Can we imagine what life was like for the thousands of young women who lived as prostitutes, servants and migrants in eighteenth-century London? In 1787, the Lock Hospital Asylum opened its doors to a small group of women who had been treated for syphilis, to house them and spiritually reform them. The clerk who admitted them kept a notebook in which he recorded their stories of their lives before treatment. These short, handwritten accounts offer us a narrow window into hundreds of women’s experiences, as they recalled the abuse, seduction, prostitution, poverty and broken relationships they had faced.
These unique records - lost in the archive for two centuries - now form the basis for an audio drama by writers Cara Jennings and Sophie Trott in partnership with Morley Radio (Morley College London) and LSE Professor Patrick Wallis who uncovered the source and has led the project, with students in the Department of Economic History, to research it.
Credits:
Anna-Kate Golding - Martha Threadgill
Jenny Gordon - Mrs Baker
Rosie May Jones - Mary Carter
Jonathan Kemp - Reverend Scott
Sophie Trott - Ruth Plym
Reuben Williams - Mr Fisher
Charmaine Wombwell - Sarah Downes
All the other parts were played by the cast.
Studio manager - Camilo Salazar
Historical Consultant - Professor Patrick Wallis
Director - Beckie Mills
Producers - Beckie Mills, Cara Jennings and Sophie Trott.
Produced in association with LSE department of Economic History, Morley Radio, and Positive Cynic Audio
Thanks to Esther Baker at Synergy Theatre Project, Dorian Ford, Mandy Gordon, Sean Grundy, Lizzie Knight, Ray Malone, Father Damien Mason at St Mary Brookfield, Kevin Sienna, John Styles, Simon Szreta, the participants from our workshops at Dunraven 6th form, City Lit, Morley College, Totteridge Academy, Drama Studio London, The Mollies at St Margaret’s House; the department of Economic History at LSE, and its students, and Morley Radio.
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