Flash girls ...

Guest writes:

"Flash girl is 18th century."

Just ran this through OED2(3) with -- surprise, surprise -- no luck.

Partidge (as ever) is more to the point.

Historical Slang has:

flash girl, moll, mollisher, piece, woman.

A showy harlot: low: from ca 1820.

... also:

flash-dona. A variant of FLASH GIRL: c.: late C.19-20.

Partridge Dictionary/Underworld omits flash girl but elaborates on flash dona:

A high=flying prostitute, a courtesan: since ca. 1880: by 1910, low s. Ware, 1909. See the separate elements.

So flash girls are first recorded about 1820 [later than Guest's 18th century] as a term (coming out of the whole slush of "flash" cant) as specifically prostitutes.

Which leaves moll, molly, and mollyhouse, which is prolly irrelevant. Moll is obvious, molly carries a gay twist to it, mollyhouse was a gay house of prostitution.

So, if we trust Partridge, flash girls weren't simply girls out for a good time, but specifically prostitutes. Which harks-back to the gallows-whores of the Dublin 1790 fragment.

I think ....

Robin

(I'll run this past Rictor Norton -- it's more than possible he has an earlier usage for flash girls.

R.)