Harriette Wilson

Born in 1786, Harriette Wilson became well known in London society during the Regency era, where she moved in circles that included wealthy and politically prominent men. She is best remembered not only for her reputation in fashionable society, but for turning her experiences into print with unusual boldness.

Her memoirs, published in the 1820s, created a public stir because they named names and traded on the fascination surrounding elite scandal. That book secured her place in literary and social history, and it remains the main reason she is still read and discussed today.

Wilson died in 1846. Although her notoriety first made her famous, her memoirs have given her a lasting place as a vivid witness to the manners, ambitions, and hypocrisies of Regency Britain.