The Berkley Horse is a BDSM apparatus, supposedly designed for, or by, Theresa Berkley in 1828. A collar is a common symbol of BDSM. BDSM is a term which describes a number of related patterns of human sexual behaviour. ... The 19th century British dominatrix Mrs Theresa Berkley (died September 1836) ran a brothel in at 28 Charlotte Street, just to the north of Soho, specialising in flagellation. ... 1828 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

According to the account of Henry Spencer Ashbee: Henry Spencer Ashbee (21 April 1834-29 July 1900) was a writer and bibliographer. ...

"test, test"A notorious machine was invented for Mrs Berkley to flog gentlemen upon, in the spring of 1828. It is capable of being opened to a considerable extent, so as to bring the body to any angle that might be desirable. There is a print in Mrs Berkley's memoirs, representing a man upon it quite naked. A woman is sitting in a chair exactly under it, with her bosom, belly, and bush exposed: she is manualizing his embolon, whilst Mrs Berkley is birching his posteriors.

He continues:

"When the new flogging machine was invented, the designer told her it would bring her into notice, and go by her name after her death; and it did cause her to be talked of, and brought her a great deal of business. [...] The original horse is among the models of the Society of Arts at the Adelphi, and was presented by Doctor Vance, her executor."

Notes: the Society of Arts at the Adelphi is now the Royal Society of Arts. An illustration of the apparatus is reproduced in the original 1880s edition of Ashbee's Index Librorum Prohibitorum, but omitted from the 1969 reprint. The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. ...

See also

• erotic furniture

Erotic furniture is furniture that can act as an aid to sexual intercourse. ...

References

• Henry Spencer Ashbee aka "Pisanus Fraxi" 1969, Index of Forbidden Books (written 1880s as Index Librorum Prohibitorum), London: Sphere
• Ernest Borneman, Encyclopedia of Sexuality

Henry Spencer Ashbee (21 April 1834-29 July 1900) was a writer and bibliographer. ... Ernst Wilhelm Julius Bornemann (1915-1995) was a German filmmaker, crime writer (under the pen-name Cameron McCabe), jazz critic, and sexologist. ...

External links

• The Flogging Whores of Old London