A Londoner, Cleland was educated at Westminster and subsequently went abroad as an employee of the East India Company. Upon his return to England he endured some rough times, spending time as a vagrant and a spell in prison. His fortunes revived in 1750 when he wrote the notorious 'Fanny Hill: Memoirs Of A Woman Of Pleasure'. The erotic content of this work has seen it the subject of many attempts at censorship, and it was still the subject of legal arguments two hundred years later. He was buried at Saint Margaret's, Westminster, adjacent to the Abbey.
A Londoner, Cleland was educated at Westminster and subsequently went abroad as an employee of the East India Company. Upon his return to England he endured some rough times, spending time as a vagrant and a spell in prison. His fortunes revived in 1750 when he wrote the notorious 'Fanny Hill: Memoirs Of A Woman Of Pleasure'. The erotic content of this work has seen it the subject of many attempts at censorship, and it was still the subject of legal arguments two hundred years later. He was buried at Saint Margaret's, Westminster, adjacent to the Abbey.
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