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What is a molly boy? In the 18th century, Londoners began calling young gay men and male pros "molly boys," using the term as a derogatory term for those men they found effeminate or soft. Molly boys might walk the streets of London looking for johns (clients), while others visited molly houses - secret and discreet meeting places for gay men. In molly houses, men could dress in drag, have relations with other men, and even perform play marriages and pretend to give birth, all while avoiding society's condemnation. Molly house culture led to the flourishing of London's LGBTQ+ community - at least until the police raids started.
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From the time of Henry VIII, lustful contact between two men
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was outlawed, and often punishable by death, due to the Buggery Act of 1533
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While female ladies of the night did face trouble and rough conditions at the hands of police
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things were much worse for London's male workers. Today, we're exploring the story of London's 18th century
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molly houses. Let's take a trip to London's secret past. The English have a knack for inventing new slang
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This was especially true in the late 17th century when the word Molly emerged as a slang term
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referring to gay or effeminate men. According to Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, variations of the
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word like mall and miss Molly came to essentially mean the same thing. By the 18th century, the word
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took on a different meaning entirely as slang for a male prostitute. The word Molly could also refer
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to a lower class woman or a prostitute during the same time period. But mostly it was associated
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with effeminate men who today might identify as LGBTQ. In the safety of a Molly house, Molly boys could cross-dress
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and perform in drag in relative secrecy. They sometimes adopted fake names to life in the festivities
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It wasn't unlikely to find monikers like Plump Nelly, Susan Guzzle, Primrose Mary, and the Duchess of Chamomile
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But there was one who stood out in the crowd, Princess Serafina
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She liked to attend events at the Molly houses so she could dance with fine gentlemen
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She dressed and acted the same way in her home life and even sued a man in 1732 for stealing one of her gowns
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Her neighbors described her commonly wearing a white gown and scarlet cloak
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While in drag, Molly's held masquerade balls and delighted in having a safe place to dress and act how they pleased
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In the 18th century, the curious macaroni fashion trend became quite popular
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leading to a more breathing room for some men to act and dress how they desired
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Macaronis were men who dressed extravagantly, often in feminine ways. This style gave Mollies
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an opportunity to avoid hiding their appearances, but they still had to conceal their relationships
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At the same time, the phrase Molly House came about to describe the coffee shops
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inns, taverns, and other safe places where gay men met in secret. Some were even located in
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private homes. Houses were safe spaces during a dangerous time in history, and they were intended
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for more than just meeting a date. They were safe haven during a time when any physical contact between two men might be punished by hanging When London society began to turn against macaronis in the 1770s the houses offered a way for London LGBTQ plus
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population to socialize in peace. Randolph Trumbach, the first historian to uncover London's
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molly houses, discovered patrons often used code words to describe the establishments
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Margaret Clapp's house was often referred to as a coffee house. Other molly houses were taverns
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with secret back rooms where London's LGBTQ plus population could meet with privacy and
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discretion. These rooms also had secret codes. They were called chapels, and visitors might
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engage in mock marriages or other activities. Dancing, socializing, and dressing in drag
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were common activities in Mali houses as well. Due to the lingering threat of execution
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Mali boys didn't really keep records. But historical accounts from the period show that
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mollyhouses were about more than hooking up. While they undoubtedly served this purpose
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historian Richter Norton argues that same-gender prostitution wasn't the typical use for mollyhouses
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They were mostly for men to congregate in a safe environment. Unfortunately
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outsiders didn't see much difference between consensual relationships and solicitation. They began using phrases like he-strumpets and he-s to imply the male patrons were
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prostitutes themselves, even though most of them were just there to meet and socialize
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Part of that socialization included a healthy dose of alcohol. The Molly House wasn't just a safe place for men to meet each other in secret
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It was also a place to drink and engage in social activities. These alcoholic antics got one man, Thomas Wright, into big trouble
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During his 1726 trial, a Molly boy named Thomas Newton testified against Wright
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Newton was a Molly boy employed by Wright, who later testified against his former partners
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in exchange for immunity. Wright was a woolcomber who ran a busy molly house on the side
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While his place wasn't considered an L house, Wright obtained L from other places to sell at his establishment
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The sell of that beer supported his own Beach Lane house, where he kept rooms for the entertainment of the molly calls
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Newton further incriminated Wright, stating, He has often fetched me to oblige company that way
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and especially to one Gregory Turner, who commonly chose me for his sweetheart
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Unfortunately, this spelled certain death for Wright, He was convicted and executed at Tyburn in 1726
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But that didn't stop Newton from incriminating others down the line. Walking through certain parts of London during the 18th century offered a simple way to meet other men Streets like the one near Moorfield Park were major cruising areas and had nicknames like the Sodomites Walk
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Other streets, like Cox Lane or Lad Lane, hinted that Mollie boys might be found there
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Mollie houses naturally sprung up around these areas. Their proximity to these well-known streets
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made it easier for men to meet and go to a house in relative privacy
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Thomas Newton eventually let two constables follow him as he tried to find men to take to his Molly house
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Those men were then taken in by the police. One man who was entrapped by Newton was William Brown
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When asked why he met with Newton in Moorfield Park, he explained he thought he knew him
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and believed there is no crime in making what use I please of my own body
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At his July 1726 trial, Brown's official defense was that he'd been innocently urinating on the wall
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and was a happily married man. The jury found him guilty, sentencing him to stand in a Moorfield pillory
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pay a 10-mark fine, and go to jail for two months. But Newton's efforts to entrap others to save his own skin was only the beginning
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Things got much worse from there. Thomas Newton was one of only a few Mali boys who walked London streets in search of customers
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In some cases, he picked them up and led them straight to the authorities. But sometimes the police came right to the Mali houses
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In the 1720s, police raided 17 houses over a two-year period. One of the most notorious raids was on Mother Clap's house, in which 30 men were taken and thrown into Newgate Prison
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At the trials, the men testified that Mother Clap provided both alcohol and lodgings at her house, where 30 or 40 men would often hang out every night
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The trials ended in some men being released for lack of evidence, while others were sent to prison, paid fines, or humiliated in pillories
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Three men, Gabriel Lawrence, William Griffin, and Thomas Wright, were hanged on May 9, 1726
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The saddest part of the whole story is that Mother Claps probably never would have been
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raided if it hadn't been for someone's jealous lover. Following a quarrel with his lover
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Mr. Harrington, Mark Partridge turned his back on the Mali houses and became a police informant
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Angry about his lover for telling someone about their relationship, Partridge decided to spread
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vicious rumors about his lover. Among other things, Partridge claimed Harrington was a regular patron
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of quite a few different houses. Then things got out of hand. The rumor grew quickly outside the
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Mali subculture, prompting police to contact Partridge. In becoming an informant, Partridge
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betrayed the trust of the other members of his community But his treachery didn stop there He also began to actively lead constables to various molly houses he knew about and went to in the past He introduced the undercover policeman as his husband to grant them access to the inside
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It was Partridge who initially led constables Joseph Sellers and William Davison to Thomas Wright's Beach Lane house
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Inside, the other men called him a treacherous, blowing up, mollying and threatened to kill him
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The crowd relaxed when he successfully blamed Harrington for the betrayal, saying he was responsible
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for letting the secret first. The crowd kissed him and the undercover constables
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unaware the house was about to be raided. Police went to great lengths to protect Partridge
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with some court reports using only his first initial instead of a complete name
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Among the drinking and dancing in the houses, men also laid with each other
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This really bothered Sellers, who later testified about what he saw in Wright's Molly house
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There I found a company of men fiddling and dancing and singing bawdy songs, kissing and using their hands in a very unseemly manner. The idea of such
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goings-on offended sellers and many others who took action. It got so bad, a religious organization
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called the Societies for Reformation of Manners regularly sent undercover agents to infiltrate
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and shut down any Mali houses they could. But those raids had devastating consequences for the
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men who were caught in the midst of them. The Mali houses were meant to provide refuge and safety
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for the Mollies. But when police raided Mollie houses, it could often end lives
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In a 1728 raid reported in the British Gazetteer, the police raided Jonathan Muff's house
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near Whitechapel Church. Jonathan, also known as Miss Muff, was apprehended along with nine other Mollie boys
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whom they referred to as male ladies. After they were jailed, different fates befell each
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Two of them faced a whipping, while two others were acquitted. A fifth individual was fined
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One man, Thomas Mitchell, tried to take his own life while in prison
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Thomas Mitchell attempted to end his life in prison, but the doctors prevented him from
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succeeding. The British gazetteer wrote of Mitchell, he attempted and had near accomplished
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destroying himself and cutting the great artery of his left arm almost asunder. But by the immediate
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help of some eminent surgeons, he was preserved, though at the point of death, throw the great
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effusion of blood. Not much is known about the fate of the others. Eventually, the death penalty
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part of the Buggery Act was eliminated in 1861. Despite a tumultuous time in the early 1700s
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houses began to reappear around 1750, but eventually faded into British history
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