Rosa Coote is a fictional dominatrix

Dominatrix

Dominatrix or mistress is a woman or women who takes the dominant role in bondage, discipline and sadomasochism, or BDSM. A common form of address for a submissive to a dominatrix is "mistress", "ma'am", "domina" or "maîtresse"...

 appearing as a stock character

Stock character

A Stock character is a fictional character based on a common literary or social stereotype. Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. In their most general form, stock characters are related to literary archetypes,...

 in a number of works of Victorian erotica

Erotica

Erotica are works of art, including literature, photography, film, sculpture and painting, that deal substantively with erotically stimulating or sexually arousing descriptions...

, including The Convent School, or Early Experiences of A Young Flagellant

The Convent School, or Early Experiences of A Young Flagellant

The Convent School, or Early Experiences of A Young Flagellant is a 19th century work of sado-masochistic pornography, written under the pseudonym Rosa Coote and published by William Dugdale in London in 1876. Henry Spencer Ashbee catalogues it with the comment that "the numerous flagellations,...

(as the notional author) by William Dugdale

William Dugdale (publisher)

William Dugdale was a publisher, printer, and bookseller of politically subversive publications and pornographic literature in England during the 19th century. By the 1850s he had become "the principal source of such publications in the country"...

 and "Letters to a Lady Friend" or "Miss Coote's Confession" in The Pearl. Henry Spencer Ashbee

Henry Spencer Ashbee

Henry Spencer Ashbee was a book collector, writer, and bibliographer, notorious for his massive, clandestine three volume bibliography of erotic literature written under the pseudonym of Pisanus Fraxi.-Life:...

 writes of The Convent School that "The book is not altogether badly written; no part of the narrative however is attractive".

The surname "Coote" is taken from the historical General Sir Eyre Coote, who was disgraced in a flogging scandal in 1815: in "Miss Coote's Confession" the general is stated to be Rosa Coote's grandfather. Like her counterpart Mrs Lechworthy

Mrs Lechworthy

Mrs Lechworthy is a fictional dominatrix appearing as a stock character in a number of works of Victorian erotica, many by James Campbell Reddie for the publisher William Dugdale, including The Mysteries of Verbena House: the name was also used in stories in William Lazenby's magazine The...

, the character is probably based on the real-life Theresa Berkley

Theresa Berkley

Theresa Berkley or Berkeley was a 19th-century English dominatrix who ran a brothel in Hallam Street, just to the east of Portland Place, Marylebone, London, specialising in flagellation...

 who ran a brothel in Soho

Soho

Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...

 in the 1830s.

The character reappears in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore

Alan Moore

Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...

 and Kevin O'Neill

Kevin O'Neill (comics)

Kevin O'Neill is an English comic book illustrator best known as the co-creator of Nemesis the Warlock, Marshal Law , and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen .-Early career:...

.