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Created page with "'''Robert Thistlethwayte''' (1690–1744) was an Anglican clergyman and Warden of Wadham College, Oxford.<ref>http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63888</r..."
 
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Based on a Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Thistlethwayte
Based on a Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Thistlethwayte
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[[Category:People accused of homosexuality]]

Revision as of 17:55, 6 September 2012

Robert Thistlethwayte (1690–1744) was an Anglican clergyman and Warden of Wadham College, Oxford.[1]

In 1737 Thistlethwaite fled to Boulogne after being accused of making homosexual advances towards a student, William French, whose tutor John Swinton was also accused of homosexual practices. Satirical poetry was written about these events.[2] The following limerick possibly also refers to Thistlethwayte.[3]

There once was a Warden of Wadham
Who approved of the folkways of Sodom,
For a man might, he said,
Have a very poor head
But be a fine Fellow, at bottom.

Allegations of homosexual behaviour, which was considered scandalous at that time, and the College's decision to take out fire insurance combined to prompt the following verse:

Well did the am'rous sone of Wadham
Insure their house 'gainst future flame;
They knew their crime, the crime of Sodom,
And judg'd their punishment the same.

References

Based on a Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Thistlethwayte