Sexuality and identity

In 1928, the ground-breaking novel The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall was published. The novel chronicles the life of Stephen Gordon, a masculine lesbian who identified as an ‘invert’. Throughout this period Hall was in a relationship with sculptor Una Troubridge.

The sympathetic portrayal of lesbians attracted controversy. The editor of The Sunday Express, James Douglas, launched an attack on Hall and her novel, in an article titled A Book That Must Be Suppressed. Such reactions triggered an obscenity trial. The Magistrate found the novel’s literary merit to be irrelevant and ordered copies of the The Well of Loneliness to be destroyed. Today, the novel has an iconic status in lesbian fiction.

Maud Allan was a much-celebrated Canadian dancer on the West End stage in the early 20th century. Her dancing included a controversial version of Salome’s dance of the seven veils. This prompted a backlash from MP Noel Pemberton-Billing, who wrote an article under the sensational headline, The Cult of the Clitoris. The article implied that Maud was a lesbian, a spy and a member of a ‘cult’ of women who loved women.

While same sex acts between women were not illegal at this time, they were also not widely socially accepted. These accusations threatened to have a serious effect on Allan’s career. She took Pemberton-Billing to court. The jury found Pemberton-Billing not guilty. Despite Allan’s denial of the accusations, she later lived with her lover Verna Aldrich.

The Caravan Club was a make-shift private members’ club in the basement of 81 Endell Street, Soho. It was described as ‘London’s greatest bohemian rendezvous’. The Caravan was just one of a network of covert queer clubs and bars that popped up in 1930s London. Police observed the club over a number of nights after public complaints, and eventually raided the venue on 25 August 1934. During the raid photographs of the venue were taken, leaving us with rare visual images of what the Caravan Club looked like.

On this night 103 people were arrested. The owners, Jack Neave and William Reynolds, ended up receiving sentences of hard labour for 12 to 20 months.

The Link was a ‘lonely hearts’ style publication from the early 20th century, that sought to connect people. Through its pages men started to reach out to men and women to women. This was a time when same sex relationships were criminalised between men, and socially unacceptable between women. The people writing in used coded language to signal their same-sex interest, such as ‘artistic’, ‘unconventional’ and ‘jolly’.

It is impossible to know how many couples met through The Link, but we know some corresponded. Alfred Barrett, as the proprietor, was arrested along with three of the men who submitted classified adverts. All were sentenced to hard labour at Wormwood Scrubs. This case shows the innovative ways LGBTQ+ people managed to create connections at this time.

In the late 1920s, Bobby Britt, a dancer on the West End stage, would hold parties for a small group of his working-class friends at the basement flat of 25 Fitzroy Square. One of these parties was raided by the police in 1927 under accusations of being a disorderly house, essentially a brothel. The flat was being observed because, at these gatherings, men would have relationships with other men.

During the raid photos were taken of some of the attendees, in their bohemian, 1920s dress, including Bobby (second from left). Police annotated the individuals' names onto the photo. Bobby received the most serious sentence of 15 months hard labour, some of the other attendees received shorter sentences.

The historical criminalisation of same sex acts between men, leaves us with a wealth of surprising archival insights into past queer lives. Following a raid of the Caravan Club, a space that cultivated a predominantly queer clientele, a letter was found written from Cyril to his dear friend Billy, the owner of the club. The letter describes how he has ‘only been queer since coming to London two years ago’, and reveals he has a wife and a little girl. This is a rare example of someone self-describing their sexuality in this era.

The letter was used as evidence against Cyril, who was committed to trial and found not guilty.

Born in Ireland in 1854, Oscar Wilde was a well-known conversationalist and writer working at the end of the 19th century. On 18 February 1895, the Marquis of Queensbury left his calling card at the Albemarle Club for Wilde, believed to be endorsed ‘For Oscar Wilde posing Somdomite’. The Marquis was not happy Wilde had been having a relationship with his son Bosie.

Following this accusation, Wilde attempted to prosecute Queensberry for libel. The case centred on whether Wilde had committed sodomy. Wilde ended up getting arrested and was sentenced to two years’ hard labour. On his release in 1897, he headed to France, living under a false name. He died in 1900 at the age of 46. The Wilde trials influenced public attitudes towards same-sex relationships for many years.

Chevalier d’Eon (1728–1810) represents one of the earliest known examples of gender nonconformity in our collection. They were a French diplomat, spy and soldier who fought in the Seven Years’ War (1756–63) and later came to live in England. Our collection contains their calling card, on which their name is signed as Mademoiselle d’Eon. This is from when they were living at 38 Brewer Street in London’s Soho.

D’Eon’s interaction with the government means there are multiple items in our collection relating to them. In the later years of their life, Chevalier caused a spectacle as a very successful fencer dressed in women’s clothing.

April Ashley (1935–2021) was an English model and socialite. In 1961, she was outed in the press as a trans woman.

In 1963, she married Arthur Corbett, but the marriage soon ended. The subsequent divorce case centred around what was considered to be April’s legal gender. Ultimately an annulment was granted on the grounds that the court considered April to be male. This set a legal precedent for transgender people for the following decades.

In 2004, the Gender Recognition Act was introduced, which allows people, on certain conditions, to change their legal gender. Following the act, April was finally legally recognised as female and issued with a new birth certificate.