ABSTRACT
A major sex scandal erupted in London in 1698. It concerned the fashionable, well-connected captain of HMS Dragon, Edward Rigby. The Societies for the Reformation of Manners, a moral reform organization, had begun to police the capital’s same-sex underworld. Rigby was one of their first targets. The captain had attempted to pick up a young man named William Minton during Guy Fawkes Night celebrations in London’s St. James’s Park – a location that became infamous for cruising and male sex work in this era (See Part 1, Document 8). Minton resisted what were apparently aggressive advances by Rigby, but he did agree to meet the officer in private a few days later. Minton did not agree in good faith, however. He was connected to the Societies, and his goal was instead to make a public example of the captain.
