Antonia Hodgson - The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins

Gay, John, The Beggar ’ s Opera

Hayward, Arthur L., Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals (original publication 1735)

Mudge, Bradford K. (ed.), When Flesh Becomes Word: An Anthology of Early Eighteenth-Century Libertine Literature

Ilchester, Earl of (ed.), Lord Hervey and his friends 1726-38 (letters)

Neaves, Thomas, The Life of Thomas Neaves, the Noted Street Robber

de Saussure, César, A Foreign View of England in the Reigns of George I and George II

Sedgwick, Romney (ed.), Lord Hervey ’ s Memoirs

Secondary sources

(These also included valuable references to primary material, of course)

Borman, Tracy, Henrietta Howard: King ’ s Mistress, Queen ’ s Servant

Cockayne, Emily, Hubbub: Filth, Noise and Stench in England

Cruickshank, Dan, The Secret History of Georgian London

Faller, B. Lincoln, Turned to Account: the Forms and Functions of Criminal Biography

George, M. Dorothy, London Life in the Eighteenth Century

Hay, Linebaugh, Rule, Thompson & Winslow, Albion ’ s Fatal Tree: Crime and Society in Eighteenth-Century England

Hibbert, Christopher, The Road to Tyburn

Linebaugh, Peter, The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century

Marschner, Joanna, Queen Caroline: Cultural Politics at the Early Eighteenth-Century Court

– , ‘Queen Caroline of Ansbach: Attitudes to Clothes and Cleanliness 1727-37’ in Journal of the Costume Society No.31

– , Queen Caroline of Ansbach: The Queen, Collecting and Connoisseurship at the early Georgian court (thesis)

Moore, Lucy, Con Men and Cutpurses: Scenes from the Hogarthian Underworld

Willett Cunnington, C. & Cunnington, Phillis, Handbook of English Costume in the 18th Century

Worsley, Lucy, Courtiers: The Secret History of Kensington Palace

I spent two years researching and writing this novel. During that time my first book, The Devil in the Marshalsea, was published. It’s an exciting and terrifying thing, releasing your first book into the world. I had the most fantastic support from friends, workmates and fellow authors – far too many people to list in full here. But to everyone who offered encouragement – especially readers – thank you.

At Hodder: huge thanks to Nick Sayers for being such a great champion of my work and for his extremely helpful editorial notes. Also for being the nicest man in publishing. (I have worked in publishing for many years and this is verifiably true.) Very special thanks, embossed and covered in glitter, to the brilliant Laura Macdougall. And to Kerry Hood – who hates a fuss – thank you.

At Conville & Walsh: love and thanks to my agent Clare Conville for her dedication, generosity and sage advice. I couldn’t ask for more. Thanks, indeed, to the whole team, especially Alexander Cochran, Matt Marland, Alexandra McNicoll and Jake Smith-Bosanquet.

Thanks to my lovely L,B colleagues and friends, especially: Richard Beswick, Hannah Boursnell, Cath Burke, Sean Garrehy, Ursula Mackenzie, Clare Smith and Adam Strange. And most of all Rhiannon Smith.

Thanks to Eve Gutierrez and Paula Cuddy at Eleventh Hour productions for their enthusiastic support and for a fascinating trip to a modern prison. A warm hug of gratitude to Jo Unwin for giving me the confidence to keep writing in the first place. And to Mark Billingham for being such a kind and encouraging chap.

Big thanks to all my patient friends who have nodded politely while I regaled them with obscure eighteenth-century facts: Jo Krupa, Justine Willett and Victoria Burns; Ant, Vic and the Kirstys; Lance Fitzgerald and PJ Mark; Harrie Evans; Caroline Hogg; Val Hudson, and Andrew Wille. Love and thanks to my parents and to my sisters, Kay, Michelle and Debbie. Special thanks to Rowena Webb and Ian Lindsay-Hickman and also to Gordon Wise and Michael McCoy for much-needed and much-treasured weekends away. And to Ursula Doyle – again – for being such a loyal and supportive pal.

Thanks finally to any readers who read all the way to the end of this list of people they’ve never heard of. You may now leave the cinema. End credits.

Antonia Hodgson was born and grew up in Derby and studied English at the University of Leeds. Her debut novel, The Devil in the Marshalsea, won the CWA Historical Dagger in 2014 and was shortlisted for the John Creasey First Novel award. In the US, Publishers Weekly named it one of the top 10 Mystery/Thriller titles of the year.

She was first introduced to the early Georgians while taking ‘A’ level History. Unfortunately the course focused almost exclusively on George II’s ministerial reshuffles, a subject even George II found staggeringly dull. It was only later, on discovering Hogarth, The Beggar’s Opera and Moll Flanders, that she became fascinated by an often-neglected period of British history. Her favourite quote about London in the 1720s comes from a disapproving Swiss traveller, who complained that ‘debauch runs wild with an unblushing countenance’.

Antonia lives in London, where she works as an editor.