Datei Diskussion:Thomas Swinscow-Telegram Delivery Boy.jpg

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From our eBay seller of "working boy" photographs, quote:

An incredibly rare "Arrest" photograph glass negative, circa 1889, of a good looking boy. The boy captured in the image was a "Telegram/Telegraph" Messenger Boy who supplemented his meager wages with "Trysts" at the infamous Homosexual Brothel located at 19 Cleveland Street in London, England.

Operated by 35 year old Charles Hammond and his boy lover, 18 year old Henry Newlove, the Brothel catered to the highest level of Victorian Society at the time. Its patrons included various Gents in high society and the Royal Family. Amongst its Clients included the following: The Earl of Euston, Lord Arthur Somerset.... head of the Prince of Wales' stables.... as well as the Prince himself, Prince Eddy, son of the Prince of Wales.

Messenger boys were required to fill the bedrooms and service the wealthy clientele who frequented the "Club", where all forms of "Male Bonding", from the most innocent to the most extreme. Prince Eddy himself was implicated as one of the suspects in the "Jack the Ripper" case at the time.... and was known to "Sample the Wares" on a regular basis.

The scandal came to light on July 6, 1889, when Inspector Frederick Abberline arrived at the house at 19 Cleveland Street in London's West End planning to arrest Charles Hammond. The arrest warrant he carried spelled out the charge: that Hammond and his lover accomplice, Henry Hewlove "did unlawfully, wickedly, and corruptly conspire, combine, confederate, and agree to..."procure teenage prostitutes "to commit the abominable crime of buggery."

When the detctive knocked on the door, he discovered that the house was locked up tight and Hammond had fled, but he had better luck apprehending Newlove. At 1:30p.m., Abberline found Newlove at his mother's house and escorted him to the police station.

The police had first learned of Hammond's operation during an unrelated investigation of a theft of some cash at the Central Telegraph office. During the investigation, a delivery boy ( THE BOY WHOSE IMAGE IS SHOWN AND AT AUCTION ), Thomas Swinscow, had 18 shillings in his pocket, a sum that amounted to several weeks' wages.

"Where did you get it?" the investigator asked. He had earned it working for a man named Hammond, the boy answered. When asked what work he did for the man, Swinscow hesitated, then blurted out the truth: "I got the money from going to bed with gentlemen at his house."

According to the boy's story, Henry Newlove, who worked the same building as Swinscow, had introduced him to Hammond. At Hammond's house, he had sex with one man, and in exchange received four shillings. He only admitted to servicing two clients, but he named two other boys who he claimed worked for Hammond more often.

When police interrogated Newlove, Swinscow, and the other boys, they named names.... very famous names......

For his cooperation, Newlove and an accomplice were sentenced to 4 months at hard labor, while his less informative collegue served 9 months. The government was much slower to respond to the telegraph boy's allegations about Lord Somerset, so he had time to flee to a comfortable exile in Homburg, a town then famous for its casinos and spas.

A cover up at the highest level in Parliament was put into place to protect the Royal Family and the Crown... and despite news of the scandal splashed across newspapers across the land, this cover-up was never breached

An Ultra Rare, infamous, piece of Gay History...