Charlotte Hayes

Charlotte Hayes (c. 1725–1813) was a brothel keeper in early Georgian London, and the owner of some of the city's most luxurious brothels in and around King's Place, in St James's. he was buried at St Peter and St Paul's church, Bath, on 2 April 1769, according to its parish register, and bequeathed the profits of the final edition of Harris's List to her.

In spite of her success as a brothel keeper, first in Soho, at Berwick Street and Great Marlborough Street, and then in St James's, at King's Street, King's Place, and Arlington Street, Hayes was committed to debtors' prisons on several occasions. Fergus Linnane writes that Hayes was committed to the Marshalsea prison in 1776 for refusing to pay £50 to a bankrupt lacemaker.

During her stay in the Fleet Prison in the late 1750s, she met Dennis O'Kelly, who became her partner in life as well as in business. Contrary to popular belief, Hayes and O'Kelly never married, but lived as common-law husband and wife. Charlotte's health began to decline. Correspondence between Dennis O'Kelly's family members seem to indicate that her mental state also had begun to suffer.

Towards the end of her life, Charlotte once more found herself in financial difficulties and was committed to debtors' prison again in 1798. This time, Dennis O'Kelly's nephew, Andrew O'Kelly, bailed her out, but only on the condition that she sign over to him all her assets.

She died in unknown circumstances in 1813.

Many years before her death, in 1779, a book supposedly written "By a Monk of the Order of Sr. Francis" was published in London under the following title Nocturnal Revels: or, the History of King's Place and other Modern Nunneries, containing Their Mysteries, Devotions, and Sacrifices, Comprising also, The Ancient and Present State of Promiscuous Gallantry.''''It told the story, among other things, of Charlotte Hayes' profitable trade and provided a detailed Italic textmenu of the pleasures she offered to her wealthy clients.

Studies Hayes's story is told in detail in Hallie Rubenhold's The Covent Garden Ladies (2005), as well as in Nicholas Clee's Eclipse: the Story of the Rogue, the Madam and the Horse That Changed Racing (2009). It is also discussed in Fergus Linnane's, London, the Wicked City'', as well as in several books by E. J. Burford.

The TV series, Harlots, drew from Hayes' lifetime for its plot.