The most famous homosexual brothel in 19th century England
This brothel was opened by a certain Charles Hammond around 1884 in a house off the Tottenham Court Road. It was soon doing well and included a number of aristocratic and well-to-do homosexuals.
It was suspected that one of the clients was the 25-year-old Prince Eddy, later Duke of Clarence, eldest son of the Prince of Wales. One speciality in this establishment was the "telegraph boy", willing both to sleep with customers and to deliver telegrams; they earned a few shillings a week by all their efforts!
Eventually the police raided the place. Hammond escaped but Veck (a 40-year-old clergyman) and Newlove (an 18-year-old clerk) were given four months and nine months in jail respectively.
London male brothel - circa 1907
Those pessimistic souls who declare with paradoxical relish that the nation's morals have never been worse should take time off to glance at the extent of Victorian English prostitution.
Archenholtz talked of the 50,000 prostitutes in London, Marylebone alone having no less than 13,000 (such figures are generally thought to be exaggerated). The Kronhausens reckoned that the number of prostitutes in the London of Walter's days was around 80,000 (in a total London population of only about two million).
If we add to this figure the estimated number of "semi" - or occasional prostitutes we find a figure of something like 100,000 - 150,000 women engaged in full-time or part-time prostitution at the height of the Victorian era in the London district alone!
From: http://www.world-sex-records.com/
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