logo
livingroom

decorative bar

biographies


corner Last update of this page: August 4th 2009 corner
Charles Thomas Swinscow
(1874 - ?) U.K.

Thomas Swinscow

Hustler

separator

An incrediable rare "Arrest" photograph glass negative, circa 1889 of a good looking boy. The boy captured in the image was Thomas Swinscow, a "Telegram/Telegraph" Messenger Boy who supplimented his meager wages with "Tryst" at the infamous Homosexual Brothel located at 19 Cleveland Street in London, England.

Operated by 35 year old, Charles Hammond and his boy lover, 18 year old Henry Newlove. The Brothel catered to the highest level of Victorian Society at the time. It's patrons included various Gents in high society and the Royal Family. Amongst it's Clients included the following: The Earl of Euston, Lord Arthur Somerset... head of the Prince of Wales' stables... as well as the Prince himself, Prince Eddy, son of the Prince of Wales.

Messenger boys were required to fill the bed rooms and service the wealthy clientel who frequented the "Club", where all forms of "Male Bonding", from the most innocent to the most extreme. Prince Eddy himself was implicated as one of the suspects in the "Jack the Ripper" case at the time... and was known to "Sample the Wares" on a regular basis.

The scandal came to light on July 6, 1889 when Inspector Frederick Abberline arrived at the house at 19 Cleveland Street in London's West End planning to arrest Charles Hammond. The arrest warrant he carried spelled out the charge: that Hammond and his lover accomplice, Henry Hewlove "did unlawfully, wickedly, and corruptly conspire, combine, confederate, and agree to... "procure teenage prostitutes "to commit the abominable crime of buggery." When the detctive knocked on the door, he discovered that the house was locked up tight and Hammond had fled, but he had better luck apprehending Newlove. At 1:30p.m., Abberline found Newlove at his mother's hose and escorted him to the police station.

The police had first learned of Hammond's operation during an unrelated investigation of a theft of some cash at the Central Telegraph office. During te investigation a delivery boy, Thomas Swinscow was discovered to be in possession of fourteen shillings, equivalent to several weeks of his wages. At the time, messenger boys were not permitted to carry any personal cash in the course of their duties, to prevent their own money being mixed with that of the customers.

Suspecting the boy's involvement in the theft, Constable Hanks brought him in for questioning. "Wher did you get it?" the investigator asked. He had earned it working for a man named Hammond, the boy answered. When asked what work he did for the man, Swinscow hesitated, then blurted out the truth: "I got the money from going to bed with gentlemen at his house." Accorking to the boy's story, Henry Newlove, who worked the same building as Swinscow, had introduced him to Hammond. At Hammod's house, he had sex with one man, and in exchange received four shillings. He only admitted to servicing two clients, but he named two other boys who he claimed worked for Hammond more often.

When police interrogated Newlove, Swinscow, and the other boys, they named... very famous names. For his cooperation, Newlove and an accomplice were sentenced to 4 months at hard labor, while his less informative colleague served 9 months. The government was much slower to respond to the telegraph boy's allegations about Lord Somerset, so he had time to flee to a comfortable exile in Homburg, a town then famous for its casinos and spas.

A cover up at the highest level in Parliament was put into place to protect the Royal Family and the Crown... and despite news of the scandal splashed across newspapers across the land, this cover-up was never breached.

separator

Click on the letter S to go back to the list of names

corner © Matt & Andrej Koymasky, 1997 - 2009 corner