Old Knightsbridge: Horse Guards, Courtesans and Music Hall Stars

You'll see the barracks from behind and from the front in Hyde Park, where the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment leave for Changing the Guard ceremonies. Rotten Row was long the scene of high-society socialising, and you'll hear about Skittles, the brilliant horsewoman who was courtesan to the rich and famous. The Duke of Wellington was client to demi-rep Harriette Wilson in these streets, and you'll find out about a woman he tried to evict from her hut near the Serpentine when the Great Exhibition of 1851 was afoot. Horses of all kinds and the men who bred, groomed and bet on them are a presence. Music-hall stars George Leybourne and the Great Vance played in houses here, and you'll also hear the story of a lowly horse guard and the dolly-mop he married in the back streets of a workers' Knightsbridge quite unlike the one you usually hear about.

L aura Agustin is an historian, author and qualified guide interested to bring out the lives of unnamed Londoners, the 'ordinary folks', highlighting issues of gender, sex and class.

Host or Publisher Laura Agustín