The Fortune of War, Smithfield

[2] In 1761, the tenant of the house Thomas Andrews was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to death, but was pardoned by King George III in one of the first cases of public debate about homosexuality in England.

[3] Until the 19th century, the Fortune of War was the chief house of call north of the River Thames for resurrectionists, being officially appointed by the Royal Humane Society as a place "for the reception of drowned persons".

The pub is mentioned in William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair (1848) in a chapter entitled "How to Live Well on Nothing a Year" (ch.

Not the blacksmith who opened the lock; nor the glazier who mended the pane; nor the jobber who let the carriage; nor the groom who drove it; nor the butcher who provided the leg of mutton; nor the coals which roasted it; nor the cook who basted it; nor the servants who ate it: and this I am given to understand is not infrequently the way in which people live elegantly on nothing a year.It is also mentioned by Charles Dickens in his novel A Tale of Two Cities, where Jerry Cruncher of Tellson's Bank moonlights as a body snatcher.

The Italian Boy by Sarah Wise has an account of the murder by Williams, Bishop and May to provide anatomical subjects for surgeons.