Mary Frances Jeffries (1819 – 1891) was a

madam Madam (), or madame ( or ), is a polite and formal form of address for Woman, women in the English language, often contracted to ma'am (pronounced in American English and this way but also in British English). The term derives from the French la ...

and procuror in London's

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

during the late 19th century.

Biography

Jeffries was born in 1819 in

Brompton, Kent Brompton is a suburban village situated between the town centres of Gillingham and Chatham, lying adjacent to Chatham Dockyard in Medway, Kent, England. Its name means "a farmstead where broom grows" broom is a small yellow flowering shrub. ...

, England. During the 1870s, she ran one of the few

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

s in Victorian-era London which catered exclusively to many of the city's elite including the prominent businessmen and politicians including at least one member of 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 ...

and a titled Guards officer as well as aristocrats such as Leopold II. She was also involved in

sexual slavery Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership rights, right over one or more people with the intent of Coercion, coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activities. This includ ...

(known then as "white slavery") and

child prostitution Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child ...

, often arranging the abduction of children by offering to watch children while parents went to collect luggage or purchase train tickets. Among her brothels in Church Street and

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

as well as a

flagellation Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, Birching, rods, Switch (rod), switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, floggin ...

house in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

, included a " chamber of horrors" in

Gray's Inn Road Gray's Inn Road (or Grays Inn Road) is an important road in Central London, located in the London Borough of Camden. The road begins at its junction with Holborn at the City of London boundary, passes north through the Holborn and King's Cross ...

where a room was designed for the purposes of

sado-masochism Sadism () and masochism (), known collectively as sadomasochism ( ) or S&M, is the derivation of pleasure from acts of respectively inflicting or receiving pain or humiliation. The term is named after the Marquis de Sade, a French author known ...

as described by journalist

William Thomas Stead William Thomas Stead (5 July 184915 April 1912) was an English newspaper editor who, as a pioneer of investigative journalism, became a controversial figure of the Victorian era. Stead published a series of hugely influential campaigns whilst e ...

in a series of articles for the ''

Pall Mall Gazette ''The Pall Mall Gazette'' was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, '' The Globe'' merged into ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', which itself was absorbed i ...

'' exposing prostitution in the city during the

Eliza Armstrong case The Eliza Armstrong case was a major scandal in the United Kingdom involving a child bought for prostitution for the purpose of exposing the evils of sexual slavery. While it achieved its purpose of helping to enable the passage of the Criminal ...

. Although never proven, she may have operated a white slave house along the river near

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...

, from which women were abducted and smuggled to foreign countries (see

and

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

). In 1884, Alfred Dyer's London Committee obtained evidence of a high class Chelsea brothel operated by Jeffries. An investigation by a former police inspector, who had resigned from the Metropolitan Police when senior officials refused to prosecute her, had been amassing evidence against Jeffries during the year until the London Commission began a

private prosecution A private prosecution is a criminal proceeding initiated by an individual private citizen or private organisation (such as a prosecution association) instead of by a public prosecutor who represents the state. Private prosecutions are allowed in ...

in March 1885. This investigation included many witnesses from the brothels, including Lola Shropshire, Leona Noman, and Agnes Moris. These witnesses unfortunately had no clear evidence and were soon dismissed. Although unable to charge Jeffries with any serious offence apart from keeping a

disorderly house In English criminal law, a disorderly house is a house in which the conduct of its inhabitants is such as to become a public nuisance, or outrages public decency, or tends to corrupt or deprave, or injures the public interest; or a house where p ...

, the Commission expected much publicity from the case when presenting their evidence. For example, a former housemaid testified that she witnessed an assault on a 13-year-old girl who had been whipped by a belt and raped by a customer. Appearing in court on 5 May, accompanied by several wealthy army officers, Jeffries paid a fine of £200 after arranging with the court to plead guilty in order to have the evidence against her remain undisclosed. As she left the courthouse, a

guard of honour A guard of honour (Commonwealth English), honor guard (American English) or ceremonial guard, is a group of people, typically drawn from the military, appointed to perform ceremonial duties – for example, to receive or guard a head of state ...

was formed around her by her young escorts.

References

External links

Mary Jeffries
at Probert Encyclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffries, Mary Frances 1819 births 1907 deaths English brothel owners and madams English criminals BDSM people 19th-century English businesspeople 19th-century English businesswomen