Mother Clap's Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830

About this book

This pioneering historical study is the first comprehensive chronicle of the English gay community at its 18th-century roots sporting for the first time a distinctive subculture with its "molly houses" "sodomites walks" "maiden names" and gay slang. Rictor Nortons research into trial records and contemporary documents establishes a vital cornerstone for the reconstruction of gay history. Challenging in its demonstration that the molly subculture was primarily a working-class community of blacksmiths milkmen publicans and shopkeepers Mother Claps Molly House also records the exuberant lives of personalities such as Charles Hitchin the "thief-taker" the dramatists Samuel Foote and Isaac Bickerstaff William Beckford of Fonthill and Rev. John Church prosecuted for his blessing of gay marriages. All these are set against a backdrop of persecution blackmail and the pillory. And yes "Mother Claps" actually was the name of a prominent molly house!