the verbatiousness from from where when derek was coming in calling let's see yeah There's a huge difference. Okay, I kind of want to read this other one, but, like, it's, it's like, so many indiwindows, but, like, it's this one, it's talking about... No, my mom listens to this.
00:44:14
Speaker
So, like, mom, if you're listening to this, I'm sorry, but this next one, it talks about... a prostitute who's skilled at the art of giving head and her name is Miss Noble. It is from 1788 as well so it is from this one. God.
00:44:29
Speaker
She is the most communicative skill in reviving the dead for she lives nothing but active life. She is happy when she can restore it. Her tongue has double charm both when speaking and when silent.
00:44:40
Speaker
For the tip of it properly applied can... talk eloquently to the heart. Okay, yeah, I'm gonna end there. But yeah, so like, that's just like, you can just really tell, you can just really tell when ownership changed.
00:44:54
Speaker
Because we go back to like, Katie Beckley, the one I read earlier, and how Derek described her as like, she's an elegant figure with a charming sweetness, but she's wicked as the devil and is charming, and is extravenous Cleopatra. Like, that's way different verbiage.
00:45:12
Speaker
Then others are read. Yep, Ruben holds Athianne and I think she encompasses this very well.
The List's Historical Significance
00:45:21
Speaker
She said that Harris's list provided men with the means of gratifying their lust and enjoying themselves.
00:45:28
Speaker
And I think that perfectly encapsulates just how Derek, when he created this list, he said his goal was to A, put the prostitute in a better light.
00:45:41
Speaker
He said he was a woman who was wrongfully prosecuted and shunned by society. And she was. But what this book allowed is therefore another means for men to gawk at them.
00:45:56
Speaker
To gawk at them, to find them. Rubenhold said, gratify their lusts. The prostitute is not put back in her own story. And yes, while some of them did pay Derek and did pay Harris to be put into the list, and into...
00:46:18
Speaker
to be painted in a good light. It was a means to make business. So I just think it's like a very interesting concept all in itself. And it has to go with another thing of while these women were not the authors of their own stories by any means, I think it does allow us as historians, as people looking at the past, it does give us a glimpse and a means to read between the lines, read between the archives to see what is there and what isn't there. and to hopefully like one day peel back the curtains.
00:46:51
Speaker
Because the list does give us a glimpse of pointing out where these women were at one place at one time. It gives us physical descriptions of them. And it gives us a name, which may or not have been their real name, but it's a start.
00:47:08
Speaker
It's a starting point, which we can use to work backwards. And I'm going to touch on it a little bit more in... the next episode when I go over Charlotte Hayes of just exactly kind of like who these women were where did they come from what parts of society were they because they really these women in particular they did come from all parts but hopefully and then maybe some year in the future if I have more time and given more resources it's something that
00:47:44
Speaker
maybe more of us can pursue and put more into it to dive deeper onto these women and give something back to them.
00:47:53
Speaker
And with that, thank you for tuning into this episode, listening in hearing those interesting stories.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:48:02
Speaker
Thank you um for everything. If you like the episode, like, share, subscribe, please rate it.
00:48:09
Speaker
you know, do anything possible. I love doing this. So anything I can do or you can do to just help make it more possible, I will greatly appreciate it. I will talk with you guys next week and we will talk more about the prostitute and Madam Charlotte Hayes. And we'll hear how she actually ties into Harris's list and hear more about how she affected the town of Linden.
00:48:33
Speaker
Have a good one.