Harriot Lewis

Words and handkerchief by Melissa Jo Smith

Harriot Lewis was a heroic survivor, living on her wits to keep herself and her children safe and provided for in 18th-century London’s demi-monde. Born in Guinea, she was enslaved at a Jamaican plantation owned by. Captain William Lewis. She was taught to read, write and do accounts, then brought to London where, as his mistress, she bore him two children. When he succumbed to smallpox in 1776, leaving Harriot and her children destitute, she negotiated finance from the Earl of Sandwich and opened a high class brothel in Covent Garden. ‘Black Harriot’ became the sole Black ‘bawd’ (madam) for more than a decade until love brought her down. Harriot fell for a humble guards’ officer and lost her fortune to him and servants who secretly sold off her furniture and valuables. Harriot refused to prosecute her staff and died shortly afterwards of tuberculosis in debtors’ prison.

This artwork is part of The Wall of Sexual Heroes, a collaborative textile art piece featured in our previous exhibition at the Horse Hospital (2022) and Bow Arts Lab (2023). All embroidered, printed and appliquėd handkerchiefs celebrate unsung heroes of sexual emancipation, activism and innovation.

The Wall is an organic work. If you would like to contribute, please get in touch with The Keeper. 

More tales of Sexual Heroes>