He featured in two major homosexual scandals, and as a character in two works of pornographic literature of the period. Considered "notorious in Dublin and London" and "made infamous by the sensational testimony he gave in the Cleveland Street scandal", [ 1 ] which was published in newspapers around the world, he has recently [ when? One reason is the paucity of information on the lives and outlook of individual male prostitutes of the period.
He was the second child and eldest son of eventually eight children; his parents did not marry until he was six months old, possibly because Eliza was underage.
As a poor Catholic youth, Saul's opportunities were limited. I occasionally do odd-jobs for different gay people. In , Saul was working as a servant in the Dublin home of wealthy and prominent young doctor John Joseph Cranny. In October that year Saul and a friend, William Clarke, were arrested for burglary and the theft of a coat, walking stick, gloves and a salt-cellar from Cranny's home.
The items were not claimed by Cranny and both youths were acquitted. Prior to the case coming to trial, Saul was briefly imprisoned, where he was recorded as being fair and blue eyed with a fair complexion. In , he moved to London, [ 11 ] sending home money to his mother who was very poor. In , Irish nationalists alleged homosexual orgies among the staff at Dublin Castle , the seat of the British government's administration in Ireland until When Kirwan was a young lieutenant in the Dublin Militia, Saul had been one of his sexual partners.
However, it was during the time Alexander Meyrick Broadley , aka 'Broadley Pasha', who was implicated in the Cleveland Street Scandal , was acting as a financial and business adviser to the manager of the theatre Augustus Harris. After living at a succession of addresses in London, in Saul had moved into a male brothel at 19 Cleveland Street run by fellow prostitute Charles Hammond, with whom he had previously lived. Saul was one of several professionals working there, but telegraph boys were also recruited for part-time work.
