Queer Places:
43 Golden Ln, Dublin, Ireland
Robert Fowler (1823 or 1824 - September 1, 1889) was a Protestant toymaker, who was involved in the Dublin Castle Scandal. He lived in nearby 43 Golden Lane and was charged and found guilty of running a male brothel.
Robert Fowler was born in 1823 or 1824 in London, England. The first records of him in Dublin date from July 1843 when he was charged with “attempting to violate” a woman named Mary but was found not guilty in court. In August 1864, he was described as a basket maker of 1 Bride Street when up on the charge of breaking glass of an unknown premises and sentenced to 10 days imprisonment.
In 1884, he was charged with running a brothel at 43 Golden Lane and it was revealed that his friends and lovers knew him as ‘Mother Fowler’. The prison records described him as 5ft 6inches with grey hair, grey eyes and a sallow complexion.
Assuming he served his full sentence, Fowler was also released from prison on 4 August 1886. In December of that year, Robert Fowler, a toymaker of 42 Upper Kevin Street, was charged with ‘vagrancy’ (i.e. homelessness) and sentenced to one month hard labour. He was convicted of the same offence in March 1889.
Robert Fowler died in the South Dublin Union workhouse on 1 September 1889 aged 65. His death certificate listed his occupation as ‘artist’.
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