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Musique:
There were literally hundreds of brothels in London. Most were female establishments, such as that run by Mrs Jeffries which catered for sado-masochistic tastes. Male prostitution was more out of sight, but existed widely. There were bars and private clubs and pick-up places where one could meet a 'renter' or a soldier in uniform, but accompanying every encounter was the threat of blackmail. The Labouchere Amendment to the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 had made all homosexual acts illegal.
The house at 19 Cleveland Street was no seedy hovel. It was a four-storey town house furnished with velvet curtains, antique furniture, oil paintings, Dresden china, silk bedding and a grand piano. Champagne was on offer. It was a house considered safe enough by titled aristocrats. There is no evidence any of the boys were coerced against their will to work there. Quite the reverse - they were sexually experienced and had experimented with each other in the basement toilets of the General Post Office.
When the scandal broke, their employers were most anxious to know whether or not they had done it in their uniforms…