BEFORE WE BEGIN : THE BRITISH ROYAL FAMILY IS ON MY MIND

We will begin the month of April shortly: 

Last February 2025, I featured Lilly Langtry, a mistress of King Edward VII (when he was still Prince Edward) as Mistress of the Month.  My primary source for that month's posts came from Ian Graham's book titled "Scarlet Women" in which she was one of the women Graham wrote about. A couple months ago I went to a library where there were several books on King Edward VII (Great Britain) and his 'love life'. I took them home and read them.

In the last several months, partly because of the Jeffrey Epstein Sex Trafficking Scandal, which has only gotten more scandalous since the release of the Epstein Files, I've been thinking about the former Prince Andrew (stripped of his titles, honorariums, and all opportunities to work for Great Britain as a member of the Royal Family, now simply Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor) though he was raised as the second to the throne. I've been thinking of Sarah Ferguson, Andrew's wife and best friend since their divorce years ago. Both have been essentially banished and removed. 

I featured Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, and back in September of 2023. I found her memoir unexpectedly well written and interesting.

I've been reading news articles and listening to media coverage about the Royal Family and the issues they must deal with. I sometimes listen to the YouTube station which is owned by and stars Lady Colin Campbell, who I featured here in June of 2024. (Lady Colin Campbell is also a book author, famous for publishing the first book about Princess Diana and Prince Charles and their marriage.)

I don't agree with all her opinions but, as one of her son's said recently, she is a character and perceptive and often right.

Lady Colin Campbell discussed the reality of wives and mistresses in her family and among the British settled in Jamaica in her memoir about growing up in "Daughter of Narcissus".

She doesn't much like Prince Harry or his wife, Princess Meghan, and she once defended Prince Andrew, until she learned he was lying. And, as you most recent readers know, I devoted January of this year to Virginia Guiffre, and her book about being an Epstein sex trafficked survivor. Prince Andrew is in deep trouble as a result of his involvement with the evil Epstein.

I wonder, if it's true that, perhaps, the ex-Prince Andrew and his, as I see it, sex addiction which got him in such terrible trouble, is an inherited trait. Is it genetic? Nature versus nurture? Does it have something to do with being born into high status and riches, with what would seem to be extreme opportunity, but also strong expectations and limitations on what he might do with his blessed life?  Prince Harry was long a second to the throne just as Andrew was, and he has established a life very different than what was expected of him but, though I sense he is happy in his marriage and with his children, he is condemned for abandoning those expectations that he would be a helpmate to his older brother, future King Prince William. But let's face it. Harry certainly did some running around and partying and had other relationships while remaining unmarried until he settled down with his wife, however controversial they are. (Lady Colin Campbell is just one British media person who heavily condemns him and his wife. Frankly, I don't know how it is that the both of them are still standing because it seems there is nothing either of them can do without international criticism.)

These days the privacy granted pre-Internet of persons of high birth and high achievement by the media is gone. Back in the day, the British tabloids might have called Andrew "Randy Andy" but the details were generally kept from us. What emerged were well researched books about these interesting persons who, it could be said, had the world in their hands.

Of all the British princes and kings who have had mistresses, perhaps it is true that Edward Albert, Prince of Wales who became King Edward VII, was among King's who had mistresses, the British Royal most known to be a sex addict. Lillie Langtry was not his first lover, but his first well known and accepted (i.e. official) mistress after his marriage. Said to have been introduced to sex very young - perhaps fourteen - in Paris, the young prince, well before his marriage at twenty-one, was reportedly avid for sex and also went to prostitutes. Though he had some work before he became King and more after, he went about his official duties distracted by and intent on pleasure.

I will be focused on this monarch, who was Queen Elizabeth II's great grandfather, and his mistresses over the next months. I hope you will join in our discovery!

Missy

QUEEN VICTORIA's MYSTERIOUS DAUGHTER (PRINCESS LOUISE) by LUCINDA HAWKSELY : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

 A Biography of Princess Louise by Lucinda Hawksley

This book held some surprises. Not familiar with Queen Victoria, other than to hear she had married her many children into so many noble households that she was called the Grandmother of Royal Europe, I had no idea that she had a daughter who unconventionally married a commoner, Princess Louise. Louise was Queen Victoria's sixth child and fourth daughter. This Princess was an artist and sculptor who created many excellently designed and executed statues to honor her mother which are still on public display. Much of this book is devoted to Louise's artistic achievement. 

There's a possibility, certainly the author suggests this as an explanation, that Louise was so unconventional that she actually had a child without marriage that was put up for adoption. (Who might that have been, we wonder, but there is no hint.) Officially, she had no children.

She was encouraged to marry but was hesitant to marry at all, as one man after another was dismissed as a possible husband. What Royal Princess could remain unmarried? She accepted the future 9th Duke of Argyll, Lorne, in 1870. Her siblings and her father, Bertie, were against the match but Queen Victoria prevailed. The marriage was no love match. On her honeymoon Princess Louise took along her dogs. It's possible that while the Duke accepted that she was barren, what might have happened is a sterilization by the doctor who delivered her illegitimate child or simply the birth of that child was too traumatic. It may be that the couple lived separate lives from the start. So why?

While I read the book, I considered another possibility, which the author did not, and that was that perhaps Louise, illegitimate child or not, simply wasn't heterosexual. She would not have been the only person who found themselves uninterested in marriage, or men, or who was married to another person who was not heterosexual, in order to be socially acceptable. 

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BARBARA VILLIERS PREGNANCY CRISIS : A VOLATILE LADY GETS A KING TO BEG FORGIVENESS BUT HE HAS TAKEN UP WITH OTHER MISTRESSES : MOLL DAVIES, NELL GWYNN, AND LOUISE DE KEROUALLE

Was Barbara Villiers on the way out or King Charles II's favorite? Knowing she was living this controversy, Barbara decided to create a situation in which the King would be tested. The two of them did sometimes have a violent argument and this time, pregnant again, the issue was the paternity of the child she was - yet again - pregnant with. The King was having financial problems, his advisors had less influence on him that she did but he had not slept with Barbara in several months, but she insisted that he accept the child.

Excerpt page 105 from The Illustrious Lady by Elizabeth Hamilton

Somebody had said that the Countess of Castlemaine in one of her rages was less like Medea than one of Medea's dragons...

***

This time, based on the King's behavior and Barbara's, it seemed like they were breaking up for good. She left the Palace and stayed close by until the King came begging for forgiveness. Meanwhile Frances Stuart, who had married and was now Frances, Duchess of Richmond, came back to London with her husband and was rumored to be back as the mistress of the King.  And other women were being introduced to the King as others attempted to distract him and gain influence, among them actress Moll Davies, and actress Nell Gwynn.  He would also have a son by mistress Louise de Keroualle. Rumor had it, also that Barbara had fallen in love with another man.

Excerpt page 117 from The Illustrious Lady by Elizabeth Hamilton

Lady Castle Maine was not 'frightened' by her new rival. As always, she had come to terms with the situation, she accepted the fact that she must share the King's affection and remained calm. She saw to it that in spite of the new threat from the world of the there she still extracted the full measure of reward for the trouble she took in bearing the King's children..... gossamer Moll and Cockney Nell would never usurp the position that the shrewd and discerning Barbara had made for herself in the inner circles of government and power.

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"TO HIS COY MISTRESS" : A LOVE POEM BY ANDREW MARVELL - ENGLAND 1681

"TO HIS COY MISTRESS" : A LOVE POEM BY ANDREW MARVELL - ENGLAND 1681

Had we but world enough and time,

This coyness, lady, were no crime.

We would sit down, and think which way

To walk, and pass our long love’s day.

Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side

Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide

Of Humber would complain. I would

Love you ten years before the flood,

And you should, if you please, refuse

Till the conversion of the Jews.

My vegetable love should grow

Vaster than empires and more slow;

An hundred years should go to praise

Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;

Two hundred to adore each breast,

But thirty thousand to the rest;

An age at least to every part,

And the last age should show your heart.

For, lady, you deserve this state,

Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear

Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.

Thy beauty shall no more be found;

Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound

My echoing song; then worms shall try

That long-preserved virginity,

And your quaint honour turn to dust,

And into ashes all my lust;

The grave’s a fine and private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue

Sits on thy skin like morning dew,

And while thy willing soul transpires

At every pore with instant fires,

Now let us sport us while we may,

And now, like amorous birds of prey,

Rather at once our time devour

Than languish in his slow-chapped power

Let us roll all our strength and all

Our sweetness up into one ball,

And tear our pleasures with rough strife

Through the iron gates of life:

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.

Missy here!

The term Mistress was used the way we use the term 'girlfriend' 

and didn't necessarily mean a woman who was kept, or even a lover - though possible.

Simply the woman this poem was written for was not the man's lawfully wedded wife.

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FAST LIVING HIGH BORN (BUT BROKE) ROYALISTS : YOUNG BARBARA VILLIERS

 Book Excerpts: Page 9-10 from The Illustrious Lady by Elizabeth Hamilton

For the younger members of royalist society there was little to do except to snatch what pleasure was available to them. Unless they were involved in the cloak-and-dagger world of the underground movement, with its ciphers and secret letters hidden under floorboards and in the linings of hatbands, they could find little better occupations than carousing and falling in love. The uncertainty of the future seemed to lend an urgency to their self-indulgence. King Charles I had encouraged his courtiers to be chivalrous and dignified, and there had been more than a tinge of puritanism in his attitude.  By contrast the children of his courtiers were rebating not only against the severe oral climate of the fifties, but also against the pallid philosophy of their fathers. In this, King Charles II and his childhood friend, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, were typical of their generation...  

Bereft of a career at court or in public service of any kind, the new generation of Royalists sought consolation in the close companionship that often springs up among those who find themselves out of favor with the current government.  Barbara Villiers found plenty of other girls in a similar situation to her own. There were the four daughters of the Duke of Hamilton who like Barbara's father had died as the result of a wound sustained in the King's service, and the eldest, Lady Anne, became one of Barbara's closest friend. Lady Elizabeth Howard, a niece of Barbara's uncle-in-law the Earl of Suffolk, was another member of the fast-living set which attracted all the high-born pleasure-seekers. Barbara herself, by the virtue of her birth and background, was inevitably drawn towards the wilder fringes of royalist society. It was soon clear that she had not inherited her father's exemplary character though she was amply endowed with the Villiers' beauty. In later years it was said that from her earliest childhood she had shown signs of an unusual lasciviousness and whether this was true of not, she certainly began to attract the attention of 'divers young gentleman of the town' soon after her arrival in London. She possessed the same kind of magnetism as her cousin the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, of whom it was said that 'if he did nut cross a room, all eyes were turned to follow him'. In addition she was as striking as the Duke's younger brother Francis, who had been judged a youth of 'rare beauty and comeliness of person'. She was to be described on more than one occasion as the finest woman of her age, with her auburn hair, her voluptuous figure and her dark blue eyes. The 1st Duke of Buckingham's eyes, which were of a similar color, have been described as 'the dark blue eves of the highly -sexed."

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BARBARA VILLIERS - PALMER : 1ST COUNTESS OF CASTLEMAINE and DUCHESS OF CLEVELAND : THE UNCROWNED QUEEN OF ENGLISH KING CHARLES II : 1660-1670 : FIVE CHILDREN WITH THE KING

BARBARA VILLIERS - COUNTESS OF CASTLEMAINE and DUCHESS OF CLEVELAND 

1640 - 1709

This month I've elected Barbara Villiers to our list of Royal Mistresses. Barbara, who lived in 17th century England, had many admirers in her lifetime and she was apparently aware of her beauty as a young enchantress and suffered the reputation of being a 'whore.' She became, significantly, the favorite of King Charles II for a decade or more, and for a time had such influence over him that she was called 'The Uncrowned Queen" or, said, with some sarcasm, "The Lady." Not married at the time that he began his relationship with Barbara, the King did marry Catherine of Braganza, of Portugal. The pretty but dull new Queen, who brought significant wealth and political alliances with her, tried to turn her arranged marriage into a true love match but failed.. He married her about the same time that Barbara was in advanced pregnancy with her second child, with unchallenged paternity by the King. But then, Barbara likely had an involvement before her marriage. In fact, she might have become the mistress of the King before she was married.

Born in 1640, about the time that the English Civil War, Barbara Villiers' noble family, who made their fortune in sheep, became impoverished because of it. Her family had been ennobled and associated with King Charles I before she was born. They were Royalists and it would take some time for the King Charles II to regain power. By the time she was of marriageable age, Barbara had few good marriage prospects and was just one more young Royalist woman, pretty but penniless, who liked to party and had a light hearted attitude towards life. Her first love, a young widower, an Earl, dumped her to marry a rich woman and so it went. But then she did marry, at the age of 19, to Roger Palmer, a Catholic who her family didn't approve of. What could her husband do about her involvement with the King? Not much. So began her career as an important mistress of the King and mother.

The King was savvy. He made Barbara Villiers - Palmer's husband Baron Limerick the Earl of Castlemaine in 1661, thus giving Barbara Palmer the title of 1st Countess of Castlemaine. After she gave birth to a son by the King, Barbara and Roger officially separated but stayed married. All five of the children she had by the King in their decade of relationship would be assumed - by some - to be her husband's offspring. (To this day there is some dispute over it.) The titles would have to be passed down only to Roger's heirs ; Barbara's  relationship with the King and these children were not so secret, for the three middle children were also given the name FitzRoy, meaning Illegitimate Royal offspring. In this way, however, Roger Palmer could save face if he needed to and the children would have the financial support needed to raise them. The titles were for Ireland and it was there that Palmer would need to go. Roger Palmer was never known to have a child and, frankly, I do wonder if he knew he was being married to Barbara for practical reasons all along.

She gave birth to Anne in 1661, Charles in 1662, Henry in 1663, George in 1665, and Barbara in 1672. Barbara is the child who there is the strongest suggestion of having yet another birth father. But Barbara, in a volatile argument with the King, demanded that he recognize and support this child too.

What was true?  First that more than one man claimed children with her, suggesting that Barbara had many paramours over the years, men in love enough with her to state that a child she gave birth to was theirs, meaning they would want to support that child and see him or her as an heir.

All these hundreds of years later, her descendants include some prominent British people you have heard of ***; Princess Diana and her children, Prince William and Prince Harry through her son, Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton and Sarah Ferguson, until recently the Duchess of York, through Barbara's daughter, Lady Anne Palmer, later FitzRoy.  (Lady Anne became the Duchess of Sussex!)

The King took other mistresses through the years and is said to have had twelve children, maybe fourteen, with all of them. His wife, the Queen, had three miscarriages and never did give him an heir.

*** This genealogy information culled from Wikipedia.

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SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON ALLOWS HIS WIFE LADY EMMA HAMILTON AN AFFAIR WITH HORATIO NELSON, DUKE OF BRONTE : ANOTHER PREGNANCY AND SCANDAL

1798 - 1800ish

For now Emma, as Sir William Hamilton's wife, was a society woman, a celebrated hostess, and had the friendship of Queens, even if her position as a Lady was not equal. She was a fashion influencer at the time too and a celebrity. When Horatio Nelson, "The Hero of the Nile" needed to recover his health after battle, Emma had him stay with her and her husband in Naples and gave him a lavish fortieth birthday party where eight hundred Neopolitan dignitaries and other important, including English, guests attended and another thousand came for the dancing. 

Revolutions were occurring in Europe - not just the French - and shifting power was a threat to all the royals and aristocrats. Sir William was philosophical and invited Nelson to live with them, a great show of friendship meant to end the rumors. In fact, Sir William could not deny that his wife and Nelson were growing close and that he and his wife had taken to separate apartments and had become friends. 

When the French invaded Naples, once again Nelson prevailed and was credited with saving the city and restoring peace, for which Queen Maria Carolina was especially thankful to Sir William, Horatio Nelson, and Lady Emma Hamilton.  Nelson was created Duke of Bronte as his reward and Sir William, increasingly I'll, sought to end his Diplomatic service and return to England. Insiders knew that age was catching up with Sir William and his health was not good, as he suffered from digestive issues.

Her husband had been an English diplomat for thirty-seven years and wanted a sabbatical but was quickly replaced. The Queen, Lady and Sir William Hamilton, Nelson, and their entourage, left Naples as more conflicts endangered them and Napoleon and his army's approached, threatening to take over their territories and rule over them. They went from Germany to Hungary, where they were feted by Prince Esterhazy and Emma entertained by singing along with the music of the composer, Haydn, to Czechoslovakia. The travel was escape as well as vacation.

Considered to be two of the sexiest people alive, gossips believed that Emma and Horatio were having an affair. By early 1800, they most certainly were. Thirteen years into her life in Naples, Emma became pregnant and then there was no denying it. She had risked loosing everything she had gained by being with him and had unprotected sex with a man she was not married to. Emma began to show pregnant and had to know that by the laws of the 18th century, the child would belong to her husband legally. Nelson was a married man too.

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EMMA WAS NOT SHY ABOUT LETTING SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON KNOW SHE WANTED TO MARRY HIM and AT LAST SHE BECAME LADY EMMA HAMILTON

Emma did not shyly wait around for a proposal like an 18th century woman was supposed to do. She told Sir William Hamilton that she loved him and wanted to marry him. Famous now as a beauty, a model, a dancer - and an intellect - faithful and loyal to him, she pledged to continue to make him happy.

While Sir William denied to all to his friends - who asked for the truth - that he had married her, there were those who believed he already had. By 1790 it was the gossip in fashionable London that the Ambassador to Naples and his mistress were about to arrive. It was a bit of the kind of scandal people loved. Those of his rank imagined that he was not her sexual partner, perhaps because he was, in fact, a senior. So it went with the English.

However, those of his friends who lived in Naples and had seen them as a couple thought otherwise. They encouraged him to marry Emma. Even the Queen Maria Carolina of Naples and the Two Sicilies encouraged marriage.

Emma traveled England with Sir William and his entourage. Her mother was part of the entourage but the daughter she had been forced to send away by Charles Greville, now nine years old, went unvisited by Emma. (Instead her mother, Mary, called Mrs. Cadogan, went.)

His family had a reason to discourage a marriage besides Emma's background and that was that they wanted his estate intact to inherit it. He claimed her to have made him extremely happy. He suggested that they would be "engaged for life" but proudly seeing how popular she was, he began to reconsider. Ultimately, and by my way of thinking, much to his credit, the man began to follow his heart.

Excerpt page 158 : Sir William confessed to his friends that he had decided to "make an honest Woman of her." He promised that he would never set her above visiting female aristocrats by allowing her to present them to Maria Carolina. Declaring himself entirely confident about the future, he cheerfully knocked two years off Emma's age. He wrote to his friend, Georgiana, Countess Spencer, mother of the Duchess of Devonshire:

A man of 60 intending to marry a beautiful young Woman of 24 ad whose character on her first onset of life will not bear a severe scrutiny, seems to be a very imprudent step, and so it certainly would be 99 times in a 100, but I flatter myself I am not deceived in Emma's [resent character --- We have lived together five years and a half, and not a day has passed without her having testified her true repentance for the past.

On August 28, Sir William attended court at Windsor and gained the king's consent to the marriage. Two days before her marriage, she sat for artist George Romney for the last time.  The artist had created dozens of paintings of Emma, but for the first time he wrote Lady Hamilton rather than Mrs. Emma Hart in his record of models who sat for him.

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FALLEN

 

THE PERFECT CUP : HOW TO MAKE TEA THE BRITISH WAY

A consensus:

BOIL FRESH WATER to at least 200 degrees F.  (Oxygenated water enhances flavor.  That means shake the water up before you pour it.)

PRE-WARM THE TEAPOT.  (My experience is that the teapot should be ceramic and not metal.)  How so?  It would seem to me that boiling water would heat the pot. So I take this to mean that some boiling water is poured into the pot just to warm it up, that is poured out, and then the freshly boiled water to make the tea is poured in.

PUT THE TEA IN and STEEP IT FOR 3-5 MINUTES or longer for stronger.  Early Grey or English Breakfast might take closer to the 5 minutes.

REMOVE THE TEA and STIR - More oxygenation.

MILK: Add milk to the cup before pouring in the tea.

A MERRY OLDE ENGLAND CHRISTMAS

It happens.... 

Hello My Dear Readers...

In the Mediterranean climate of Southern California this season, palm trees swaying in the breeze and beach days still possible, I imagine instead the snowy Continental Climate of Europe or the Temperate Maritime Climate of the British Isles. I listen to classical music and I make pots of tea and bake some scones - or at least purchase some from Trader Joes market. Though I no longer put up a Christmas tree, I do like to have a few branches of fresh pine in the house to scent the air. I arrange ornaments in bowls as centerpieces for the table. I pull out old photographs and a few toys that were mine as a child and leave them out to look at. Sometimes I just want to be alone with a good book. Sometimes I indulge myself socially. I don't have a fireplace but if you're from the snow belt, well, you might be amazed at how many people here do. There's a smell of wood fire in the air on the colder nights. (Few of us actually run our heaters unless we have a cold streak. Instead we actually get under quilts.) If ever there's a time to wear flannel here, this is the time.  

In order to celebrate Merry Olde England, I've mined past posts to bring you a variety of Great British mistresses. You can use the side bar where past posts are archived to bring up the entire year and month and read through... Some interesting reading awaits you as you nosh on crackers and cheese and a glass of wine.

So cozy up and enjoy the season with me!

Missy

PS:  I do have the names of some British Isle's Mistresses I haven't covered yet. If you have suggestions please leave me a comment. If you want your comment to remain unpublished, just start out your message with the words Do Not Publish!

VICTORIAN ERA ENGLAND AND IMPROVEMENTS FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS

 Page 309 :

".... All the great courtesans of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries treasured their autonomy and guarded it jealousy, an impropriety which marked them off, more than most anything else, from their 'respectable' sisters. This was so even though the position of women - particularly married women - in the mid-nineteenth century was better than it had ever been.  It is hard to imagine, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the profoundly radical changes to the position of women about the Divorce Act of 1857, and the Married Women's Property Act of 1882. Before the latter a married woman could own no property (although among the very rich, pre-nupital settlements often circumnavigated this), nor even control any earnings she might have (this was changed by legislation in 1878), and she had the legal status of a minor, on par with children, criminals and the insane. Although prior to 1857 she could be divorced by her husband, she herself was debarred from filing a divorce suit - or any other kind of legal action - against him. Most critical of all was the fact that the husband had complete control over the children, who like his wife, were his legal property. A woman had no redress. In the case of her adultery, for instance, a husband could - and invariably did - simply take her children away from her for good.

The Acts of 1857 and 1882 changed all this.  As well as divorce and other law reforms, the nineteenth century saw many other campaigns by women to improve their circumstances - the campaigns for the vote, for the expansion of job opportunities, and for better educational rights all belong to this period..."

ARE YOU A FEMINIST?

Britannica defines FEMINISM

  

HOW COURTESANS TOOK ON MALE PRIVILEDGE FOR THEMSELVES

One of the fascinating aspects of Katie Hickman's book about courtesans, which focuses on the women of England who came into this lifestyle, is her reportage on other aspects of a courtesan's lifestyle. She reports on finances, on contraception, and on the character and personalities and values of the successful courtesan.

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt moved on from his fraught relationship with Catherine Walters in Paris.  When it seemed that his association with Catherine would cause scandal, his boss removed him to another diplomatic post.  He was considered an eligible bachelor and even became the unsaid fiancee of a young woman whose parents approved of the match but, reminded of his love for Catherine and seeing how it compared for his feelings for this other woman, he was unable to make the proposal.

These excerpts from pages 308 and 309 have much to say:

"In many ways Blunt's behavior was not at all unusual for a man of his class and times.  The ability to separate what he himself would call "practical romance" from either idealized romance or sexual conquests was a perfectly acceptable way for a man to conduct his affairs, so long as he was discreet: and Blunt who later quite consciously made the decision to marry for money, saw no shame in it. ..."

***

He was aware of the double standard - one for men - another for women.

***

Page 309:  "It goes without saying that when women tried to emulate this masculine behavior it became an "immorality" for which society could not forgive them.  The only women who were in some measure outside these constraints were courtesans.  The penalties melted out by society could not touch the demi-monde (although some would say that being part of this shadowland , was the penalty) and as a social group they were thus almost uniquely free.

It was not just sexual chastity that was the issue here, but also, by extension, a woman's whole autonomy. Blunt, who in his way, was in many ways a forward thinker about women, never really blamed Catherine for her promiscuity, or even for the fact that she accepted money for it (although he did not like it).  His blame was for something altogether more subtle, something that he himself could barely articulate: the fact that she could accept him as a lover, but still desire to keep her independence from him. This was the really tormenting fact for him about their liaison. And it was this which, in his eyes, made her 'unvirtuous.'

Ask your self this question (and maybe you'll want to leave me a comment) :  Do you compartmentalize one relationship from another and why?

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SOPHIA BADDELEY'S REPUTATION REMAINED AN ADVANTAGE THAT DREW COMPETITIVE OFFERS FROM OTHER MEN

Born into a good family associated with the Royal Family, married, earning her own fortune through acting and singing:  all these things helped Sophia Baddeley maintain a high profile at a time when most Courtesans where understood to be Courtesans and not acceptable to the same society in which the men who gifted them and their wives belonged.

Page 48:

"Sophia's wealth enabled her to make 'an appearance equal to a woman of the first rank' - a suspiciously ostentatious display for a mere actress.  Nonetheless, as the celebrity of the moment she continued to enjoy the kind of public approbation that was wholly denied to ordinary courtesans. however successful."

Page 33:

 "Sophia Baddeley's short by meteoric life was nothing if not full of drama.  An actress who could not act - who, in fact, avoided the fatigue of the acting life whenever she could - she nevertheless became one of the most famous players of her day, achieving the kind of overwhelming celebrity which is rare even in our own celebrity-obsessed age.  hers was an erotic beauty which had the power to bewitch both men and women, and which exerted that kind of charisma which, unless tempered with unusual reserved of moral strength and level headedness, can hopelessly distort lives, and even unhinge the rational mind. "

***

Page 49:  ... "It was now widely known in the world of gallantry - as the English demi-monde was then called - that Sophia was the kept mistress of Lord Melbourne, but this fact, instead of keeping other admirers at bay, only served to increase their attentions.  Mrs. Baddely had nos so much lost her reputation, as gained one.

***

Missy here:  It was as if dozens of admirers had fallen in love with Sophia at the same time and could not help themselves but to call upon her and that it gave them pleasure to please her and buy gifts for her.  Some of the offers she got were doused with romantic notions, such as that she be divorced and remarried, though divorce was expensive and uncommon.  When the man or the offer were not to her liking, she suggested she wanted to stay true to Lord Melbourne. 

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SOPHIA BADDELEY : HIGHLY PAID GEORGIAN COMEDIC ACTRESS : BECAME A COURTESAN AFTER MARRIAGE and A HEARTBREAK BUT BEING ON STAGE SAVED HER

Katie Hickman's book includes two of the women I featured here at Mistress Manifesto in the past: Harriet Wilson and Cora Pearl.  However this summer we'll be focusing on two other women, historical Courtesans, who lived in England.

SOPHIA BADDELEY

Sophia Snow

1745-1786

Sophia Baddeley, according to author Katie Hickman, was an actress who could not act.  Rather it seems that this gorgeous English woman made it onto the stage due to her beauty and became famous for being famous, though she did have some talent.  Her personality counted too.  She was adored by her fans and her fellow actors and the servants for she practiced a kind of trickle-down economics.  Whatever clothing and jewelry she acquired, she was sure to give it away.  In 1771, at the opening event of the Panthenon, a concert hall that did not wish to admit "undesirables" as the upper classes of society attended there, over fifty men, including nobles holding swords, threatened an uprising if she was not admitted to attend the performance.  She had only become a courtesan as well as an actress a year or so before.

"Hers was an erotic beauty which had the power to bewitch both men and women, and which exerted that kind of charisma which, unless tempered with unusual reserves of moral strength and level-headedness, can hopelessly distort lives, and even unhinge the rational mind. ....Sophia Baddeley had neither the moral strength nor level-headedness.  She was vain, spoilt, impetuous, lazy, spendthrift, only moderately intelligent, and possessed a great deal of sexual energy.  She was also warm-hearted, affectionate, funny, mercurial, and generous to a fault.... it was impossible not to love Sophia.  It is also clear that she was much beloved by many others, not just by her aristocratic admirers --- the majority of whom hunted her quite ruthlessly both for sex and for her fashionable cachet --- but by the ordinary people who came across her: her servants, her fellow actors, the everyday public who came to hear her act and sing, and who so relished the stories of her scandalous life and loves." (page 33)

Unlike some of the other courtesan's I've included here at Mistress Manifesto, who were born in poverty or who renamed themselves aristocratic names to suggest they had been born into a higher class, Sophia was born into a 'respectable' family.  Her father, Valentine Snow, once worked as a musician for King George II and one of her grandfathers had been a Royal Musician. She and her brother were also trained in music, with the idea that she might play the harpsichord - clearly a genteel instrument.  She could have married well enough and not lived through the life she did but her divergent path began with her marriage.

At eighteen, in 1864, she eloped with Robert Baddeley, an actor almost twice her age, but in 1770 they agreed to legal separation and then never filed for divorce. Robert was promiscuous and it would seem he never did have any expectation that the beautiful Sophia would be faithful to him. It was Robert who insisted that Sophia be given an acting part for a production at the Drury theater where he was well known. She went on as a stand in and then continued to appear in the theater's productions, including taking leading lady roles in Shakespeare's plays As You Like It and Twelfth Night. Five years into their marriage, Sophia was best known for 'genteel comedy.' Management hated to admit it, but she had draw and attracted audiences, never mind her acting. She could sing. She was hired to sing at other venues and paid the highest wage of any actress at the time!  

While they apparently did not maintain attraction for each other, both Sophia and Robert had a variety of dalliances. When one, a Mr. Mendez, began to woo her, Robert pimped his wife out to the man and encouraged her towards him. Very slowly Sophia got what is thought of as a courtesan's attitude; she decided that she would accept the patronage or a rich man who would provide for her a lavish lifestyle while being sexual with him and it would be she who chose among the men who wanted her. She finally lost her heart though - perhaps for the first time - to a man who was a member of the Irish peerage - but poor - and then switched to his brother.  This brother spent money on her.  When he ran out of money, she took over paying their shared expenses. Then it was all too much and the debtors were after them. He said he had to leave her.  She tried suicide by overdose and lived for the rest of her life with stomach ailments. She was not a person with strong health.

Sophia Baddeley, when first pursued as a Courtesan, was both protected in a sense by her marriage, her status, her career as an actress, and her ability to make her own good money, which was rare for any woman in Georgian England. However, when the main man who made all things possible, Lord Melbourne, lost interest, she quickly lost her status.  A shopaholic, she had spent the fortune she was given rather than invest, was deeply in debt, and risked sinking into common prostitution.  Unwisely, perhaps because the married Melbourne had been exceedingly generous, she had never had a legal contract with him for support that would last past his interest in her.

Sophia was a shopaholic, a person who dealt with the psychological and emotional stresses in her life though compulsive acquisition of things she really did not need.

Though she lived through falling in love with men who were opportunists and users, being betrayed and deserted by them, Sophia was able to survive without becoming a prostitute. She was able to support herself and her family which included three extramarital children she had with two other men, as an actress, far from London, in northern England, and especially Edinburgh, Scotland. In the end it was her fans who did not desert her and the career her husband had instigated for her was allowed her to persevere.  Her health declined steadily and she died in 1786 at forty-one with consumption - TB - which she no doubt had for some time.

This month we will follow the courtesan career of Sophia Baddeley, and learn more about what life of a Courtesan was in the late 18th century, Georgian period England.  Author Katie Hickman's book is the primary reference for these posts.

See you next post!

Missy

C 2024 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot

Check my archives!   You can also bring up posts by using the search feature embedded on the sidebar of the Google Blogger.

April 2013             

HARRIETTE WILSON : One of Four Mistress Sisters of Regency England 

July 2012       

CORA PEARL

Brought Out Naked on a Silver Dish, Lined With Violets

P.S.  The Image on the book cover is not Sophia!  I'll be posting a lithograph of her and you'll probably not think of her as beautiful by today's standards.  Which, I think, proves that personality counts!

FANNY MURRAY : THE PRIVATE CLUB OF MEDMENHAM ABBEY

The same man who had devised the Divan Club, which had a brief existence, Sir Frances Dashwood, decided to form another club, this one that seemed to go without a permanent location for a while, which he called Order of Saint Frances.  The use of a saintly name was subterfuge or irony. Medmenham Abbey, in the countryside of Buckinghamshire, became the location where lewd activities were indulged. His faux 'monks' were to be entertained. It was a gothic retreat for members. "Nuns" were also supposed to live there, for the mutual enjoyment. By the summer of 1752 all was as he had planned. He wished to turn Christianity around and so the place was thought to be about witchcraft and Satanism, Masonry and worse- human sacrifice. Rumors of what went on there were probably exaggerated - even greatly so - but even made it into print in the sexual undergrounds. Rumors were that prostitutes were being sent to serve as 'nuns' from some of London's finest brothels. Other rumors were that the wives of the peerage - Ladies - made use of the place. The names of female participants were supposed to be held secret by the males who invited them. However, the names of famous known prostitutes came up and Fanny Murray was one of them. That said, Dashwood might also have invited those who were simply married and having affairs to use the place for meet ups. He might have simply found a location he could rent that went with his personal fantasy of badness.

It is likely that Fanny Murray attended a meeting or many in the years of 1752-1754.  If so she would have been called by another name, as a matter of ceremony perhaps since her visage was well known, and probably worn the garment of a nun as required of this mockery of Christian morals. As the most popular among the women at that time, she might have lead the revelries. Musical instruments and board games were provided, I suppose if you were shy or bored.

By the summer of 1854. however, Fanny was nearing the end of her days as a Courtesan. About this same time her eight year relationship with Sir Richard Atkins was ending too. And be it all true of not, the idea that she would have ended her last days as a Courtesan at parties at Medmenham Abbey, and far from the role of being the Mistress of one man, could have meant she was in peril.

This was the end of the Courtesan career of a decade in which Fanny Murray lived out her popularity. As author Barbara White suggested, her option would have been to go back into the rougher aspects of prostitution, become the madman of a bawdy house herself, or perhaps publish her memoirs and blackmail the men she intended to portray in them for more money. Other women in her situation had done that, for better or worse.

(Notes re pages 50-51-52-53-54)

And if she had not participated?  Well, this is the dark side of celebrity, when the marketing and public relations suffer and do not serve. 

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IMAGES OF FANNY MURRAY in the BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTION

BRITISH MUSEUM : IMAGES OF FANNY MURRAY 

Like many of today's celebrities, Fanny Murray's image and lifestyle was an important aspect of promoting her in her youthful years and satisfied the public's curiosity. Original art was turned into prints, making it possible for more people to possess an image of her. It wasn't all positive publicity. She was also poked fun of.  For instance, one of the satirical images at the British Museum is of her having her toes washed by a maid while three men leer and perhaps wait their turn to spend time with her.

Fanny lost her looks as she aged and she knew it.

The lifestyle she lived was hard on women in it and many of her peers died before they reached old age. Many of them also did not have the opportunity or ability to invest or save for their senior years. Then again, they lived in a time when many women died in child-birth or because they gave birth to many children, zapping what strength or fortitude they were blessed with genetically. When I learned that she had been 'losing her health' for years and the reason for her death was unknown or undisclosed, but that for about six weeks prior to it she was seen by good doctors, I took a guess that she died of some form of cancer.

PAINTINGS and MALE FANTASY LEAD TO PUBLICITY and THE LAVISH LIFE OF A COURTESAN

In a chapter on the real lives of London prostitutes, author Barbara White writes that there's a possibility that Fanny Murray, a very young woman, was infected with venereal disease and taking a cure might have used all her resources and ended her as a streetwalker as a choice, rather than debtor's prison. The descriptions of the conditions in which these women lived suggest that there were very many levels of prostitution, and the lowest were also pickpockets and associating with a rough criminal class. If so, she might have had to 'service' 100 to 200 men a day. It's possible, though again White suggests it might also not be true, that she was at one point suicidal.

This is similar to today's abducted young sex slaves who are trafficked.  It's difficult to believe anyone who survives could be well psychologically. 

But in 1745 her luck changed and she met John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwhich, who had lost a very long term mistress he was happy with when she was murdered. He would go on to have another very long term mistress as well but Fanny and John had their moment, and this association brought her up in the world. (Notes from Page 41NaN)

In 1744, the Earl had started The Divan Club for a small group who were travelers to the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), and which was short-lived. Rumors were that it was not a scholarly gentleman's club but a sex club. A bare-breasted painting which might have been of Fanny Murray - or one of her peer prostitutes - decorated the clubhouse. That an artist was commissioned to paint such a portrait is perhaps indicative of the start of a career in which Fanny would cater to the elite, her time as a Courtesan.

This was a time when gentlemen not only memorialized beauties in art work but also by writing poetry about them and even made lists of the most beautiful women in England to share. (Well, they didn't have the Miss America pageant.) Art, poetry, and lists like these served to promote her as desirable. As men with money came around, Fanny's character became judged as less virtuous(!) as it had been assumed. She did not hesitate to purchase fine things for herself.(Notes from Page 51 Nan)

In the search for truth about Fanny Murray, there is much rumor, much fantasy.

Then a man named Harris came up with Harris List, which was like a 18th century database of prostitutes, and somehow he came up with 400 names.  He listed their names, where they could be found, and what their sexual specialties were. (One wonders how he knew all this.)  In 1747, when she was 19, he included Fanny but it's considered a fabrication.  Fanny M was listed as new to the scene and it was also suggested that she would be ideal for a Jewish man, inferred only a Jew could afford all the things she demanded. She had been in London as a prostitute for at least four years at that point. Was he doing her a favor? Harris may have been a pimp with a 'stable' of 100. He claimed his women had to be 'enrolled' and to undergo medical exams to prove they were disease free and so on. He had a 'club' for women in which, supposedly, a hundred enrolled women drank and awaited a good time.

(Notes from pages 52-53 NaN)

As a Courtesan with enough money to live lavishly, Fanny was finally in position to choose who she would allow into her life and under what terms. Interestingly, she aimed to help those prostitutes who had not been able to avoid the venereal diseases by patronizing a hospital, Lock Hospital near Hyde Park Corner and it was controversial. (page 54 NaN0

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FANNY MURRAY : FROM TEEN PROSTITUTE TO MOST POPULAR COURTESAN IN GEORGIAN ENGLAND : ENTERED INTO THE LIFE and REDEEMED OUT OF IT BY ALTHORP SPENCERS

This month we go back a bit further into the history of European Courtesans. Fanny Murray, born Frances Rudman, played out her life as a Courtesan in Georgian period England, London, not Paris, France. Later in this month we'll listen to an important panel discussion about present day prostitution focusing on Mexico, and San Diego - Los Angeles California.

                                                      FANNY MURRAY

Born Frances Rudman

1729 -1778

Born in 1729 in the small spa resort town of Bath, as the daughter of a musician, Frances was a child with no advantages. With our modern sensibilities and social services, it's difficult to accept, but the girl may have started out selling flowers on the street to support herself or contribute income to her family and then found sex work was more profitable. No doubt the vacationers to Bath included those seeking sex. By the time she was thirteen, Frances, the child laborer, had at least three 'lovers'. Survival rather than morality prevailed.

At the time actresses, prostitutes, mistresses and courtesans were thought to be, shall we say, of the same ilk. The only way to distinguish one from another was to know who their patron's were. As a courtesan Fanny's came from elite, aristocratic and royal social circles. However, she started out as a young teen prostitute. In all my years of reading and writing this blog about Courtesans and Mistresses, she is the youngest who is documented. 

From my previous research: It was common for women to marry at sixteen. In arranged marriages, to be married at thirteen, though sometimes the bride was not delivered to her new husband for a couple years, or lived with him and his family as a daughter-in-law in training, as there was an understanding that a woman should be fully physically mature before pregnancy. Pregnancy was always dangerous. Marriage was the best option for most women. Marriage was a honorable contract that implied a husband would financially support his wife and children. It was also usually the best option for a woman physically. A faithful wife would have just one man to have sex with and bear children with. The arrangement supported her survival until her death. Dire circumstances, however, dictated otherwise.

The nubile Frances had men in their twenties pursuing her, some who no doubt were addicted to sex with very young females barely out of puberty, even or who had not yet even had a period. Other men were older or just plain old. Our modern equivalent would be the infamous rogue Jeffery Epstein, who in August 2021 hung himself in prison while awaiting trial, and who over many years procured a great number of girls under the fraud that they would be paid to give massages, and with the aid of his executive assistant and sometimes 'playmate' Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of procuring and sex trafficking in 2022. Today we would consider these men dangerous predators.

Among the men who pursued the young Frances was John Spencer the great-grandfather of Lady Diana Spencer - the mother of Prince William who will someday be King of England. This John Spencer may very well have been Fanny's first seducer, and its not known if he paid for that encounter, however, girls were known to earn more money by selling their virginity over an over again with the help of the brothel-keeper, or madam of a 'bawdy house.' That Spencer was of the peerage, from one of the richest families in the Kingdom, was important to Fanny's career as a courtesan. 

Spencer was known as a stunt-pulling practical joker, trying to keep things funny, but by the time he seduced Fanny, he was closer to 40 than 30 and sick as an alcoholic. He was said to have seduced hundreds of young women but, important to our understanding is that there were many men just like him and in that time and place they were not accused, tried, imprisoned, or punished. Also, from my research elsewhere, I wish to mention another reason men went for these girls and that was the knowing that prostitutes usually got venereal diseases, which were feared as they should be. The reasoning was that such a young girl probably did not yet have these terrible diseases.

By 1743 Frances was dumped by Spencer (and another man - making me wonder if they both thought they were her one and only), and became the Mistress of a man named Richard Nash, who fancied himself a protector, but was probably training her sexually. This was a lifestyle upgrade but it lasted just about a year. As author Barbara White points out, her research being extensive and inclusive of various stories, these accounts range from Frances being a "hoodwinked virgin" to willfully seeking out a brothel. They also range in describing what her status as a prostitute in London was when she was the lowest of the low. Many a street prostitute was enslaved and worked until the final stages of venereal disease, when she was thrown the street she was attempting to escape. Some were so poor they didn't own the clothes on their back and were charged for the garments they wore at work, included mended stockings and hair ribbons.

There is also a possibility that Fanny did at some point become infected with a sexually transmitted disease. Be it the feared syphilis or gonorrhea, or perhaps because of abortions, Fanny never had a child, and that was usual among prostitutes. There were many expensive 'cures' for these diseases that were likely ineffective and most required time off. 

In 1744, age fifteen, Frances Rudman changed her name to Fanny Murray and went to London from Bath. Bath had attracted rich visitors who wanted to cure their illnesses in the thermal spring waters, as well as the good-for-nothing who were out to scam the rich. However, it's likely that by seeing the rich and how they lived, Fanny became more ambitious.

In London the madams who worked slave-prostitutes paid little and it was near-impossible to escape when one did not even own her own clothing. However, Fanny did escape and set herself up at her own address and that implies that she was a Mistress again or had the patronage to be a Courtesan. 

By 1747, age eighteen, Fanny was experiencing the attentions of men who wished to lavish her with gifts and otherwise compensate her very well for her time with them. If she had been thought to be reluctant, at this point she is known to have accepted her life and indulged herself. She had the reputation of enjoying pleasures and of spending lavishly but again we encounter a question. How much was show, acting, or the cost of doing business, to attract the big spenders? 

In 1746 her 'protector' was Sir Richard Atkins, 6th Baronet Clapham, who was ridiculed as a love-struck fool for letting her take advantage of him as he set her up finely. The relationship lasted eight years, taking up much of her years when, if she were a common woman, she would've married and had children. There were rumors that the love was real and that they planned marriage or had already had a 'speed marriage' (elopement), but Atkins came from a historic and rich family that was, of course, not comfortable with such a match.The family was also beset with death. Determined to live life to the fullest, Sir Richard himself died at the age of twenty-eight and she never became Lady Atkins.

By 1750 Fanny Murray had all the riches that the famous Parisian Courtesans had. She lived elegantly in the fine neighborhood of Saint James Place, dressed in the latest fashions as well as beautiful, expensive jewelry, traveled in a private carriage, and had an exclusive viewing box at the theater. She was impetuous and lived for the moment, also attracting men of a rougher nature, and is thought to have been indifferent about securing her future.

Then through some misfortune, I speculate the end of a relationship, Fanny may have once again become a prostitute working for a pimp or madam, though this information is suspect. She - or another woman like her - were listed in an actual book of prostitutes as a good for a Jewish man, perhaps a merchant! This woman is called 'brown.'  (I speculate that Fanny was herself Jewish.)

What is understood was that, knowing that this courtesan business was mercurial and that 'protectors' could move on to the next new courtesan without a word, most attempted to keep some men in waiting. Some were open about this while others had to do so secretly, risking the loss of the man who was keeping them in style. Did Fanny always do what was best for her future? Perhaps not, for she was not especially calculating in also entertaining less genteel men. During a period of estrangement with Sir Richard, she may have also fled debtors by leaving the country. But by the late 1740's she was the most popular courtesan ever. Interest in Fanny, curiosity about her, worship of her, came in the form of poetry, art, and fashion, and while women of the highest classes would not socialize with her, women too were interested in her. She would be the equivalent of today's influencer, with thousands of followers on YouTube.

Throughout Barbara White's book, we learn about the history of prostitution in England during the times Fanny Murray lived through. We learn about the overall attitude towards women. Rich men vied with each other to have the favors of popular courtesans and courtesans vied with each other to have the attentions of the richest, best men. To become Kept by a Royal was perhaps the highest one could achieve.  There is no evidence that Fanny ever was, though she may have entertained other men of the peerage and attended parties - even sex parties - attended by members of the peerage.

By 1755 Fanny Murray was withdrawing from any form of prostitution and seeking to live a respectable life. She wrote to perhaps the wealthiest man in England, the son of her seducer John Spencer, who'd died of alcohol before he turned 40!  At twelve years old, this son John became 1st Baron Spencer of Althorp in 1761 and 1st Earl Spencer in 1765. Her existing letters, which reveal intelligence and the ability to write and express herself, and so revealing that the girl who sold flowers on the street had received some education, implore that she wishes to give up the life. Implied is that she put the blame on the man's father for her ruin. She may have also been near dead broke and facing street prostitution or debtors prison. It was a smart move.

From the time that she sought the Spencer's support she never again was a prostitute, mistress, or courtesan, keeping to her pledge to live an exemplary life! This son John and his wife, decided to help her and could afford to; perhaps it was well understood that in fact John Spencer the father had lead her to ruin. She as granted 160 pounds a year for life. It was decided that she should also marry a man named David Ross, an educated man, and an theatrical actor of talent and some fame. It was a match-make that Ross also agreed to with some worry that Fanny would not keep to her promises. Some speculated that he only married her for the money but he had a good salary himself and would continue his acting career for decades. They had a secret, five month courtship and in May of 1756 they married quietly, no honeymoon, and then lived in separate residences for a year.  (I speculate that David Ross was Jewish, and I also do wonder if he was perhaps homosexual. Of all people, why would Spencer have chosen him as a possible husband for Fanny?) Obviously this slow and private courtship reveals Ross was not rushing into marriage.

As Mrs. Ross, Fanny was entirely honorable. For years, however, she and her husband were plagued by her past and her having been depicted as a woman of ill repute for which she was ridiculed. David Ross was a celebrity and continued to have an excellent career as a stage actor, however by 1776 he was aging and in declining health and so was she, and had been for years. She had also lost her looks, her figure. Frances Rudman, Fanny Murray, Mrs. David Ross for twenty years, died in 1778, the Georgian England - American Revolution years being her last. The Spencers had been supporting her as promised for those twenty years and before she died she wrote to thank them.

In upcoming posts we'll explore the possibility that Fanny was a participant in certain sex-clubs in England's capitol, and how she - and others - marketed and promoted herself. Author Barbara White doesn't speculate as I do, but I also wonder if the rumors or facts may have also influenced the Spencers to come to allow Fanny to live far better in her aging than many a courtesan.

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Interested in prostitution?  You may be interested to read the following months in my archives.

SLAVIC WOMEN : IMPORTED AS BRIDES - MISTRESSES - TURNED OUT AS PROSTITUTES - RUSSIAN - UKRAINIAN - POLISH    July 2014

HEIDI FLEISS :  GIRL NEXT DOOR TO HOLLYWOOD MADAM TO BIRD SANCTUARY!  WAS BEING KEPT THE TURNING POINT FOR THIS UNUSUAL WOMAN?  March 2020

SEX TRAFFICKING : MORE PEOPLE ARE SEX TRAFFICKED TODAY THEN THERE WERE EVER AFRICAN SLAVES IN AMERICA  April 2021

Also please note that an exploration here at Mistress Manifesto is the question of Choice. While I presently do think some women choose prostitution at a time when there are opportunities for education and employment to do something else with their lives, unlike ever before, I realize not every woman does have those opportunities and that women's income is still not equal to that of men.  Choice does not come into it when the majority of women presently in that business are manipulated into it or forced before they are adults.

I'm basically opposed to prostitution. I suspect that most women who become prostitutes are living lives closer to being enslaved than having made a choice. I'm extremely concerned about sex trafficking and human trafficking in general.

Please note that I read this book as an e-book and any references to page numbers are through the Hoopla app which might not reflect the paper book page numbers.    Missy