Deptford
From LGBT Archive
Deptford is an area and former metropolitan borough in south east London, on the south bank of the Thames. It was the home of a naval dockyard from 1513 to 1869. it is now part of the London Borough of Lewisham.
LGBT history
Christopher Marlowe was murdered in Deptford in 1593.
Rose Robertson was brought up in Deptford in the 1920s and Ted Brown in the 1960s.
The Crossfields Estate was known for its gay and lesbian residents in the 1980s:
- The Lewisham scheme to house single people in hard-to-let flats was known locally as DFRS – the "dykes and faggots residents scheme". This must have been the unofficial title! It was rumoured that there was a very helpful Housing Officer at the time who would look favourably on applications from lesbian and gays.[1]
In 2019 there were plans to hold a Pride event.
