But who, among all the courtesans of 18th century London, was the most famous?
Kitty Fisher: London’s golden girl
Her shocking escapades drew the attention of elite men around Europe – including Cassanova himself
Sought after by some of the wealthiest men in Europe, the courtesan Kitty Fisher was at the top of her game. Such was her fame that poems were written about her (such as Kitty’s Stream and A Sketch of the Present Times); satirical prints were made of her (like The Merry Accident, which depicted her fall from a horse displaying her bare legs); and a mezzotint of her face based on a painting by Joshua Reynolds was available in print shops all over London.
Born in Soho, London around 1741, Fisher’s full name was Catherine Maria Fischer. According to The Uncommon Adventures of Miss Kitty F****r (1759), she came from a poor background and lived in Paddington with her younger brother and two sisters. She rose to notoriety while working in a milliner’s shop (an outlet frequently connected to prostitution) before she was allegedly seduced – and subsequently deserted – by a military officer, Ensign Anthony George Martin. Others claim it was Captain Augustus Keppel who first debauched Fisher, whereas the 18th-century satirical poet, Edward Thompson, suggested that there were too many men from which to choose in his work The Meretriciad.
For five years from 1758, Fisher was one of the most toasted women in London
For five years from 1758, Fisher was one of the most toasted women in London. She had liaisons with politicians and noblemen, among them Baron Anson of Soberton, Baron Montfort, the Earl of Sandwich and Earl of Harrington. The second Earl Poulett was rumoured to have wanted to marry her, as did Henry Herbert – earl of Pembroke – who provided Fisher with £1,000 per year, and £1,000 for ‘present decorations’.
Even the infamous Italian adventurer and ladies’ man Giacomo Casanova is thought to have met Fisher while he was in London. He recounted in his memoirs; “Mrs Walls [a famous bawd] told us that one day this Fisher swallowed a thousand pound bank-note on a slice of bread-and-butter. The note had just been given her by Atkins, brother of the beautiful Mrs. Pitt.” It was also alleged that Prince Edward was told he was no longer welcome at Kitty’s house in New Norfolk Street after leaving her ‘only £50’ after being admitted for tea.
Fisher ultimately married John Norris – the MP for Rye – at Trinity church in Haddington, Scotland in 1766. While still only in her late twenties, she became ill with consumption and died at the Three Tuns in Stall Street, Bath, in March 1767, though there is contention about the place and date of her death.
Sally Salisbury: the criminal courtesan
The fiery temptress rose to fame and fortune – but fell from grace when she stabbed her lover with a bread knife
Like Kitty Fisher, Sally Salisbury was a courtesan who worked her way up from a lowly background in 18th century London. At first, she worked as a prostitute for a well-known bawd, Mother Wisebourne. By the time she left Wisebourne’s establishment, Salisbury’s status had risen and her finances were good enough for her to establish herself in a select house where she employed a full entourage of servants, including a cook, a chambermaid and a housemaid. The Original Weekly Journal reported in 1719, “We hear that Salisbury Sally, a noted Lady of Pleasure, is setting up a Chariot and has hired a Coachman and two Footmen.” As a fully-fledged courtesan, she was now able to entertain rich noblemen.
Salisbury’s downfall came at the peak of her career when, in a fit of fury she stabbed one of her lovers
Salisbury became so famous that a flurry of pamphlets was issued to celebrate her life story. Her followers could read about her in The Genuine History of Mrs. Sarah Prydden, which was sold at pamphlet shops during 1723 for a shilling a copy, and Authentick Memoirs of the Life and Adventures of the Celebrated Sally Salisbury, which sold for 2s 6d. She even had songs named after her, such as ‘Sally in our Alley’ and ‘four new songs’ printed in Sally Slisbury’s [sic] Garland.
Salisbury’s downfall came at the peak of her career when, in a fit of fury she stabbed one of her lovers – John Finch, third son of the 2nd Earl of Nottingham – with a bread knife at a tavern in Covent Garden. Though Finch desperately tried to have the charges against her dropped, Salisbury was indicted in February 1723 for assaulting and wounding with intent to murder. She was sent to Newgate prison, where she caught jail fever – likely typhus – and died.
The London Journal for 15 February 1724 described Salisbury’s rise and fall as being “like a Comet, her Blaze was bright but of no consequence; Scarce had she appear’d like the Sun, before she disappears like a Meteor.”
Harriet Mellon: from rags to riches
The young actress enchanted an elderly banker – and became one of the wealthiest women in London
Though from a poor background, Harriet Mellon came into great wealth and a title, making her one of the most fortunate 18th-century courtesans
Born to a dresser and wardrobe mistress in the theatre in 1777, Mellon began her career as a child actress in a theatre barn in Ulverstone, Cumbria. She later joined Stanton’s theatre company in the Midlands, where she was spotted by the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. He engaged Mellon for his production of The Rivals on 31 January 1795 at the Drury Lane Theatre in London, where she played Lydia Languish. In 1805 she caught the eye of the elderly married banker Thomas Coutts (1735–1822), who quickly fell in love with her.
In 1805, she caught the eye of an elderly married banker…
Mellon’s affair with Coutts lasted ten years, during which time she continued to perform a wide variety of roles. While Mellon never gained great accolades in the acting world, she was competent enough and was praised for how she looked; her figure was said to surpass even that of the renowned actress ‘Mrs Jordan’ (stage name of Dorothy Bland). With Coutts, Mellon felt secure enough to give up acting, and her final performance was on 7 February 1815 as Audrey in As You Like It.
After his first wife died, Coutts married Mellon at St Pancras church on 12 April 1815. He was now 79 years old, while Mellon was 37. The marriage was a fairly short one, and after almost seven years together, Coutts died on 24 February 1822, leaving his whole fortune to his wife, including his partnership in Coutts Bank.
Mellon was now a very wealthy woman and attracted other suitors while throwing luxurious parties at her town house in the Kings Road in Brighton – but proved herself an astute businesswoman with an ability to make wise investments. She was generous to Coutts’s three daughters, and provided them with £10,000 a year each.
At 49, Mellon married the Duke of St Albans, a man 23 years her junior. She died on 6 August 1837 at her home in London, leaving most of her vast fortune to Coutts’ granddaughter, Angela, thereby giving another young woman her freedom and independence.
Nancy Dawson – the prince’s prostitute?
The London dancer was a celebrity of her day – captivating actors, soldiers, and even royalty
Nancy Dawson’s life oscillated between poverty and riches. She edged her way up in life as an actress and courtesan, only to later fall back on hard times. Her lovers included captains, soldiers, peers of the realm and royalty, supposedly among them Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn.
Her lovers included captains, soldiers, peers of the realm and royalty, supposedly among them Prince Henry
Music was composed for her; songs were sung about her; even rude poems were made up about her, such as: “Nancy Dawson was a whore/And in the town was many more/And when the sailors went on shore/Law, they ask’d for Nancy Dawson!” A scurrilous memoir slated her reputation in The Genuine Memoirs of the Celebrated Miss Nancy Dawsonn, published in 1760.
The daughter of a staymaker (corset maker), Nancy Dawson was baptised as Ann Newton in 1728. At some point she married a mariner, James Dawson, who soon disappeared from her life. She later evoked a scandal with her affair with comic actor Edward Shuter.
Though she spent seven years dancing in London theatres, Dawson was never offered a role as leading lady. She came to public attention when she danced the hornpipe in the John Gay’s The Beggars Opera in 1759, and was forever after associated with that dance, her name puffed up in bills “as sure bait to fill the house”. She played pantomime in The Rites of Hecate during December 1763 but retired soon after. Little is known about her from then until her death on 9 June 1767 in Hampstead, Middlesex except that she was buried in a Bloomsbury’s St George the Martyr graveyard.
Julie Peakman is an author and historian in 18th-century culture and history of sexuality
