By Michelle Styles
In 1782, the chattering classes of Britain and the United States were held transfixed by the trial of George Bisset for criminal conversation. The transcript had seven printings in the first year--even George Washington requested one.
The action was brought by Sir Richard Worsley and he claimed damages of £20,000. In 1775, Worsley had married a very rich heiress, Seymour Dorothy Fleming. At first they were the perfect power couple of Georgian England. Sir Richard became a rising star in Lord North's government and Lady Worsley was popular in the ton. They had a son, Robert Edwin, within a year or two of the marriage and to the outside word, a daughter born August 1781.
However, all was not happy and Sir Richard buried himself in his work and in the Hampshire Militia. Worsley was also a collector of Roman artifacts and there is a suggestion that such men often preferred not to look at women. Lady Worsley would later say that for the the first three months of her marriage, it was like living with a brother. In any case, there is evidence that he did not pay Seymour much attention and Lady Worsley craved attention.
Lady Worsley took a number of discrete lovers. Her friendship with one George M Bisset became something more and she gave birth to their daughter.
On 18 November 1781, she eloped with Bisset, travelling in a carriage from Lewes to London where the pair hid. It can be assumed that Lady Worsley felt a quick divorce would be in the offing and everything would be settled discretely. After all Sir Richard had been content with the previous arrangement and had even accepted Bisset's daughter as his own.
Faced with the humiliation of a runaway wife, Sir Richard decided to take his revenge. He sued George M Bisset for £20,000 in damages. This would have ruined Bisset.
As the pair had been discovered in London, there was no real defence on Bisset's part. He had eloped with another man's wife. However Sir Richard had reckoned without his estranged wife. Rather than allow her lover to be ruined, Seymour decided to run the defence that not only had her husband known about her various relationships, he had approved of them.
Thus a series of men were called who gave discrete evidence about relations with Seymour. All of London, in particular the demi-monde, turned out to hear the case.
However, it was the evidence of the bath lady that stunned the court. She could well remember that sunny day when the Worsleys and Captain Bisset came to use her bath house. She had helped Lady Worsley undress. Suddenly she had heard Sir Richard saying in a loud voice: "Seymour, Seymour, Bisset is looking at you." Furthermore, the bath lady announced the only way Bisset could have achieved this feat was by standing on Sir Richard's shoulders. In short, Sir Richard had been exposed as a voyeur. The cartoonists had a field day and ever afterward, people would think of the cartoons rather his collection of Roman cameos or his position as counsel in Venice.
The jury took every little time in deliberating. Sir Richard won his case but was rewarded one shilling for his trouble rather than the fortune he had demanded. A transcript of the trial can be seen here.
While the case was going on, Lord North's government was busy collapsing and it has been speculated that because Sir Richard was distracted, the government fell and a government that was sympathetic to ending the American Revolution was installed.
Sir Richard, his career and reputation in ruins, took more revenge by refusing to divorce Seymour. They formally separated in 1788 and she was only entitled to pin money, rather than her extensive dowry. Neither did she have any access to her lavish wardrobe or jewels. Seymour and Bisset's love affair ended as they could not marry and she took a series of lovers in order to survive (as well to rub her husband's nose in her notoriety).
Unfortunately Sir Richard also refused to allow her access to either of her children and the little daughter died. Seymour suspected that the death was from neglect. There was further tragedy when their son, in his late teens, died due to an accident with the militia. Because of the Napoleonic War, their son had not been able to have Grand Tour (not considered safe) but had served for a time with the Hampshire Militia.
It was only after Sir Richard's death that Seymour regained control of her fortune. She eventually married a second time--to a much younger man. She was never received in polite society again but was eventually allowed to have some contact with her sister and mother.
If you are interested in the scandal, Hallie Rubenfield wrote a comprehensive account of it in Lady Worsley's Whim.
By Anita Davison
In Georgian England, for a man about town to enlist the services of a prostitute was an accepted part of life. London in1797 contained a total of 50,000 'Ladies of the Night,' which was around one in ten of the total female population. Covent Garden theatres were built with 'retiring rooms' connected to the boxes in order for the entertainment of clients while they enjoyed an evening out at the theatre. Even the vocabulary used to describe them was colourful.
-- Prostitutes who waited outside theatres for the plays to finish were called 'spells.'
-- Lower class streetwalkers were 'flash mollishers.'
-- Covent Garden Ague was a term for venereal disease.
-- Covent Garden Nun was another name for a prostitute.
-- Covent Garden Abbess was a bawd (madam) most of whom started out as whores themselves.
Between the years of 1757 and 1795, a publication was produced each Christmas entitled Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies. This book was handwritten to begin with, but soon went into print and sold a quarter of a million copies during the thirty eight years it was produced. The List, priced at two shillings and sixpence, was a catalogue of around eighty up-market prostitutes. It included biographical details of each lady, together with a description of her appearance, personality and her sexual specialties, together with their charges.
The name "Harris' referred to a Jack Harris, the head waiter at the Shakespeare's Head, a Covent Garden tavern frequented by sea captains and the directors of the East India Company. Harris christened himself the "Pimp General of All England," but in 1757, he was in Newgate prison for debt. He gave an impoverished, heavy drinking Irish poet by the name of Samuel Derrick, permission to use his name for the book.
A 'common whore' could be purchased in London for a shilling, perhaps two or three shillings to enjoy her company in a bedroom in a local tavern or lodging house. The average wage at the time was around a pound a week, and two pounds was a fairly large sum of money. With some of the ladies on Harris's Lists charging a guinea a time, the lists represented the top end of the market.
An account of one young woman from the 1773 edition reads: Miss M__tague is a well-shaped girl, about twenty-three, good-natured and said to be thoroughly experienced in the whole art and mysterie of Venus's tactics and as soon reduce a perpendicular to less than the curve of a parabola. She is rather generous and you may sometimes find your way in there free of expence.
From the 1780 edition, the entry for a Miss B____rn. of No. l8 Old Compton Street, Soho: This accomplished nymph has just attained her eighteenth year, and fraught with every perfection, enters a volunteer in the field of Venus. She plays on the pianofort, sings, dances, and is mistress of every Maneuver in the amorous contest that can enhance the coming pleasure; is of the middle stature, fine auburn hair, dark eyes and very inviting countenance, which ever seems to beam delight and love. In bed she is all the heart can wish, or eyes admires every limb is symmetry, every action under cover truly amorous; her price two pounds.
The list also alerted its readers to those women who were best avoided, a Pol Forestor was reported as having "breath worse than a Welch bagpipe" and warned against the "contaminated carcase" of a certain Miss Young from the Turk's Head Bagnio. And warning them off Miss Robinson, at the Jelly Shops, "a slim and genteel made girl--but rather too flat."
A review of one resident of Drury Lane reads, "Very impudent and very ugly; chiefly a dealer with old fellows. It is reported that she uses more birch rods in a week than Westminster school in a twelvemonth."
And another: Known in this quarter for her immense sized breasts, which she alternately makes use of with the rest of her parts, to indulge those who are particularly fond of a certain amusement. She is what you may call, at all; backwards and forwards, all are equal to her, posteriors not excepted, nay indeed, by her own account she has most pleasure in the latter. Very fit for a foreign Macaroni - entrance at the front door tolerably reasonable, but nothing less than two pound for the back way.
A Mrs. Crosby of 24 George Street, for example, "being particularly attached to the sons of Neptune," (sailors) had married an elderly sea captain. When he died he left her a small annuity. This was enough to keep her off the streets, but not enough to live on--so she worked as a part-time prostitute. Harris's List says, "Mrs. Crosby could be contacted at home during the day or in the theatre at night. She has dark hair flowing in ringlets down her back, languishing grey eyes and a tolerable complexion." She charged one guinea (£1.05).
Of a Mrs. Grafton of Wapping, her "...best customers are sea officers, who she particularly liked, as they do not stay long at home, and always return fraught with love and presents." At 40 years old, the lady "...could give more pleasure than a dozen girls half her age. Her price was 5 shillings (25p). Most naval officers could afford that, as a day's pay for most captains in this period was about 20 shillings (£1.00).
Harris often used nautical terminology when describing the charms of the women. Miss Devonshire of Queen Ann Street had "...fair complexion, cerulean eyes and fine teeth," and "...many a man of war hath been her willing prisoner, and paid a proper ransom…she is so brave, that she is ever ready for an engagement, cares not how soon she comes to close quarters, and loves to fight yard arm and yard arm, and be briskly boarded."
The mood turned against such 'immorality' when a Mr. Aitken was convicted at the Kings Bench for the offence of publishing Harris's List in November 1795, which hereafter went out of print.
A copy of the 1790 edition was sold for £5,170 at auction in March 2008.
This week we welcome Alex Beecroft as she celebrates the release of her debut, FALSE COLORS, a m/m romance set on the high seas of the 18th century. Here's the blurb:
For his first command, John Cavendish is given the elderly bomb vessel HMS Meteor, and a crew as ugly as the ship. He's determined to make a success of their first mission, and hopes the well-liked lieutenant Alfie Donwell can pull the crew together before he has to lead them into battle: stopping the slave trade off the coast of Algiers.
Alfie knows that with a single ship, however well manned, their mission is futile, and their superiors back in England are hoping to use their demise as an excuse for war with the Ottoman Empire. But the darker secret he keeps is his growing attraction for his commanding officer--a secret punishable by death.
With the arrival of his former captain--and lover--on the scene, Alfie is torn between the security of his past and the uncertain promise of a future with the straight-laced John. Against a backdrop of war, intrigue, piracy and personal betrayal, the high seas will carry these men through dangerous waters from England to Africa, from the Arctic to the West Indies, in search of a safe harbor.
***
Welcome to Unusual Historicals, Alex. Let's start by asking "what makes your historical so unusual?"
Imagine a cross between Master and Commander and Brokeback Mountain--all the seafaring adventure and excitement of the former, together with the bittersweet, forbidden love story at the core of the latter. That was what I aimed to achieve in FALSE COLORS, a novel set in the Georgian Age of Sail that follows the romance between Lt. Alfie Donwell and his Captain, John Cavendish.
Together with TRANSGRESSIONS by Erastes, FALSE COLORS is one of two groundbreaking novels released by Running Press which aim to bring the underground phenomenon of m/m romance out into the mainstream. Running Press's aim was to see these two books, and the next two in the series, take their place in the romance section of bookshops next to traditional romances.
But surely gay romance belongs in the gay section rather than the romance section?
I would argue it belongs in both. One surprise m/m romance has for the romance industry is its great popularity with gay men. Men have previously not been much of a target audience for romance, but that isn't the case with these books.
Perhaps the larger surprise is that m/m romance appeals hugely to women as well. The success of Brokeback Mountain as a film can be set down largely to its appeal to women, rather than to gay men. There are numerous reasons why women who try m/m romance find that they adore it--two sexy heroes for the price of one, for example, or the element of real equality and mutual respect such a relationship allows. That's a subject too long for me to go into here. If you're interested, there is a debate on the subject here:
Why do women write m/m fiction?
Brokeback Mountain was an amazing love story, but I wouldn't exactly call it a romance. How do you get around the fact that in the 18th Century your characters could have been hanged for having a relationship?
Well, partly I don't try to get around that fact. What could be more romantic than a love strong enough to bloom even under the threat of the gallows? The difficulty comes in allowing the characters to have a happy ending. But I look at it this way--most of the relationships which we know of, that ended badly, we know of because they ended badly. They were recorded because they were discovered and ended up in court. But I'm writing about the other couples; the ones who were careful and clever enough not to be discovered, and who managed--not without risk, of course--to live happily every after under the radar of society.
One final question: why did you choose this setting?
Oh, that's easy! I adore the Age of Sail. There's something so beautiful and romantic in the tall ships themselves. They symbolise the sense of freedom and excitement--the feeling of new horizons opening, fascinating discoveries being made, and the optimism of the age of Enlightenment. There's a wonderful confidence and energy, and a mixture of refinement and ferocity in the men of the time that I find magnificent. I've gone into more detail here:
What the Georgians did for us: Five reasons to love the 18th century.
Please visit me on my website if you'd like to know more. It has an attached blog that I try to update every day with news about my books, works in progress, writing tips and cover art secrets, as well as the occasional aside about my adventures in re-enactment and morris dancing.
Reviews For FALSE COLORS
From Dear Author:
Rarely, oh so rarely, I'll read a book that is so sublime, so transcendent, I actually come away from it a little melancholy, because it's over and I can never read it for the first time ever again, because I know I'll never be able to do justice to it in my review or analysis, and because I know I won't meet its equal for many a year. But the process of devouring the book, of eking out its layered, textured meaning, of savoring its descriptions, and the emotions–oh, the emotions!–leaves me flying for days and the melancholy only makes it all the sweeter.
This is one of those books. It ravished me. It scoured my insides. I feel like I'm stuck in it and I don't ever want to get out.
Read the whole review here.
More reviews here.
I'd like to offer a copy of FALSE COLORS to one of your readers, chosen at random from anyone who comments on this post. And thank you again for having me! It's been an honour to be here.
***
Thanks for stopping by, Alex! We were very happy to have you. If you would like to enter for a chance to win a copy of FALSE COLORS, made a question or comment for Alex. I will draw a winner at random in one week. Good luck!
Our guest blogger today is Emily Bryan! Though she writes light-hearted romps for Leisure Books now, some of you may remember this award-winning author from her Diana Groe titles. Her newest release is VEXING THE VISCOUNT.
***
Daisy Drake is leading a double life! By day, she's Lucian Beaumont's unwanted assistant and by night, she masquerades as the masked courtesan, Blanche La Tour, a Frenchwoman who agreed to give Lucian lessons in sensual love! There's only one problem. Daisy speaks fluent French and can read ancient Latin without moving her lips, but she doesn't know the first thing about the pleasures of the flesh!
Good thing she has the real Blanch La Tour's very explicit memoirs for guidance.
Lucian Beaumont, Viscount Rutland, longs to see his family's standing returned to its glory days, before his father lost their fortune. And he thinks he can manage it, if he can only discover the hiding place of an ancient Roman payroll. Daisy never forgot her girlhood fascination with Lucian, even though his father has a score to settle with her uncle. Now that they're all grown up, she's determined to help the viscount find his Roman treasure.
Whether he wants her help or not!
***
Your Diana Groe books were set in the Dark Ages in Scandinavia, Ireland and Constantinople. What was it like to write your Emily Bryan tales in a more conventional setting?
First, thanks for inviting me here to Unusual Historicals! Actually, I haven't succumbed to the pressure to write a true Regency (1790-1829, if you take the extended Regency view of things). My DISTRACTING THE DUCHESS (which was just nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for BEST HISTORICAL K.I.S.S.) is set in 1851, early in the reign of Queen Victoria. PLEASURING THE PIRATE takes place in 1720, firmly in the Georgian era. 
And my newest release, VEXING THE VISCOUNT, is actually two intertwined stories--one in London of 1731 and the other Londinium of 405 AD, Roman Britain. I may eventually write in the Regency era, but there is something in me that rebels against the expected. I'm guessing that's a chord that rings true with you here at Unusual Historicals.
Still, there is a difference in tone between your Diana Groe and Emily Bryan books?
Absolutely. My Diana Groe books are dramatic epics. The Emily Bryan stories are funnier and, 'scuse me while I blush, sexier.
I loved writing about my big hairy Vikings and they are doing very well in the European market. My Diana Groe books have been translated into German, Dutch, Italian and Russian. For who knows what reason, they were less well received in the American market.
When my debut title MAIDENSONG came out in 2006, New York Times bestseller Bobbi Smith gave me this advice: "Stay published." If I need to shift my focus to a little more accessible time period to accomplish that, I'm happy to do it. VEXING THE VISCOUNT is my 6th title with Leisure Books.
But just because I'm setting my Emily Bryan books in a time that's familiar to more readers, that doesn't mean they are "usual" historicals. I work to make my characters out of the ordinary. VEXING THE VISCOUNT's heroine Daisy Drake was raised by a pirate and now as an adult, her mentor is a former courtesan (and Daisy's inspiration when she decides to masquerade as a "woman of pleasure"). My hero Lucian is not your typical Regency rake. In fact, he's a virgin (but an incredibly quick study!)
Now that you write in a time period more readers know something about, has that changed how you research your stories?
Not really. I had to be just as thorough for my Viking stories as for my Victorian and Georgian. The historical readership is very sophisticated. The main difference is that there is so much more information for me to wade through for the more recent time periods. Writers can't use every bit of research we uncover. We have to cherry-pick the most evocative tidbits to suggest our setting and let our readers bring something to the experience. Since they have so much to bring to my Emily Bryan settings that means my details have to be doubly fresh in order to have impact.
You mentioned that VEXING THE VISCOUNT is really two intertwined stories. Tell us more about that.
The two stories are tied by virtue of place.
Lucian discovers some Roman ruins on his father's failing estate along with clues to the location of a lost Roman payroll. Daisy has the funds necessary to help him, but because of his father's grudge against Daisy's uncle, Lucian refuses. So she masquerades as Blanche la Tour, a French courtesan who offers to give him "lessons in love" in exchange for a partnership in his venture--oh! and he must accept Blanche's agent, who is of course, Daisy! They search for the treasure together and along the way, thwart a Jacobite plot and discover love they never expected.
The secondary story, which takes place in 405 AD is the romance between Caius Meritus, the ancient thief, and a Celtic slave girl named Deirdre. It explains why the missing payroll went missing in the first place.
The two stories converge on a mist-shrouded Druid island.
In many ways, VEXING THE VISCOUNT is a melding of my two writing styles. Daisy and Lucian's story is all Emily Bryan--full of froth and fun. Caius and Deirdre's tale is much darker, as befits a darker time--pure Diana Groe.
VEXING THE VISCOUNT is in bookstores now, but what's next for you?
Coming September 29th, A CHRISTMAS BALL will hit the shelves. I'll be joined by USA Today bestseller Jennifer Ashley and exciting new author Alissa Johnson for a holiday anthology. All our characters are attending the same Christmas Ball on December 19, 1822 (I know, I know, it's Regency, but technically it's two years after the Prince of Wales became George IV, so if you're a purist, the Regency is over!)
At any rate, my heroine is not the typical Regency lady. She's "born-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-blanket" plain Jane Tate. Every party worthy of the name needs at least one party crasher!
Where can readers find out more about you and your books?
There are excerpts of all my books on my websites and I've just started a joint webhunt with Night Owl Romance and several other authors. Please visit my website to learn how to enter to win a boatload of goodies. I love hearing from readers, so please pop by my blog. I still maintain a website for my Diana Groe books as well. All my books are still in print and most are available electronically for those who prefer ebooks.
Readers can buy VEXING THE VISCOUNT at their local bookstore or online at Amazon or B&N.com.
Is there anything you'd like ask Unusual Historical's readers?
Yes! I'm seeing a trend of adding paranormal elements in historicals--mythical beings, magic, alternate histories. What do you think? Do you like this cross-genre trend or would you prefer we "stick to the facts, ma'am"?
Please leave a comment or question because I'm pleased to be able to give away a VEXING THE VISCOUNT to one lucky commenter!
Thanks again for having me, Unusual Historicals!
***
You heard the lady! Free book! Answer her question or leave another of your own. I'm curious about your take on the paranormal historical trend too! A winner will be drawn next Sunday, so good luck! Thanks for stopping by, Emily!
By Anita Davison
In Georgian England, for a man about town to enlist the services of a prostitute was an accepted part of life. London in1797 contained a total of 50,000 'Ladies of the Night,' which was around one in ten of the total female population. Covent Garden theatres were built with 'retiring rooms' connected to the boxes in order for the entertainment of clients while they enjoyed an evening out at the theatre. Even the vocabulary used to describe them was colourful.
-- Prostitutes who waited outside theatres for the plays to finish were called 'spells.'
-- Lower class streetwalkers were 'flash mollishers.'
-- Covent Garden Ague was a term for venereal disease.
-- Covent Garden Nun was another name for a prostitute.
-- Covent Garden Abbess was a bawd (madam) most of whom started out as whores themselves.
Between the years of 1757 and 1795, a publication was produced each Christmas entitled Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies. This book was handwritten to begin with, but soon went into print and sold a quarter of a million copies during the thirty eight years it was produced. The List, priced at two shillings and sixpence, was a catalogue of around eighty up-market prostitutes. It included biographical details of each lady, together with a description of her appearance, personality and her sexual specialties, together with their charges.
The name "Harris' referred to a Jack Harris, the head waiter at the Shakespeare's Head, a Covent Garden tavern frequented by sea captains and the directors of the East India Company. Harris christened himself the "Pimp General of All England," but in 1757, he was in Newgate prison for debt. He gave an impoverished, heavy drinking Irish poet by the name of Samuel Derrick, permission to use his name for the book.
A 'common whore' could be purchased in London for a shilling, perhaps two or three shillings to enjoy her company in a bedroom in a local tavern or lodging house. The average wage at the time was around a pound a week, and two pounds was a fairly large sum of money. With some of the ladies on Harris's Lists charging a guinea a time, the lists represented the top end of the market.
An account of one young woman from the 1773 edition reads: Miss M__tague is a well-shaped girl, about twenty-three, good-natured and said to be thoroughly experienced in the whole art and mysterie of Venus's tactics and as soon reduce a perpendicular to less than the curve of a parabola. She is rather generous and you may sometimes find your way in there free of expence.
From the 1780 edition, the entry for a Miss B____rn. of No. l8 Old Compton Street, Soho: This accomplished nymph has just attained her eighteenth year, and fraught with every perfection, enters a volunteer in the field of Venus. She plays on the pianofort, sings, dances, and is mistress of every Maneuver in the amorous contest that can enhance the coming pleasure; is of the middle stature, fine auburn hair, dark eyes and very inviting countenance, which ever seems to beam delight and love. In bed she is all the heart can wish, or eyes admires every limb is symmetry, every action under cover truly amorous; her price two pounds.
The list also alerted its readers to those women who were best avoided, a Pol Forestor was reported as having "breath worse than a Welch bagpipe" and warned against the "contaminated carcase" of a certain Miss Young from the Turk's Head Bagnio. And warning them off Miss Robinson, at the Jelly Shops, "a slim and genteel made girl--but rather too flat."
A review of one resident of Drury Lane reads, "Very impudent and very ugly; chiefly a dealer with old fellows. It is reported that she uses more birch rods in a week than Westminster school in a twelvemonth."
And another: Known in this quarter for her immense sized breasts, which she alternately makes use of with the rest of her parts, to indulge those who are particularly fond of a certain amusement. She is what you may call, at all; backwards and forwards, all are equal to her, posteriors not excepted, nay indeed, by her own account she has most pleasure in the latter. Very fit for a foreign Macaroni - entrance at the front door tolerably reasonable, but nothing less than two pound for the back way.
A Mrs. Crosby of 24 George Street, for example, "being particularly attached to the sons of Neptune," (sailors) had married an elderly sea captain. When he died he left her a small annuity. This was enough to keep her off the streets, but not enough to live on--so she worked as a part-time prostitute. Harris's List says, "Mrs. Crosby could be contacted at home during the day or in the theatre at night. She has dark hair flowing in ringlets down her back, languishing grey eyes and a tolerable complexion." She charged one guinea (£1.05).
Of a Mrs. Grafton of Wapping, her "...best customers are sea officers, who she particularly liked, as they do not stay long at home, and always return fraught with love and presents." At 40 years old, the lady "...could give more pleasure than a dozen girls half her age. Her price was 5 shillings (25p). Most naval officers could afford that, as a day's pay for most captains in this period was about 20 shillings (£1.00).
Harris often used nautical terminology when describing the charms of the women. Miss Devonshire of Queen Ann Street had "...fair complexion, cerulean eyes and fine teeth," and "...many a man of war hath been her willing prisoner, and paid a proper ransom…she is so brave, that she is ever ready for an engagement, cares not how soon she comes to close quarters, and loves to fight yard arm and yard arm, and be briskly boarded."
The mood turned against such 'immorality' when a Mr. Aitken was convicted at the Kings Bench for the offence of publishing Harris's List in November 1795, which hereafter went out of print.
A copy of the 1790 edition was sold for £5,170 at auction in March 2008.
By Erastes
It was the case that in the first third of the nineteenth century, trials and executions for sodomy were much commoner than they had been in any earlier period. That is to say that fifty men were executed within that time, and trials, punishments and executions were more common than at any earlier period. This reached a peak in 1806 when more men (6) were executed for Sodomy than for murder (5).
However, these figures don't take into account the Naval Court Martials which of course dealt with these matters themselves and produced a steady flow of cases similar to that in the civilian courts. An average of two or three were sentenced to death for sodomy each year.
The most notable civilian to be hanged for sodomy in these years seems to have been Isaac Hitchen, one of a homosexual coterie at Warrington which was prosecuted in 1806; he was said to be one of the richest men in Warrington, worth £60,000.
There were also rumours concerning even more distinguished personages such as the earl of Leicester, afterwards Marquess Townshend, and King George III's unpopular 5th son, HRH field marshal the duke of Cumberland, afterwards king of Hanover. One of the most notorious scandals of the time was that involving the fabulously wealthy William Beckford, M.P. for Wells,(pictured right) and the Hon William Courtnay, afterward Viscount Courtenay and earl of Devon (pictured left, as a languid boy) in 1784.
Both Beckford and Courtenay spent the following twenty five years virtually ostracised by society and in 1811 Courtenay was forced to flee from his ancestral home at Powderham Castle and go into exile to avoid prosecution for sodomy. The nearest a member of the aristocracy came to indictment for homosexuality in this period was in 1822 when the bishop of Clogher, the Hon Percy Jocelyn son of the first earl of Roden, was caught buggering a Guardsman in a public house and escaped trial by jumping bail and fleeing to Scotland.
The laws against buggery and sodomy have nearly always been known as "The Blackmailers' Charter" (see the wonderful film Victim for that, filmed before sodomy was legalised) and this was no different here. A lot of prosecutions were begun with letters as a source of evidence. Many men would succumb to blackmail rather than face their chances in court, for obvious reasons--a lack of social standing--being excommunicated from society must have been almost as terrifying as the risk of prison or death.
Some have argued that it wasn't a case of more men being homosexual, but more that it was a case of urbanization, drifting into cities for work and where they concentrated together and were able to form a sub-culture for the first time. And such a "large" proportion of homosexuals in a city (there were 20 houses of male resort (known as Molly Houses) in London in this age, compared with 80 years later when there were only four) was more likely to draw attention to the authorities (and the people who would denounce them) than two men living quietly together in more remote areas.
The Vere Street Coterie
The most notorious scandal of the age. In 1810 a group of homosexuals were arrested at The Swan, a known Molly House in Vere Street London. The place was famously known as being a place where the Reverend John Church (shown left) would perform male/male marriages. The arrested men were charged with sodomy, and eight of them were convicted
Six of the convicted men, found guilty of attempted sodomy, were pilloried in September of that year. The crowds who turned out to witness the scene were violent and unruly, throwing various objects (including rotten fish, "cannonballs" made of mud, and of course vegetables) at the men. The women were reported as being particularly vicious. The city provided a guard of 200 armed constables, half mounted and half on foot, to protect the men from even worse mistreatment.
Ironically, two of the men were later hanged.
Other reasons for such intolerance at this time can be blamed on the hardening of sexual stereotypes, sexual slander--which became rife at this time. Sexual knowledge was becoming more widespread--more people were learning about such "Unnatural acts" which then led to even more sexual intolerance.
"Damn the fellow! Now I think of it, I never remember his having a girl at college!" remarked an acquaintance of a man who had brought a charge of malicious prosecution against a solider who had accused him of attempting an unnatural act.
There were other reasons, too, all of which helped--The Evangelical Revival probably helped spread the prejudice; the overhaul of the whole system of law enforcement, public pressure (letters to the papers, etc) which all helped to bring the "problem" to the public eye, calls were made to "do something about it."
All of which goes a long way to explain why--instead of being more tolerant in the early 1800's, things were actually a lot lot worse. Never mind boys! It will soon be the Victorian Age...
*rolls eyes*
---------------------------------------------------------------
Sources:
"Prosecutions for Sodomy in England at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century" by A. D. Harvey, The Historical Journal, Vol. 21, No. 4. (Dec., 1978), pp. 939-948.
A History of Homophobia by Rictor Norton, "1: The Ancient Hebrews" 15 April 2002.
However, all was not happy and Sir Richard buried himself in his work and in the Hampshire Militia. Worsley was also a collector of Roman artifacts and there is a suggestion that such men often preferred not to look at women. Lady Worsley would later say that for the the first three months of her marriage, it was like living with a brother. In any case, there is evidence that he did not pay Seymour much attention and Lady Worsley craved attention.
However, it was the evidence of the bath lady that stunned the court. She could well remember that sunny day when the Worsleys and Captain Bisset came to use her bath house. She had helped Lady Worsley undress. Suddenly she had heard Sir Richard saying in a loud voice: "Seymour, Seymour, Bisset is looking at you." Furthermore, the bath lady announced the only way Bisset could have achieved this feat was by standing on Sir Richard's shoulders. In short, Sir Richard had been exposed as a voyeur. The cartoonists had a field day and ever afterward, people would think of the cartoons rather his collection of Roman cameos or his position as counsel in Venice.
Unfortunately Sir Richard also refused to allow her access to either of her children and the little daughter died. Seymour suspected that the death was from neglect. There was further tragedy when their son, in his late teens, died due to an accident with the militia. Because of the Napoleonic War, their son had not been able to have Grand Tour (not considered safe) but had served for a time with the Hampshire Militia.
