A sideways look at Cambridgeshire's historic people and places
In September 1779 a “hue and cry” was sent up in the Fens after two “felons”, Thomas Grantham and Abraham Fountain, absconded before trial. The news travelled rapidly around the country (reported as far away as Newcastle), with a reward of 10 Guineas offered to anyone who apprehended them.
Their crime? Sodomy.
Cambridge’s student theatres have launched the careers of many leading lights. Here are three queer alumni who have made a name for themselves, both on stage and behind the scenes: Cecil Beaton, Nicholas Hytner and Sue Perkins
From foot binding to corsets, fashion has rarely been about comfort. If you’ve ever been hobbled by heels, just know that your medieval forebears too could not resist the lure of the latest footwear fad. New research from Cambridge archaeologists has revealed that the growing fashion for pointy carrot-shaped shoes in the Middle Ages led to a marked increase in bunions in Cambridge residents.
Allies are instrumental in the fight for the civil rights of any minority. They can act as a bridge between communities; amplify minority voices; and can call out discriminatory behaviour. Just existing as an LGBT+ person, can after all, be exhausting: straight and cisgender allies can lift some of the burden of challenging homophobic and transphobic behaviour.
Here are three local allies who have made a difference: Charli XCX, Bertrand Russell and Ben Cohen.
Jenny Bailey (1962-) is a former Liberal Democrat councillor who served as the 801st mayor of Cambridge from 2007-2008 – and was the first trans person to be elected mayor in the UK.
To celebrate bi-visibility day on 23rd September, here’s a profile of one of Cambridge’s most famous alumni who didn’t believe love should be limited by gender: the “mad, bad and dangerous to know” George Gordon Byron.
William de Longchamp (c.1130-1197) was a medieval Lord Chancellor, Chief Justice, and Bishop of Ely Cathedral from 1189 until his death. He was a controversial figure, and one of the many accusations he faced was that he was a homosexual.
Until 1894, Cambridge University had almost total control over policing the city centre. Proctors had a particular obsession with stopping their students mixing with working-class women: if a young woman was found by the proctors in the city centre after night, she was at real risk of being arrested for prostitution and sent to The Spinning House, a notorious University-operated prison on St Andrew’s Street. After all, why else would young women be out in the city centre after dark, unless they were trying to corrupt the undergraduates?
Octavia Hill (1838-1912) was a prominent social reformer and activist, campaigning for better social housing and the preservation of open spaces for use by the poor. She is perhaps best known today as one of the founders of the National Trust. Hill had several passionate relationships with women, and is buried with her long term companion in Kent.
Civil partnerships have been legal in the UK since 2004, and gay marriage even more recently. And whilst the Church of England has been tying itself in knots with whether they approve of gay unions, it may surprise you to learn that there are two centuries-old monuments in Cambridge college chapels that commemorate male relationships.
A Queer History of Cambridgeshire 