Pat Arrowsmith

Pat Arrowsmith born 1930 is a peace campaigner and author. Educated at Cheltenham Ladies College, Cambridge University and the University of Liverpool. She has been openly lesbian since young.

Her novels include 'Somewhere like this', which was published in 1970, and which was written in and about Holloway Prison (a love story between a butch young burglar and a fluffy first offender).

Her father left her inheritance to be acquired only when she married. In order to acquire this inheritance Arrowsmith married a man for the convenience (this was years before gay marriage or civil partnerships were legal in the UK).She then donated some of the money to various political causes, including Gay Pride Week 1979.

Arrowsmith's papers and diaries are held in the Hall Carpenter Archives at the London School of Economics.

In the 1979 General Election she stood as an Independent Socialist candidate in the Cardiff South-East Constituency against the Prime Minister James Callaghan. On the night of the count she heckled Callaghan after his election result was being announced and at his invitation took to the microphone on the stage at the count. This was broadcast live by BBC

Diaries of Pat Arrowsmith in the Hall Carpenter Archives (Photo by Dr Clifford Williams)

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