Almost anything connected to LGBT life in the UK: pubs, clubs, businesses, venues, newspapers, organisations, campaigns, legal battles, sport, art, music, local history. If you ran a gay club, organised an event, worked for an LGBT charity, or simply remember a time and a place that shaped your life – that knowledge belongs here.
Almost anything connected to LGBT life in the UK: pubs, clubs, businesses, venues, newspapers, organisations, campaigns, legal battles, sport, art, music, local history. If you ran a gay club, organised an event, worked for an LGBT charity, or simply remember a time and a place that shaped your life – that knowledge belongs here.
We also welcome first-person ''[[Articles with Vox Pop entries|Vox Pop]]'' accounts: your coming-out story, your memory of the first gay bar you visited, what it was like growing up LGBT somewhere that had nothing going on at all. These personal accounts are genuinely valuable – academics call them "qualitative primary sources," but what that really means is: your experience matters, and it should be recorded before it's lost.
We also welcome first-person accounts. Your coming-out story. The first gay bar you walked into, and how it felt. What it was like growing up LGBT somewhere with nothing going on at all.
A '''[[Template:Recollection|recollection]]''' is a fuller account in your own words, attributed to you. A '''[[Template:First visit|first visit]]''' is a single line on a venue's page, recording that you were there and when. Both sit alongside the sourced facts rather than in place of them.
A great deal of our history was never written down by anyone official, because the lives concerned were criminalised, hidden, or thought not to matter. Your experience matters, and it should be recorded before it is lost. If you would rather not edit the wiki yourself, write to us at jonathan@lgbthistoryuk.org and we will help.
'''Getting started'''
'''Getting started'''
Revision as of 19:57, 19 July 2026
The UK LGBT History Project records the history and memories of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people living in the UK.
It's a virtual time-capsule, capturing the experiences of our time, and a chronicle of the achievements and challenges of previous centuries – the changing law, the amazing response to health epidemics, the newspapers and magazines that come and go, TV programmes, sports, lesbian, gay, bi and trans businesses, arts, music and theatre, events, pubs and clubs, and of course the amazing diversity of people who have had a part in our history.
The project was launched in June 2011. It was re-launched as The UK LGBT Archive in December 2015, but reverted to it's original name a decade later.[1]
In 2015 this project became a Key Partner of LGBT History Month.[2] and CHE voted to support it.[3] In February 2016 Ross Burgess read a paper about this site at the LGBT History Month academic conference in Manchester.
By early 2021, articles on this Wiki had been viewed twenty million times. They've now exceeded 46 million.
Finding information
There are several ways to find information on this site. Note that anywhere you see a word or phrase in blue, you can click on it and be taken to the item in question. If you see words in red, they are links to an article that hasn't been written yet.
browse by category: to get an overview of the range of material that we cover, go to Category:Main categories.
browse by area of the country: our map on the United Kingdom page gives an overview of our geographical coverage, and our maps of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland give links to places round the country.
take pot luck: use the Random page link at the left.
search for a particular item, using the search box at the top right of the page.
Who is writing it?
You could be – and we'd love you to join us.
The LGBT History Project is written and maintained by volunteers from all walks of life, all ages, and all parts of the UK. You don't need to be an academic, a professional writer, or an expert. You just need to care about LGBT history – and ideally know something about a part of it that isn't well covered yet.
What can you write about?
Almost anything connected to LGBT life in the UK: pubs, clubs, businesses, venues, newspapers, organisations, campaigns, legal battles, sport, art, music, local history. If you ran a gay club, organised an event, worked for an LGBT charity, or simply remember a time and a place that shaped your life – that knowledge belongs here.
We also welcome first-person accounts. Your coming-out story. The first gay bar you walked into, and how it felt. What it was like growing up LGBT somewhere with nothing going on at all.
A recollection is a fuller account in your own words, attributed to you. A first visit is a single line on a venue's page, recording that you were there and when. Both sit alongside the sourced facts rather than in place of them.
A great deal of our history was never written down by anyone official, because the lives concerned were criminalised, hidden, or thought not to matter. Your experience matters, and it should be recorded before it is lost. If you would rather not edit the wiki yourself, write to us at jonathan@lgbthistoryuk.org and we will help.
Getting started
To contribute, you'll need to request a free account – this takes just a moment to set up, but it may take us a day or two to approve it, as each one is reviewed to make sure we don't let spam advertisers in. We ask for your real name (kept private unless you choose otherwise), and we ask all contributors to follow our Editorial Policy, Style Guide and Image Rights Policy.
If you're new to wiki editing, don't worry – the basics are easy to pick up, and we're here to help. Your first articles may be reviewed by an experienced contributor before they go live, not to put obstacles in your way, but to give you a helping hand and make sure everything looks its best. Once you've found your feet, you'll be able to publish freely.
Wherever possible, please note your sources so that others can follow them up – a link, a book title, a newspaper reference. For personal memories, simply noting "personal recollection" is fine.
Editors Club
We run a monthly Editors Club – an informal one-hour online meeting on the third Wednesday of each month (starting September 2026), 19:00–20:00 (UK time), via Google Meet. It's a friendly space to ask questions, share ideas for new articles, and meet other contributors. Prospective editors are welcome before their account is approved.
This article does not currently cite any sources. Please help improve it by adding citations to reliable published sources. Unsourced claims should be verified before they are relied upon. (July 2026)
The Raymond Revuebar was a striptease and adult entertainment club at 11 Walker's Court, Soho, London, open from 1958 to 2004. Founded by impresario Paul Raymond, it was the first establishment in Britain to stage nude performance legally and continuously, and for four decades was one of the defining institutions of Soho's adult entertainment economy. After its closure the building was repurposed as a gay nightclub, placing it within the broader story of Soho's gradual transformation into London's LGBT+ social centre.
This article does not currently cite any sources. Please help improve it by adding citations to reliable published sources. Unsourced claims should be verified before they are relied upon. (July 2026)
Too 2 Much (later Soho Revue Bar) was a gay nightclub and cabaret venue that occupied the historic Raymond Revuebar at Walkers Court, Soho, London, from 2004 to 2009.
Shadow Lounge: The Shadow Lounge was a gay cocktail lounge and nightclub at 5–7 Brewer Street, Soho, London. Open from 2001 until 2016, it was widely described as London's first dedicated gay cocktail lounge and became one of the most celebrated upscale LGBT+ venues in the capital during the 2000s and early 2010s.
Jae Alexander: Jae Alexander is a British conductor, musical director and musical supervisor with over 40 years of experience in West End theatre, concert performance and international musical productions. He is Principal Conductor of the English National Orchestra and co-founder of The WestEnders vocal group. In the early 1990s he was one of the founding figures of West End Cares, the theatre industry's HIV/AIDS fundraising organisation, providing musical direction for the charity cabaret events organised by Dursley McLinden and Jill Nalder at Smith's restaurant in Covent Garden.
David Pendlebury: David Pendlebury is a British actor, singer and charity leader who led the British theatre industry's HIV/AIDS fundraising organisations for 22 years — longer than any other single figure. He served successively as Chairman of West End Cares (1994–2003), Chairman of Theatrecares (2003–2008), and as co-founder, Chairman and Trustee of Make a Difference Trust (TheatreMAD) from its formal incorporation in 2008 until 2016. Over that period he conceived and produced some of the most successful LGBT fundraising events in British theatre history.
This article does not currently cite any sources. Please help improve it by adding citations to reliable published sources. Unsourced claims should be verified before they are relied upon. (July 2026)
Dursley McLinden (29 May 1965 – 7 August 1995) was a British actor best known for his work in West End musical theatre, including a long run with the original London company of The Phantom of the Opera. Diagnosed HIV-positive in 1990, he became one of the founding spirits of West End Cares — the theatre industry's HIV/AIDS fundraising organisation — continuing to perform and organise benefit events until weeks before his death at the age of 30. His life directly inspired the lead character in Russell T Davies's 2021 Channel 4 drama It's a Sin.
This article does not currently cite any sources. Please help improve it by adding citations to reliable published sources. Unsourced claims should be verified before they are relied upon. (July 2026)
The Make a Difference Trust (MAD Trust) was the British theatre industry's dedicated HIV/AIDS charity, operating from 1990 until its closure in 2021. It began as West End Cares, a grassroots fundraising initiative born from the AIDS crisis devastating the theatre community, and over three decades raised more than £14 million for HIV/AIDS support in the UK and internationally.
Jill Nalder was a founding member and inaugural chair of West End Cares, and organised over 200 cabarets and midnight matinees to raise funds through the London theatre community. She is also the person on whom the character of Jill Baxter in Russell T Davies's drama It's a Sin was based.
For a full list of recent additions, see New Pages.
Did you know?
Edward White Benson
Edward White Benson (pictured), Archbishop of Canterbury, is thought to have been a repressed homosexual; his wife, his brother-in-law, and five of his children were almost certainly gay or lesbian.
Chelsea Manning, American soldier serving 35 years in gaol for leaking military secrets, went to school in Haverfordwest.
The poet Lord Byron swam from Europe to Asia in 1810, which is said to have started the sport of open water swimming.
The Ladies of Llangollen eloped from their families in 1780 and lived together for the rest of their lives.
Sex between men was illegal in the Isle of Man until 1992.
The sixth-century King Maelgwn of Gwynedd in North Wales was described as "addicted very much to the detestable vice of sodomy".
Princess Seraphina (c. 1700–unknown) was referred to as "her royal highness" by witnesses at the Old Bailey in 1732 – one of the earliest documented accounts of a gender-nonconforming identity in British history.
Roberta Cowell (1918–2011) was a Spitfire pilot and prisoner of war before becoming the first known British person to undergo gender reassignment surgery, in 1951 – two years before the more widely reported case of Christine Jorgensen in Denmark.
Alan Turing, who helped break the German Enigma codes at Bletchley Park, was convicted of gross indecency in 1952 and given a choice between prison and chemical castration. He now appears on the £50 note.
Chris Smith became the first MP to openly come out as gay when he did so in 1984, while serving as Member for Islington South and Finsbury.
Michael Dillon won a rowing blue at Oxford as a woman, then after transitioning won another at Trinity College Dublin on the men's team. When his history became public in 1958 he fled to India and was ordained as a Buddhist monk.
Oscar Wilde was prompted to sue the Marquess of Queensberry for libel after receiving a card at his club reading "posing somdomite" – the Marquess's own misspelling. The case collapsed and led directly to Wilde's arrest and conviction in 1895.
Coming soon…
We are launching our very own mobile app! It’s not a mini wikipedia. It’s a different way for people to engage with LGBT history. It will feature geofenced walking tours. Sites of interest will pop up on your phone (when the app is on) to tell you about your surroundings – or you can take one of the many guided walking tours.
All text in this wiki is freely reusable with certain provisos – see LGBT Archive:Copyrights. Some of the images may be subject to copyright restrictions. See LGBT Archive:Illustrations.
Please email us if you consider we have infringed your copyright.
