The Cleveland Street Scandal
How the Victorian Establishment was Almost Brought to its Knees
Format:Hardback
Publisher:The History Press Ltd
Published:5th Jun '25
Should be back in stock very soon
Explore the scandalous story of the Cleveland Street Scandal and how it almost destroyed the Establishment
‘A fascinating and meticulously researched look at the biggest gay scandal to hit the headlines until Oscar Wilde. Absolutely a must-read.’ – Paul Donnelley, author of 501 Most Notorious Crimes
It’s the summer of 1889, and the royal family is in crisis.
It is well known in polite society that the Prince of Wales’s eldest son and his aristocratic acolytes are regulars at 19 Cleveland Street – a male brothel in London’s West End. Bad behaviour by the gentry is accepted, but it must stay behind closed doors; they can do what they wish, but the rule that rules all is silence. The Establishment has always closed ranks – a word here and there from powerful people will put rumours swiftly to bed.
But not this time.
Onto this stage walks Detective Inspector Frederick Abberline of Scotland Yard, fresh from leading the disastrous Jack the Ripper investigation the previous year. Now the reputations of men who rule half the world are under threat from a scandal that stretches all the way to the corridors of Buckingham Palace.
‘The privilege and hypocrisy of the Victorian Age are on full display in this riveting tale of sex, coverup, abuse of power, and justice denied. Thanks to Neil Root's masterful exposé of a scandal that rocked the Royal Family and the British establishment, the whole truth has finally come out.’
-- Dean Jobb, bestselling author of 'A Gentleman and a Thief' and 'The Case of the Murderous Dr Cream'‘A remarkable, impressively researched and readable tale, as relevant today as it was in Victorian times.’
-- Duncan Campbell, author of 'Underworld'‘A fascinating and meticulously researched look at the biggest gay scandal to hit the headlines until Oscar Wilde. Absolutely a must-read.’
-- Paul Donnelley, author of '501 Most Notorious Crimes'‘I was completely drawn into Neil Root’s compelling and deeply researched account of one of the first queer scandals of the modern age. From London telegraph boys to ambitious newspaper editors, and members of Queen Victoria’s own family, Root recounts the complex web of political intrigue that made the Cleveland Street affair emblematic of its age – a case that set in motion nearly a century of policing that ruined the reputation and lives of queer men. With a historian’s eye for detail and a journalists approach to story, Root brings to life not only the many characters who were drawn into the scandal, either publicly and privately, but also makes abundantly clear how charges of “gross indecencies” in the heart of the British Empire depended on one’s power and privilege.'
-- James Polchin, Ph.D., Clinical Professor, New York University and author of 'Shadow Men: A Tangled Tale of Murder, Media, and Privilege that Scandalized Jazz Age AmerISBN: 9781803996646
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