Priss Fotheringham

Priss Fotheringham was a 17th Century sex worker and madam from London who was described in a number of publications from the 1660s. One publication described her as the 'second best whore in the city'. A memorial plaque to her stands at the corner of Whitecross Street and Old Street in East London.[1]

Born in Scotland around 1615, Fotheringham was reputed to be a “cat-eyed gypsy, pleasing to the eye”. After being ravaged by a bout of smallpox and years of swilling gin, she eventually set up as the madam of The Six Windmills, and gained notoriety through the expanding printing industry in London.[2]

In 1658, 'Priscilla Frotheringham' was bound over by a Middlesex Justice of the Peace,

'For being a notorious strumpet, a common field walker and one that hath undone several men by giving them the foul disease, for keeping the husband of Susan Slaughter from her ever since December last and hath utterly undone that family, and also for threatening to stab said Susan Slaughter whenever she can meet her, the woman being very civil woman, and also for several other notorious wickedness which is not fit to be named among the heathen.'[2]

References to the Fotheringham's brothel appear in The Wandering Whore (1660),[3] Strange and True News from JackaNewberries (1660), the Strange and True Conference between Two Notorious Bawds (1660), and Man in the Moon (1660).[2] Her fame stemmed partly from her popularisation of the novelty sex act of 'chucking', wherein she would stand on her head naked with her legs apart and have customers throw coins into her vagina. "According to legend, she could fit 16 half-crowns (40 shillings) in there", notes one modern commentator.[4]

Fotheringham died of syphilis around 1668.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Priss Fotheringham". London Remembers. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Priss Fotheringham: The 'Second Best Whore In The City'". Londonist. 10 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  3. ↑ Garfield, John (1977). The wandring whore, numbers 1-5, 1660-1661. W. D. Jordan Special Collections and Music Library Queen's University Library. [Exeter] : The Rota.
  4. ↑ "Priss Fotheringham's Novelty Sex Act: "Chucking"". Rejected Princesses. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
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