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. She is notable as the inventor of the Berkley Horse, a piece of BDSM apparatus. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Charles Darwin 1836 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Brothels are establishments (usually illegal) specifically dedicated to prostitution and may be confined to special red-light districts in large cities. ... SoHo is a neighborhood in Manhattan that is bounded roughly by Houston Street on the north, Lafayette Street on the east, Canal Street on the south, and Sixth Avenue on the west. ... Whipping on a post Flagellation is the act of whipping (Latin flagellum, whip) the human body. ... 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 behavior. ...

According to an un-named source quoted by Henry Spencer Ashbee,

"Her instruments of torture were more numerous than those of any other governess. Her supply of birch was extensive, and kept in water, so that it was always green and pliant: she had shafts with a dozen whip thongs on each of them; a dozen different sizes of cat-o'-nine-tails, some with needle points worked into them; various kinds of thin bending canes; leather straps like coach traces; battledoors, made of thick sole-leather, with inch nails run through to docket, and currycomb tough hides rendered callous by many years flagellation. Holly brushes, furze brushes; a prickly evergreen, called butcher's bush; and during the summer, a glass and China vases, filled with a constant supply of green nettles, with which she often restored the dead to life. Thus, at her shop, whoever went with plenty of money, could be birched, whipped, fustigated, scourged, needle-pricked, half-hung, holly-brushed, furze-brushed, butcher-brushed, stinging-nettled, curry-combed, phletbotomized, and tortured till he had a belly full."

"For those whose lech it was to flog a woman, she would herself submit to a certain extent; but if they were gluttons at it, she had women in attendance who would take any number of lashes the flogger pleased, provided he forked out an ad valorem duty. Among these were Miss Ring, Hannah Jones, Sally Taylor, One-eyed Peg, Bauld-cunted Poll, and a black girl, called Ebony Bet."

References

• Henry Spencer Ashbee aka "Pisanus Fraxi" 1969, Index of Forbidden Books (written 1880s as Index Librorum Prohibitorum), London: Sphere
• The Other Victorians: A Study of Sexuality and Pornography in Mid-Nineteenth-Century England by Steven Marcus, ISBN 0393302369

Henry Spencer Ashbee (21 April 1834-29 July 1900) was a book collector, writer, and bibliographer notable for his particular focus on sexuality. ...

External links

• The Flogging Whores of Old London