Cleland was born in London and educated at Westminster School, then travelled abroad in the service of the East India Company. His fortunes dwindled, he became a vagrant and spent time in prison. In 1750, he published Fanny Hill: or the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, which, even at the time, was considered pornographic. It was also a best-seller, and became the subject of a famous court case two hundred years later.

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