
Fanny Murray (c. 1729 in
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
– 2 April 1778 in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
[Some sources give her date of death as 1770. Nevertheless, notices of her death only appear in gazettes from 1778.]), née Fanny Rudman and later Fanny Ross, was an 18th-century English
courtesan
A courtesan is a prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele. Historically, the term referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person.
History
In European feudal society, the co ...
, mistress to
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, Privy Council of Great Britain, PC, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (13 November 1718 – 30 April 1792) was a British politician, statesman who succeeded his grandfather Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwic ...
and dedicatee of the fateful ''Essay on Woman'' (1763) that led to the downfall of
John Wilkes
John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English Radicalism (historical), radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlese ...
. A contemporary of
Kitty Fisher
Catherine Maria Fischer (1 June 1741 – 10 March 1767), better known as Kitty Fisher, was an English courtesan. From her teenage years onward, Fisher developed a carefully molded public image, which was enhanced by acknowledgement from Sir Jos ...
and
Charlotte Hayes, the "celebrated Fanny Murray" was one of the most prominent courtesans of her day; a celebrity and fashion leader who rose from destitution to wealth and fame, before settling down into a life of "respectable prosperity".
The ''Memoirs of the Celebrated Miss Fanny Murray'' are one of the first examples of the "whore's memoir" genre of writing, although they are unlikely to have been actually written by Murray.
Early life
The details of her life are not clear, coming as they do from often biased sources such as the ''Memoirs'' attributed to her. Most sources agree that Murray was born in
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
in 1729 to a musician called "Rudman", a friend of the influential
dandy
A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance and personal grooming, refined language and leisurely hobbies. A dandy could be a self-made man both in person and ''persona'', who emulated the aristocratic style of l ...
Beau Nash
Richard "Beau" Nash (18 October 1674 – 3 February 1762) was a Welsh lawyer who as a dandy, played a leading role in 18th-century British fashion. He is best remembered as the master of ceremonies at the spa town of Bath, Somerset.
Biograph ...
.
Orphaned at age 12, she worked as a flower girl until she was seduced by
John Spencer, a grandson of
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
General (United Kingdom), General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was a Briti ...
. According to her memoir, she had become a mistress to Beau Nash by 1743, at the age of just fourteen, and soon moved to London, where she became a "dress-lodger"
— an
indentured
An indenture is a legal contract that reflects an agreement between two parties. Although the term is most familiarly used to refer to a labor contract between an employer and a laborer with an indentured servant status, historically indentures we ...
prostitute who had to work to pay for the expensive clothes that she wore to solicit customers. Once she had paid off her indenture, Fanny continued as a prostitute under her own employ, but remained in poverty.
While she was in London, she was noticed by Jack Harris, a famous
pimp
Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term "pimp" ...
from
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...
and later co-author of ''
Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies
''Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies'', published from 1760 to 1794, was an annual directory of prostitutes then working in Georgian era, Georgian London. A small pocketbook, it was printed and published in Covent Garden, and sold ...
'', a list of prostitutes that Harris claimed were free of venereal disease. Harris supposedly had a
surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...
examine Murray to verify her claims that she was free of disease, and made her pay a £20 deposit on the accuracy of her information.
Although she had been working in London for many years, she appeared in Harris's guide as a "new face", described as "fit for high keeping with a Jew merchant".
Fame

With the support of Harris, Murray quickly rose to the top of London ''
demimonde
is a French 19th-century term referring to women on the fringes of respectable society, and specifically to courtesans supported by wealthy lovers. The term is French for "half-world", and derives from an 1855 play called , by Alexandre Dumas ...
''. At just 17, she was famous and widely desired; one diary from the day records that "''it was a vice not to be acquainted with Fanny; it was a crime not to toast her at every meal.''"
She is even mentioned in the memoirs of
Giacomo Casanova
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (; ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer who was born in the Republic of Venice and travelled extensively throughout Europe. He is chiefly remembered for his autobiography, written in French and pu ...
as the guest of honour at a party held by the
British Ambassador to Venice,
John Murray (no relation) at his casino,
and it has been suggested that she is at least in part an inspiration for ''
Fanny Hill
''Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure'' – popularly known as ''Fanny Hill'' – is an erotic novel by the English novelist John Cleland first published in London in 1748 and 1749. Written while the author was in debtors' prison in London,Wagne ...
'', which was published in 1749 at the height of her fame. She became mistress to a string of leading British politicians and celebrities, while her fashion sense — in particular, the broad-brimmed "Fanny Murray cap", supposedly invented to hide the imperfections of her "handsome though somewhat awry" face — became all the rage on the London scene. Her influence on
the fashion of the era went so far that one essayist complained:
For a long time, she was the mistress of
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, Privy Council of Great Britain, PC, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (13 November 1718 – 30 April 1792) was a British politician, statesman who succeeded his grandfather Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwic ...
, who was so deeply enamoured of her as to hang a large nude portrait of Murray in his apartment, proudly showing it to guests. Murray often appeared as a "nun" — a female guest — at the orgies of the
Hellfire Club
Hellfire Club was a term used to describe several exclusive Club (organization), clubs for high-society Rake (character), rakes established in Great Britain and Ireland in the 18th Century. The name most commonly refers to Francis Dashwood, 11t ...
, a
secret society
A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ag ...
with satanic trappings which Sandwich regularly attended,
and it is also likely that she was a member of the "
harem
A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic Domestic worker, servants, and other un ...
" at the
Divan Club
The Divan Club was a short-lived dining club in 18th century England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, an ...
, an
orientalist group founded by Sandwich that was exclusive to noblemen who had visited the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
.
Eventually she married
Sir Richard Atkins, 6th Baronet
Sir Richard Atkins, 6th Baronet (1728–1756), of Clapham, was an English baronet from 1742 until 1756.
Education
He was educated at John Roysse's Free School in Abingdon, (now Abingdon School) c.1737-c.1742.
Title
Following the death of his ...
. A famous anecdote about Murray tells that one night, she complained to him that she lacked money. He gave her a £20 note,
[Roughly equivalent](_blank)
to £2,000 in 2011 using the RPI. to which she declared "damn your twenty pound, what does it signify?", promptly placing the note between two pieces of bread and eating it.
The same story was later told of
Kitty Fisher
Catherine Maria Fischer (1 June 1741 – 10 March 1767), better known as Kitty Fisher, was an English courtesan. From her teenage years onward, Fisher developed a carefully molded public image, which was enhanced by acknowledgement from Sir Jos ...
— possibly due to Casanova confusing Atkins's mistresses — and
Sophia Baddeley
Sophia Baddeley born Sophia Snow (1745 – July 1786) was an English actress, singer and courtesan.
Early life, musical career
She was born in London, the daughter of Mary and Valentine Snow, who was the sergeant-trumpeter to George II of ...
. Her marital life appears to have been temperamental, and neither remained entirely monogamous. Atkins died suddenly in 1756 when Murray was just 27, leaving her heavily indebted.
''An Essay on Woman'' and later life
Unable to pay her debts, Murray was sent to a
sponging-house
A sponging-house (more formally: a lock-up house)
was a place of temporary confinement for debtors in the United Kingdom.
If a borrower defaulted on repaying a debt, a creditor could lay a complaint with the sheriff. The sheriff sent his bail ...
. There, she learned that
John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer
John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer (19 December 1734 – 31 October 1783), styled Viscount Spencer from 1761–5, was a British peerage, British peer and politician.
Early life
Spencer was born on 19 December 1734 at Althorp, his family's home ...
, son of the John Spencer who had seduced her, was getting married. She sent him a begging letter informing him of his father's deeds, and manipulated the couple into paying her a £200 per year stipend. Spencer also introduced her to the actor
David Ross, whom she married some time around 1757.
A biography, purportedly a memoir although written in the
third person
Third person, or third-person, may refer to:
* Third person (grammar), a point of view (in English, ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', and ''they'')
** Illeism, the act of referring to oneself in the third person
* Third-person narrative, a perspective in p ...
, appeared in 1759, alongside the similar ''Uncommon Adventures of Miss Kitty F****r'', a thinly disguised
roman à clef
A ''roman à clef'' ( ; ; ) is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people and the "key" is the relationship between the non-fiction and the fiction. This m ...
about Kitty Fisher in which Murray appears as the Spanish prostitute "Miss Murrio".
In 1763, a
pornographic
Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolved from cave paintings ...
poem supposedly composed by
John Wilkes
John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English Radicalism (historical), radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlese ...
surfaced. The poem, a parody of
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early ...
's ''
An Essay on Man
"An Essay on Man" is a poem published by Alexander Pope in 1733–1734. It was dedicated to Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (pronounced 'Bull-en-brook'), hence the opening line: "Awake, my St John...". It is an effort to rationalize or ...
'' called ''An Essay on Woman'', was dedicated to Murray and featured her extensively: the very first line of the poem reads "Awake, my Fanny",
[In some versions, this line is "Awake, my Sandwich" instead.] and one passage compares her to the
Virgin Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
, finding that Murray is the better of the two for never having had a child. The poem was likely around a decade old, having been composed at the height of Murray's fame. Wilkes was only in his late teens at that time, and it is possible the poem was written by
Thomas Potter, his friend and fellow Hellfire member, rather than Wilkes himself.
Despite having been her lover,
Sandwich
A sandwich is a Dish (food), dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''co ...
seized on the chance to shame Wilkes, against whom he had borne a grudge ever since Wilkes had leapt out and scared Sandwich during a drunken
séance
A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French language, French word for "session", from the Old French , "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general and mundane: one ma ...
at the
Hellfire Club
Hellfire Club was a term used to describe several exclusive Club (organization), clubs for high-society Rake (character), rakes established in Great Britain and Ireland in the 18th Century. The name most commonly refers to Francis Dashwood, 11t ...
.
Sections of the poem were read out in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
, which found it
blasphemous
Blasphemy refers to an insult that shows contempt, disrespect or lack of Reverence (emotion), reverence concerning a deity, an object considered sacred, or something considered Sanctity of life, inviolable. Some religions, especially Abrahamic o ...
and
obscene
An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin , , "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Generally, the term can be used to indicate strong moral ...
. Already accused of
seditious libel
Seditious libel is a criminal offence under common law of printing written material with seditious purposethat is, the purpose of bringing contempt upon a political authority. It remains an offence in Canada but has been abolished in England and ...
for criticising the king in ''
The North Briton
''The North Briton'' was a radical newspaper published in 18th-century London. The North Briton also served as the pseudonym of the newspaper's author, used in advertisements, letters to other publications, and handbills.
Although written ano ...
'', Wilkes fled the country and was expelled ''in absentia'' from the House and branded an outlaw. Although Murray was not the target of the poem — one biography of Wilkes described her presence in the poem as "little more than a matter of literary convention" — the event caused considerable distress to Murray, and strained her marriage with Ross. It was public knowledge that Sandwich had been Fanny Murray's lover, and the hypocrisy of his actions were not lost on the public. Records from the era suggest that the very next night, Sandwich went to see ''
The Beggar's Opera
''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of sati ...
'', which featured a similar act of betrayal by the character "Jemmy Twitcher". Quickly, the name Twitcher became associated with him.
Despite the turmoil of her later years, Murray's marriage to Ross appears to have been a happy, monogamous one. When an anonymous poem besmirching Ross as an actor appeared, Murray offered twenty
guineas
The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
(£21) of her own savings to anyone who could find the author. Records from the day universally praise Murray as faithful: a biography of Ross remarks that "whatever her former indiscretions had been,
urray
Urray () is a scattered village and coastal parish, consisting of Easter, Old and Wester Urray and is located in the county of Ross-shire, Ross in the Scotland, Scottish council area of Highland Council area, the Highland. Urray is also a paris ...
conducted herself as a wife with exemplary prudence and discretion".
The couple remained married until her death in 1778.
Notes
References
External links
Pride and Prostitution-
SBS On Demand (
Blue Ant Media
Blue Ant Media Inc. is a Canadian broadcasting and media company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company was founded by Michael MacMillan and formed in 2011 following the acquisition of Glassbox Television. Its name was chosen in reference ...
)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Fanny
English courtesans
18th-century English people
1720s births
People from Bath, Somerset
1778 deaths
People from Covent Garden
18th-century fashion