Constantia Jones (c.1708 – 22 December 1738[1][2]) was a prostitute in London, which was then part of the Kingdom of Great Britain, during the term of Prime Minister Robert Walpole.
[3] Jones's accuser, describing her as "a three-penny upright," testified as follows: "As I stood against the Wall, [she] came behind me, and with one hand she took hold of .
[3] Jones, who had been sent to the notorious prison at Newgate some twenty times before, was 30 years old upon her execution.
[3] Historian Peter Linebaugh asserts that regardless of her guilt or innocence, her conviction on such flimsy evidence indicates the bias of 18th-century English courts against the trade of prostitution and those who worked in the industry.
[4] Although officially London courts took all persons as equally worthy, class distinctions were still operative, and therefore testimony from a "gentleman," in particular, would weigh heavily against that of a prostitute.