Way Back in the Good Old days

18 century London evokes images of fine Georgian buildings, many of which are still standing, and fine art.

But in reality, it more of was a modern day Sodom, the biblical city synonymous with sexual depravity, and from which English gets the word sodomy to North Americans, the eighteenth century is ancient history, but to the British it is relatively recent. It was a city of depravity and vileness (as for it high crime and murder rate, and the brutal methods of punishment, that's another story.

It is thought that there were almost 63,000 prostitutes in London in the 1700s and that a staggering one in five of London’s women were harlots. In fact, London’s prostitutes generated an estimated gross turnover of around £20 million (£1.5 billion in today's money). This was big business.

Famous prostitutes became the celebrities of their time in Britain, including Lady Hamilton, the mistress of Lord Nelson. The fictional Moll Flanders is reputedly based on the real life Moll King. One of her customers was the author of Moll Flanders, Daniel defoe.

Grotesquely though, remember, only to the eyes of someone in the 21st Century child prostitutes also plied their trade in London, some as young as eight. The British even believed that sexual intercourse with a child cured venereal diseases.

And, of course, venereal diseases were rife, such as syphilis and gonorrhoea.

Sin city: Georgian London evokes images of elegance and fine art... in truth one in five women were prostitutes

For although Georgian London evokes images of elegant buildings and fine art, it was, in fact, the Sodom of the modern age and scenes like this were commonplace. Teeming with prostitutes from lowly street walkers offering a threepenny upright to high class courtesans retained by dukes Georgian London was a city built on the sex trade.

The Secret History Of Georgian London: How The Wages Of Sin Shaped The Capital, acclaimed historian Dan Cruickshank describes how prostitution influenced the building of London; from the smart new streets of Marylebone to the squalid alleyways around Charing Cross.

Extraordinarily, he believes that there were up to 62,500 harlots working in the capital during the 1700s more than anywhere in Europe, and totalling a staggering one in five of the female population. They were attended by prosperous pimps and generated an estimated gross turnover of around £20 million £1.5 billion in today's money.

Cruickshank describes Georgian London as 'a vast, hostile, soulless, wicked all devouring but also fatally attractive place that makes and breaks, that tempts, inflames, satisfies, yet corrupts and ultimately kills'

Kristina: Happy to be a thoroughly modern girl x