Difference between revisions of "Michael Pitt-Rivers"

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Major '''Michael Augustus Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers''' (27 May 1917 – December 1999) was the cousin of [[Lord Montagu of Beaulieu]] and great grandson of Lt-Gen A.H. Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers whose ethnographic collection formed the basis of the Pitt-Rivers collection at the museum in Oxford. He was convicted of consensual [[buggery]] in the 1953 trial with Beaulieu and [[Peter Wildeblood]] . Pitt-Rivers and were sentenced to 18 months in prison, Beaulieu for 12 months.
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Major '''Michael Augustus Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers''' (27 May 1917 – December 1999) was the cousin of [[Lord Montagu of Beaulieu]] and great grandson of Lt-Gen A.H. Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers whose ethnographic collection formed the basis of the Pitt-Rivers collection at the museum in Oxford. He was convicted of consensual [[buggery]] in the 1953 trial with Beaulieu and [[Peter Wildeblood]]. Pitt-Rivers and were sentenced to 18 months in prison, Beaulieu for 12 months.
  
 
The prosecution provoked a wave of sympathy from the Press and the public, many of whom felt it amounted to little more than an unedifying witch-hunt. It was the first time since [[Oscar Wilde]] in 1895 that this law had led to a conviction<ref>http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-468385/Lord-Montagu-court-case-ended-legal-persecution-homosexuals.html </ref>. The case led eventually to the [[Wolfenden Report]], which in 1957 recommended the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the United Kingdom.
 
The prosecution provoked a wave of sympathy from the Press and the public, many of whom felt it amounted to little more than an unedifying witch-hunt. It was the first time since [[Oscar Wilde]] in 1895 that this law had led to a conviction<ref>http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-468385/Lord-Montagu-court-case-ended-legal-persecution-homosexuals.html </ref>. The case led eventually to the [[Wolfenden Report]], which in 1957 recommended the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the United Kingdom.

Revision as of 22:40, 19 October 2011

Major Michael Augustus Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers (27 May 1917 – December 1999) was the cousin of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu and great grandson of Lt-Gen A.H. Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers whose ethnographic collection formed the basis of the Pitt-Rivers collection at the museum in Oxford. He was convicted of consensual buggery in the 1953 trial with Beaulieu and Peter Wildeblood. Pitt-Rivers and were sentenced to 18 months in prison, Beaulieu for 12 months.

The prosecution provoked a wave of sympathy from the Press and the public, many of whom felt it amounted to little more than an unedifying witch-hunt. It was the first time since Oscar Wilde in 1895 that this law had led to a conviction[1]. The case led eventually to the Wolfenden Report, which in 1957 recommended the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the United Kingdom.

Modern references

Lord Beaulieu’s story is told in the Channel 4 documentary “A Very British Sex Scandal”

References

  1. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-468385/Lord-Montagu-court-case-ended-legal-persecution-homosexuals.html