Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Margaret Clap (died Template:Circa), better known as Mother Clap, ran a coffee house from 1724 to 1726 in Field Lane, Holborn, Middlesex, a short distance from the City of London. As well as running a molly house (an inn or tavern primarily frequented by homosexual men), she was heavily involved in the ensuing legal battles after her premises were raided and shut down. While not much is known about her life, she was an important part of the gay subculture of early 18th-century England. At the time sodomy in England was a crime under the Buggery Act 1533, punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or the death penalty. Despite this, particularly in larger cities, private homosexual activity took place. To service these actions there existed locations where men from all classes could find partners or just socialize, called molly houses, "molly" being slang for a gay man at the time. One of the most famous of these was Clap's molly house.
Clap's molly houseEdit
Margaret Clap ran a coffee house that served as a molly house for the underground homosexual community.<ref name="rn1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="lgbten">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her house was popular during the two years of its existence (1724–1726),<ref name="rn4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> being well known within the homosexual community. She cared for her customers, and catered especially to the homosexual men who frequented it. She was known to have provided "beds in every room of the house" and commonly had "thirty or forty of such Kind of Chaps every Night, but more especially on Sunday Nights."<ref name="rn2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Clap was present during the vast majority of the molly house's operational hours, apparently only leaving to run across the street to a local tavern, to buy drinks for her customers. Because Clap had to leave the premises to retrieve alcohol to serve to her customers, it is likely that the molly house was hosted in her own private residence.<ref name="rn3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="ww">Template:Cite book</ref> Unlike other molly houses, it was not a brothel.<ref name="ww"/> Clap's intentions may have been based more upon pleasure than profit, judging by her goodwill towards her customers. For example, one man lodged at her house for two years and she later provided false testimony to get a man acquitted of sodomy charges.<ref name="rn1"/><ref name="ww"/> Her actions during the charges later laid against her and many of the homosexual community showed her loyalty to her customers.<ref name="rn1"/><ref name="ww"/>
Raid of 1726Edit
In February 1726, Margaret Clap's molly house was raided by the police; around 40 of its occupants were arrested.<ref name="lgbten"/> Primarily targeted by the Society for the Reformation of Manners, the house had been under surveillance for two years.<ref name="ww"/><ref group="Note">Some sources say the house had only been surveilled for a year prior to the raid.</ref> The surveillance seems to have been instigated by a collection of vengeful mollies-turned-informants. A man named Mark Patridge was outed by his lover and was then turned as an informant for the police.<ref name="rn1"/> He led policemen into molly houses, introducing each of them as his "husband" so that they could investigate more thoroughly.<ref name="rn1"/><ref group="Note">The idea of calling a molly's lover their husband was based on the faux-marriages that took place at some molly houses, often with a man playing a priest, and others acting as bridesmaids.</ref> Patridge was not tried in court for sodomy. Another notable informant was Thomas Newton, who frequently used entrapment to allow constables to arrest men in the act of instigating sodomy.<ref name="rn4"/><ref name="rn3"/>
According to Rictor Norton:<ref name="rn4"/>
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She was found guilty as charged and was sentenced to stand in the pillory in Smithfield Market, to pay a fine of 20 marks, and to two years' imprisonment. During her punishment, she fell off the pillory once and fainted several times. It is not known what became of her, if indeed she survived prison.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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