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Laura Veal of 44 Gerrard Street
Posts on this blog usually feature ‘Club Queens’; women who owned, managed, worked or performed in nightclubs. There is always a connection to Kate Meyrick, London’s nightclub matriarch between the wars, who is always at the centre of my research. However, as much as I am fascinated by the long-forgotten women who propelled the jazz…
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Sunday Beretta: A Life Well-Travelled
Caught in a Raid On the 24th May 1928 at about 1.30am ‘Sunday Beretta’ was on the premises of the ‘43 Club’ in Gerrard Street when it was raided. The police took her details, recording that she was married and living in Newman Street, Fitzrovia. She was described as a ‘club member’ although it is…
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Madame Ahier: Nightclub Proprietress, Alien and Police Informant
At Scotland Yard On the 28th October 1928, Madame Ahier penned a handwritten statement for police at Scotland Yard. She was questioned regarding her relationship with Sergeant Goddard, a police officer with a long and fairly distinguished career in the vice district of Soho. Goddard, whose daily diet was brothels, cafes, clubs and betting dens,…
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Brinkwomanship: The raid of 1924
The Raid On July 4th at 2.20am ‘The Forty-Three’ nightclub in Gerrard Street, Soho, experienced another raid. Arriving in taxis and catching the doorman off guard, police officers swarmed into the club. Simultaneously the alarm was raised and as the intruding officers arrived at the door to the dance hall, a man was pushing against…
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The Brief Existence of the Palm Club at No. 6 Gerrard Street
This article contains words that readers might find offensive. This includes swear words and offensive words relating to sex and race which are, in most instances, direct quotes from original documents. The inclusion of these words is designed to show the attitudes of the day and to be historically accurate and in no way does…
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Kate Meyrick and the Ladies’ Band of Brett’s Dancing Club
Please note that within this article there are quotes taken from original documents which today are considered offensive. They have been included for historical accuracy and to show the attitudes of the day. Their inclusion does not, in any way, reflect the author’s own views. It is a hundred years since Mrs. Kate Meyrick and…
The London Genie
Hidden lives of London – and the women history forgot
The London Genie 