In this episode, we look at Covent Garden's vice industry in the eighteenth century.
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Piazza
,
Covent Garden
,
London
Haddock, Hogarth and Harlots
![](https://framerusercontent.com/images/84RHFv4HSm4r38ZPANUicjDI1pU.jpg)
Written by
Jasmine
Silk
![](https://framerusercontent.com/images/Ai29UJr10CXMCFDlJDRdCBWA.jpg)
Performed by
Lulu
Freeman
Delve Deeper
The British Library has a set of Hogarth’s Harlot’s Progress prints.
About this story
Writer Jasmine Silk imagines a young girl forced into prostitution at the real Haddock’s brothel in Covent Garden in 1745. Her downfall mirrors that of engraver William Hogarth’s fictional country girl in his 6-part ‘Harlot’s Progress. This story has adult themes.
27 Catherine Street
,
London
Mrs Jenkins' Flogging House
![](https://framerusercontent.com/images/cyJWRyfhoZDYkQCg3MmmovHuUI.jpg)
Written by
Joanna
Clarke
![](https://framerusercontent.com/images/FSlDd41U34QTu7QcH201bF70s.jpg)
Performed by
Stephen
Fry
Delve Deeper
Rictor Norton has an article about ‘The English Vice’. Exclassics.com has a copy of the poem used in this story, which came from Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies.
About this story
In the 18th-century the ‘English Vice’ of flogging was considered good for the health, and establishments catered for many tastes. This story contains adult themes.
Carnal Pleasures
![](https://framerusercontent.com/images/rAqTJVGlE4x1pX7uH4nl5NoR7A.jpg)
Written by
Robbie
Stamp
![](https://framerusercontent.com/images/oXtjL9ycKjDZ9pec1cRF41prY5M.jpg)
Performed by
Kate
Reid
Delve Deeper
Exclassics has examples of pages from Harris’s List. Wikipedia has a couple of frontispiecesfrom Harris’s Lists, and a portrait of writer/compiler Samuel Derrick. The Wellcome Collection has Harris’s 1787 edition available online. Project Gutenberg has Harris’s 1788 edition available.
About this story
Jack Harris published yearly round-ups of Covent Garden prostitutes, their specialities and prices, for most of the second half of the 18th-Century. Sam Derrick wrote much of the prose and the place to get a copy was the Shakespeare Tavern on Covent Garden Piazza, where John Harrison, aka Jack Harris, was head waiter. Contains adult themes.