Manumission
Need To Know - Theresa Berkley
The quote regarding Berkley’s clients is from a letter written by Frederick Hankey to Henry Spencer Ashbee, on 26th May 1875. In his personal journals, Ashbee described Hankey as “a de Sade without the intellect.” The British Library houses a collection of material from both men in their Private Case.
The book “The Venus School Mistress” or “Birchen Sports” can be found on sites like Abe Books.
An engraving titled “Flagellation” from 1752 depicts the professional ‘School-Mistress’ punishing with a birch rod, chastising a grown man as if he is a boy:
“What a naughty boy he is. Yesterday he played truant, today he won’t eat his bread and butter without glass windows cut on it, but I’ll cut glass windows on his Arse.” It can be viewed on the Library of Congress website website.
The figure of £19.7 million for Theresa Berkley’s wealth is based on the Measuring Worth “wealth” calculation; a simple inflation calculation would give a lower figure of between £1 and £2 million.
In purchasing power, the £5 offered by Trobenious O'Flunky if he were beaten to unconsciousness would be equivalent to around £600 in 2026.
Theresa Berkley paid for a title called “The Exhibition of Female Flagellants,” which is held in the British Library. So too is “Fashionable lectures: composed and delivered with birch discipline.”
About the author
Anne O Nomis is the author of The History and Arts of the Dominatrix. She holds a Masters degree in Comparative Art and Archaeology from UCL (University College London) and is founder and teacher of Villa Domme, taught annually in a villa or castle since 2018, and a member of the selection committee for the Leather Hall of Fame.
Anne has taught at DomCon NOLA (New Orleans, USA), Oz Kink Fest, CARAS C2C Los Angeles, given private talks at the Freud Museum London, featured as Dominance historian and expert for Sky TV’s Sex: A Bonkers History, and as keynote speaker for Postgraduate UK Society of Aesthetics Conference 2023 at Kent University.
She welcomes further stories of historical Dominatrixes, to ensure we record and retell their fascinating and hidden stories.
Additional acknowledgements
- Thanks to all the London staff of the Freud Museum
- Demtrio Monteverde, who painstakingly recreated long-forgotten cod-line constructions on historic replica cat-o'-nine tails
- Mike of Ouch! UK, who sourced vintage drum sticks to recreate the admiralty instruments made with drum sticks as the handle, as well as replica battledores from leather soless
- Chris from Wicked Woods, who helped me to restore an antique trestle, converting it into a padded Berkley Horse. You can see images of the transformation here.
- Artist and designer Maria-Eva
- John, for helping pack up at the Freud Museum
