I am thrilled today to welcome Dr Julie Peakman, one of my favourite authors, whose works have sat on my bookshelves long before I opened the salon doors; indeed, they were actually one of my main inspirations for doing so.
30 records for Peggy Plunkett. Find Peggy Plunkett's phone number, address, and email on Spokeo, the leading online directory for contact information.
Tart of the Week: Peg Plunkett I n 1727 Margaret Plunkett was born in County Westmeath, Ireland. She would be destined to lead the hard-knock life that many women of the lower classes were forced to struggle for survival in. PEG PLUNKETT (MRS. 1740-1797) VICE-QUEEN OF GEORGIAN DUBLIN. Christmas 1794 was a distinctly uncomfortable time for a large number of the well-to-do men who frequented Georgian Dublin. The word was out that Mrs. Leeson, long regarded as the city’s foremost courtesan and brothel queen, was preparing her memoirs for publication.
Julie is here to tell the tale of Peg Plunkett, memoir-writing brothel-keeper of some renown!
I'm gadding about this weekend, so the salon will reopen on 8th June 2015!
Peg Plunkett Photos
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Peg Plunkett,Memoirs of a Whore by Historian Julie Peakman
Peg Plunkett was the first courtesanand brothel-keeper to write her memoirs - and she related her extraordinary life of sex and scandal in GeorgianIreland and London with gusto. Born in County Westmeath the first part of theC18th, Peg escaped an early life of domestic abuse only to be seduced by herbrother-in-law’s best friend. With her reputation in tatters, no longer a virginand having lost her marriageability, she had no option but to embark on a lifeas a serial monogamist with a variety of unscrupulous men.
But it was not long before Peg had hadenough of a life of relying on unreliable lovers, and took up a life ofindependence running an elite establishment entertaining wealthy and oftentitled men. In a time where women’s lives were largely dependent on their malerelatives or husband, Peg forged a life for herself financed by various wealthyprotectors.
She had affairs with many of Dublin’s elitemen and ran a thriving brothel near to Dublin Castle where she entertained aristocrats,barristers, captains and aid-de-camps. She threw extravagant parties and herbest clients were Dublin’s top citizens, including Lord Lieutenant, the Duke ofRutland and David LaTouche, Governor of the Bank of Ireland. She blitzed through the balls, racesand masquerades of Dublin, creating gossip and scandals wherever she went.
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‘Living in spendour, enjoying everyluxury of dress, table or shew, no matter from which source they were derived,made me resolve not to quit the means of gaining the end.’
| Joseph Leeson, later 2nd Earl of Milltown (1730-1801) by Pompeo Batoni, 1751 |
After thirty five years, at the end ofher career with no financial security after years of extravagant spending,debtor’s prison awaited her. In order to save herself, she wrote her memoirs,the first volume published in 1795. These served a dual purpose. By putting pento paper, she not only raised enough money to get herself out of debtor’s prison,but she gained an extraordinary position of power over the cream of Dublinsociety - for in each new volume, shethreatened to expose the dishonourable behaviour of all those men who hadtreated her badly or owed her money.
| Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland by Joshua Reynolds, 1775 |
Peg Plunkett, Memoirs of a Whore offers a detailed and entertaininginsight into the life and society of an 18th-Century prostitute, and theextraordinary strength and resourcefulness she employed to attain security.Full of racy anecdotes and revelations, author Julie Peakman whirls us throughDublin society, following in the footsteps of the vibrant Peg Plunkett. Shedraws on her extensive research in Ireland and on Peg’s original memoirs,bringing brings this glorious and bawdy character to life.
Peg Plunkett Husband
Julie Peakman is a historian in eighteenth-centuryculture and the history of sexuality. She is a Fellow of the Royal HistoricalSociety and Honorary Fellow at Birkbeck College, University of London. She is afrequent contributor to academic journals, popular magazines and televisiondocumentaries for BBC, Channel 4 and the Biography Channel. Her previous books MightyLewd Books:The Development of Pornography in Eighteenth-Century England (Palgrave2003), Lascivious Bodies, A SexualHistory of the Eighteenth-Century (Atlantic Books, 2004) and The Pleasure’s All Mine. A Historyof Perverse Sex (Reaktion, 2013) were much acclaimed.
Written content of this post copyright © Julie Peakman, 2015.
Peg Plunkett Obituary