Timeline of UK LGBT History

Bust of Julius Caesar in the British Museum

Jump to 21st century

Note: strictly speaking the year 2000 belongs to the 20th century, but for convenience it is treated here as belonging to the 21st (and similarly with other centuries).

1st century BC

• 55 BC – Julius Caesar's first invasion of Britain.

1st century AD

• AD 43 – Roman invasion and establishment of the province of Britannia.

2nd century

• 122 – Emperor Hadrian visits Britain.

The Emperor Hadrian

3rd century

• 286 – Britain becomes independent from the Roman empire for ten years under Carausius and Allectus.

4th century

• 343 – the emperor Constans visits Britain.

5th century

• 410 – usual date for the end of Roman rule in Britannia.

6th century

• c547 – Death of King Maelgwn of Gwynedd.
• 597 – St Augustine becomes first Archbishop of Canterbury.
• late 6th century – Findchán and Áid the Black cursed by St Columba.

7th century

• 670 – St Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, prescribes fasts and penances for various homosexual acts.

9th century

• 804 – Death of Alcuin.

11th century

• 1066 – Battle of Hastings and Norman conquest of England.

Seal of Anselm as Archbishop of Canterbury

12th century

• 1100 – Death of King William II.
• 1102 – Council of London condemns homosexuality.
• 1109 – Death of Saint Anselm
• 1123 – Rahere founds St Bartholomew's Hospital.
• 1125 – Hilarius writing around this time.
• 1167 – Death of Saint Aelred
• 1187 – Gerald of Wales describes the practice of same-sex marriage in Ireland.
• 1199 – Death of King Richard I

13th century

• c.1290 – Publication of Fleta, first book to suggest a punishment (which was not enforced) for homosexuality in English law.

Edward II, depicted in Cassell's History of England, published circa 1902

14th century

• 1327 – Murder of King Edward II.
• 1376 – The Good Parliament petitions King Edward III to banish foreign traders for having introduced "the too horrible vice which is not to be named".
• 1391 – Death of Sir John Clanvowe and Richard Neville.
• 1395 – John Rykener arrested for cross-dressing.

15th century

• 1400 – Death of King Richard II

16th century

• 1533 – Buggery Act 1533 brings in the death penalty (hanging) for gay sex.
• 1541 - Nicholas Udall convicted of buggery and imprisoned.

King James I

17th century

• 1603 – King James VI of Scotland becomes King of England as James I, uniting the two crowns but not yet the two countries.
• 1625 – Death of King James I.
• 1625 – Death of Francis Bacon (philosopher).
• 1628 – Assassination of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham.
• 1631 – Mervyn Tuchet beheaded for alleged sodomy with his page.
• 1660 – Foundation of the Royal Society by John Wilkins and others.
• 1664 – Death of Katherine Philips.
• 1678 – Titus Oates invents the "Popish Plot"..
• 1688 – "Glorious Revolution" brings William III to power.

The Ladies of Llangollen

18th century

• 1702 – William III dies, succeeded by Queen Anne.
• 1703 – First performance of Tunbridge-Walks by Thomas Baker, containing a "molly" character.
• 1706 – Thomas Vaughan accused of blackmailing Edward Barker.
• 1707 – Act of Union unites England and Scotland as the Kingdom of Great Britain
• 1726 – Three men convicted of sodomy following cases brought by Thomas Newton.
  • – Death of Sir Isaac Newton, Britain's greatest scientist, sometimes considered to have been gay.
• 1732 – Beggar's Benison Club founded in Anstruther, Scotland.
• 1737 – Robert Thistlethwayte, Warden of Wadham College Oxford, flees to France to escape prosecution.
• 1748 – Publication of Roderick Random by Tobias Smollett, including an explicitly gay character.
• 1749 – Publication of Fanny Hill by John Cleland, sometimes thought to have been a homoerotic work in disguise.
  • – Publication of a defence of homosexuality, Ancient & Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplify'd by Thomas Cannon.
• 1772 – Robert Jones publishes the first book on figure skating, but is convicted of sodomy.
• 1780 – The Ladies of Llangollen set up home together.
• 1781 – Edward Onslow forced to resign his seat in Parliament and flee to France.
• 1784 – William Beckford's affair with William Courtenay is publicised, causing them both to flee the country.

Photo of J A Symonds, presented by him to Walt Whitman

Oscar Wilde

19th century

• 1801 – Act of Union creates the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
• 1806 – Gay club discovered in Great Sankey, Cheshire.
• 1810 – The White Swan, Vere Street raided.
• 1822 – Percy Jocelyn deposed as Bishop of Clogher for "Sodomitical practices".
• 1824 – The Vagrancy Act 1824 limits cruising.
  • – Suicide of Lord Castlereagh.
• 1859 – sudden resignation of Charles John Vaughan as Headmaster of Harrow School, for reasons not explained until the 1970s.
• 1861 – The Offences against the Person Act 1861 abolished the death sentence for gay sex.
• 1864 – Robert Browning's poem "Sludge the Medium" denounces Daniel Dunglas Home.
• 1866 – The case of Hyde v Hyde and Woodmansee established the definition of marriage in English law.
• 1883 – Publication of A problem in Greek ethics by John Addington Symonds, one of the first essays in defense of homosexuality in the English language.
• 1885 – Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 made "gross indecency" (homosexual acts, even in private) a crime. The ‘Labouchere Amendment’ was known as the “Blackmailer’s Charter”.
• 1895 – Oscar Wilde convicted of gross indecency.
  • – Winston Churchill successfully sues for libel.
• 1897 – First English-language publication of Sexual Inversion by Havelock Ellis and John Addington Symonds, the first medical textbook about homosexuality.

Sir Roger Casement

20th century

Daily Mirror, March 25 1954 “The Montagu Case”

Radclyffe Hall

April Ashley

The Admiral Duncan

• 1900 – Death of Oscar Wilde.
  • – Death of Samuel Butler.
• 1909 – Death of Renée Vivien.
• 1912 – Birth in Worthing of Harry Hay, later a leading gay activist in the United States.
• 1914 – Henry Scott Tuke elected to the Royal Academy.
• 1916 – Execution of Sir Roger Casement.
• 1928 – Death of Marie Corelli
• 1928 – Publication of lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall.
• 1929 – Death of Edward Carpenter.
• 1936 – Death of Hugh Lygon.
• 1936 – Oliver Baldwin appointed Governor of the Leeward Islands.
• 1938 – Sigmund Freud flees from Austria and takes up residence in Hampstead
• 1943 – Ethel Walker, painter, made a Dame.
• 1946 – Sir George Mowbray convicted of importuning.
  • – Sir Alec Guinness said to have been fined for cottaging.
• 1951 – Roberta Cowell has sex-change surgery.
• 1953 – Sir John Gielgud convicted of importuning.
  • – Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean flee to Moscow.
  • – European Convention on Human Rights comes into force.
• 1954 – Lord Montagu of Beaulieu convicted of gay offences.
• 1955 – Publication of Homosexuality by D J West.
• 1957 – Wolfenden Report recommends decriminalisation of homosexuality.
• 1958 – Albany Trust and Homosexual Law Reform Society formed.
  • – Ian Harvey MP arrested in St James's Park.
• 1961 – Release of the film Victim.
• 1962 – John Vassall arrested and charged with spying.
• 1963 – Founding of lesbian magazine Arena Three.
• 1965 – Founding of lesbian organisation Kenric.
  • – Rose Robertson founds Parents Enquiry.
• 1966 – Founding of trans organisation the Beaumont Society.
  • – publication of trans-related book I want what I want.
• 1967 – Sexual Offences Act 1967 partially decriminalises sex between men in England and Wales.
  • – North Western Homosexual Law Reform Committee formed, later to be re-founded as CHE.
• 1968 – the Home Secretary confirms that Sir Ewan Forbes is male and can succeed to the baronetcy, despite having been registered and originally borught up as female.
• 1969 – the Stonewall riots in New York.
• 1971 – the Corbett v Corbett case, involving April Ashley, established the precedent that a person's sex could not legally be changed from what it was at birth.
  • – London Friend formed.
  • – CHE London Group Seven (later Croydon Area Gay Society) founded.
  • – GLF Gay March: first London Gay March took place protesting against the unequal age of consent for men.
• 1972 – release of trans-related film, I want what I want.
  • – Allegro Music Group formed.
  • – Gay News first published.
  • – first London Pride march and carnival.
• 1974 – London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard launched providing shared LGBT accommodation to Londoners.
• 1976 – John Curry wins a gold medal for skating at the Winter Olympics.
• 1977 – Death of Sir Terence Rattigan
  • – Peter Mitchell stamds as "Westminster Campaign for Homosexual Civil Rights" candidate in the Cities of London and Westminster South by-election.
• 1980 – Heaven, the first all-week gay nightclub, opens in London.
  • – Scotland decriminalises male homosexuality.
• 1981 - London Bi Group forms, the first bi-specific social/support group.
• 1982 – Terrence Higgins Trust the HIV/AIDs charity formed.
  • – Northern Ireland decriminalises male homosexuality.
• 1984 – Chris Smith MP, Culture Secretary, becomes first MP to come out as gay whilst in office. In 2005, he was the first politician to disclose he was HIV positive.
  • – Silver Moon women's bookshop founded.
• 1988 – Section 28 passed.
• 1989 – Stonewall (UK) launched.
  • – London Raiders LGBT Softball team begins.
  • – Quim magazine founded.
  • – Rose's club founded.
• 1990 – UK-MOTSS founded.
• 1991 – Death of Freddie Mercury.
• 1992 – Death of Francis Bacon (artist).
  • – Europride held in London.
  • – Gay Men Fighting AIDS founded (later GMFA and HERO).
• 1993 – Back Pocket Guide to London first published.
  • – Colin Ireland, the "gay slayer", murders five men he had met in the Coleherne.
• 1995 – Adonis Art Gallery founded.
  • – Mermaids founded for children with gender dysphoria.
  • – Launch of South London Gays.
• 1998 – LGBT Consortium founded.
  • – The Bolton Seven convicted for consensual sex.
• 1999 – Admiral Duncan pub bombed (30 April).

Jody Dobrowski

Griffith Vaughan Williams

21st century

Allan Horsfall

• 2000 – Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 repeals Section 28 in Scotland.
  • – Removal of ban on gay people serving in the Armed Forces.
  • – "ADT" is awarded compensation for being convicted for private group sex.
  • – Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 equalises the age of consent.
• 2001 – Croydon Friend closed.
• 2002 - First Cake Awards presented.
• 2003 – Section 28 repealed in England and Wales.
  • – Europride held in Manchester.
  • – Discrimination at Work on the grounds of sexual orientation becomes illegal.
• 2004 – Civil Partnership Act 2004 gives legal equal rights to lesbian and gay couples.
  • – Gay and Lesbian Arts and Media closes.
  • – James Clark is appointed British Ambassador to Luxembourg.
• 2005 – Murder of Jody Dobrowski.
  • – First Civil partnerships performed.
• 2006 – Europride held in London.
  • – Alegri founded.
• 2007 – Sexual Offences (Jersey) Law 2007 lowers the Age of consent in Jersey to 16.
  • – Death of Paul Wilde
• 2008 – Age of consent lowered to 16 in Northern Ireland.
• 2009 – First Derek Oyston Film Award.
  • – Grindr launched.
  • – London AIDS Memorial Campaign launched.
• 2010 – LGBT London website set up.
  • – Death of Antony Grey.
  • – Death of Griffith Vaughan Williams.
• 2011 – LGBT History Project website set up.
  • – Diversity Role Models launched.
  • – First Out Café London, closes after 25 years.
  • – Civil partnership ceremonies permitted on religious premises.
• 2012 – Europride held in London.
  • – Death of Allan Horsfall.
  • – Michael Peacock acquitted on obscenity charges.
• 2013 – Government introduces Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.

External links

Some other LGBT timelines:

• Wikipedia: Timeline of (world) LGBT history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_LGBT_history
• Wikipedia: Timeline of UK LGBT history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_LGBT_history_in_Britain
• Timeline of events recorded in the Hall-Carpenter Archives: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/library/archive/online_resources/lgbt/timeline.aspx
• Gay Chronicles from the beginning of time to the end of World War II: http://www.webcitation.org/5knsbJ2KF
• Stonewall (UK) History of LGB equality: http://www.stonewall.org.uk/at_home/history_of_lesbian_gay_and_bisexual_equality/default.asp
• NHS Northwest LGB&T Timeline: http://www.help.northwest.nhs.uk/lgbt_timeline
• PCS Ourstory: http://www.pcsproud.org.uk/our_story.pdf
• Glasgow Lesbian Archive and Information Centre timeline: http://www.womenslibrary.org.uk/laic/laictimeline/laictimeline.html
• Jobcentre Plus Timeline of gay history: http://lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/website/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/9631_GHW-A3FlagPoster.pdf
• GLBTQ Encyclopedia: United Kingdom History http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/united_kingdom_01.html
• UK Gay News Timeline Of Gay and Lesbian Marriage, Partnership or Unions Worldwide: http://ukgaynews.org.uk/marriage_timeline.htm
• Black British Lesbian Timeline: http://blackbritishlesbian.typepad.com/

See also

• Timeline of UK LGBT Legislation
• Timeline of UK LGBT Sport
• Timeline of UK LGBT Science