New exhibition at Fairfax House lifts the lid on the Georgians' inventive thirst for pleasure

Well, the Georgians were all those things. But they were much more, too: seamy, sordid, fascinated by the weird and the wonderful - and, at least some of them, obsessed with sex.

In other words, they were human.

A new exhibition which opens at Fairfax House today - From Exotica to Erotica: the Polite and Impolite World of Georgian Entertainment - lifts the lid on the more colourful side of Georgian life.

And colourful it was. There was the fascination with exotic animals - leopards, camels, tigers and kangaroos - which were paraded around the country in menageries for people to gawp at; the lust for brutal spectator sports such as cock-fighting, bear-baiting and bloody bare-knuckle boxing; the drinking, the gambling, the whoring. The Georgians were even voyeurs, loving nothing better than to gawp at freak-shows, watch a good hanging, or visit the local asylum to goggle at the madmen and mad-women chained up inside.

Fairfax House director Hannah Phillip with figurines of legendary bare knuckle prizefighters Tom Cribb (left) and Tom Molineaux

And, of course, there was the sex. There's one cabinet in particular at the new exhibition that you might want to steer the children clear of. But more of that later...

The Georgians really were a complex bunch, admits Hannah Phillip, the director of Fairfax House. The elegance of their music, architecture, dance and theatre went hand in hand with a taste for blood, brutality and bawdiness. By challenging perceived ideas of Georgian gentility and polite society, From Exotica to Erotica is perhaps the most controversial exhibition Fairfax House has yet staged, she says.

It begins with the exotic. This was the great age of exploration. Captain Cook had voyaged to Australia. Stories of exotic places and exotic creatures had made their way home: and people wanted a taste of them for themselves. The Italian Stephano Polito owned a menagerie which he toured around England. A playbill at Fairfax House lists some of the exotic creatures in it: royal tygers, a laughing hyaena, ursine sloths, an elephant, a rhinoceros and 'two pairs of kangaroos'.

Exotic menagerie animals and illustrations on display at Fairfax House

For a while, York even had on display - at the Blue Boar in Castlegate - a stuffed zebra that had, in life, been known as 'The Queen's Ass' (it had belonged to Queen Charlotte and had been quite a celebrity in life). Just how it ended up in York doesn't seem clear. "But there was very little that could not be exhibited in York," says Hannah.

Or experienced in York, come to that, if you had the money. There were, says Hannah, a 'tempting array of decadent activities and pleasurable pursuits catering for all tastes and predilections.'

Tickets could be bought for almost anything: the theatre or opera, of course; fairs, circuses and menageries; formal dances at the Assembly Rooms; a visit to the local asylum.

And then there were the 'freak' shows. These weren't always quite as exploitative as they sound, says Hannah. Some of the stars of these shows, such as 29-inch tall Matthew Buchinger, became wealthy celebrities.

From Exotica to Erotica includes a portrait of Mathew that he actually drew himself. It includes a brief account of his life: "He is the wonderful little man of but 29 inches high, born without hands, feet or thighs... He plays on various sorts of music to admiration...(and) he is no less eminent for writing and drawing of coats of arms and pictures to the life with a pen."

Matthew was clearly prosperous, judging by his self-portrait. And he was also a hit with the women. "This same little man has been married four times, and has had issue eleven children."

Matthew Buchinger's self-portrait

As the social capital of the North, York would have provided opportunities aplenty for all these 'entertainments'. And there was much more, too.

York Races was at the centre of the city's social calendar, Hannah says. A day at the races could involve a lot more than just watching the racing, however. Public hangings were arranged for race days, and there might have been an acrobatic display, or a bout of cock fighting - anything that would help to draw a crowd.

'Combat' sports were a big draw, Hannah says. There was actually a 'Royal Cock-pit' in Blake Street, where vicious fights to the death would have been staged between trained birds. There would probably also have been bull baiting or bear baiting: and almost certainly bare-knuckle boxing.

Perhaps the most famous bare-knuckle fighters of their day were the Englishman Tom Cribb, and African-American boxer Tom Molineux. On December 3, 1810, the pair fought at Shennington Hollow in Oxfordshire for the English title. It was a fight that entered legend. It ended with defeat for Molineux - but not until the pair had fought each-other to a standstill over 35 bruising rounds.

The 'battle between Cribb and Molineaux'

There's no evidence either boxer ever fought in York: but their battle was commemorated in everything from newspaper articles, drawings and paintings to pottery figurines. The From Exotica to Erotica exhibition has contemporary figurines of each.

While neither Cribb nor Molyneux may ever have fought in York, the city certainly would have had its share of bare knuckle fights, Hannah says: even though they would perhaps have been officially frowned upon. "It would have been street fighting. They would have popped up, drawn a crowd, then probably had to move on."

One of the attractions of bare-knuckle boxing - and of racing, cock-fighting and bear-baiting - was that you could bet on them. Gambling was huge, Hannah says. There were even lotteries, centuries before our own National Lottery. One illustration in the exhibition shows lottery ticket holders pushing and shoving to the head of a queue to claim their winnings. Prizes could be up to £30,000 - a huge fortune in those days.

Detail of a drawing showing lottery ticket holders queuing to collect their winnings

But in true Georgian chancer's style, the lotteries weren't always above board. Those buying a ticket were actually gambling in more ways than one, Hannah says. "Would they pay out if you won? That was the question."

And then, of course - as there always is - there was sex. Prostitution was rife - as was upper class scandal and dalliancing. The pleasure gardens that were popular in various parts of Georgian England would have featured musical entertainments, promenades, masked balls and gambling, Hannah says: but also more salacious pleasures. "Delight and pleasure might lurk behind every bush."

The Georgians were great experimenters. One cabinet in the exhibition includes a range of Georgian sex-aids, including a condom made of catgut and a 'prick-glass' (a drinking glass shaped like a penis).

Items of Georgian erotica on display at Fairfax House

It also contains a specially engraved silver salver, which was used in the initiation rituals of The Beggar's Benison Club, a men's club devoted to sex, obscene songs, and debauched practices. It was a ritual that was bizarre in the extreme - but then we did say the Georgians were inventive...

• 'From Exotica to Erotica: In Pursuit of Pleasure - The Polite and Impolite world of Georgian Entertainment' opens at Fairfax House today and runs until December 31. It includes some adult content.