Hertage Days in Nottinghamshire

The United Kingdom is renowned for its long history and heritage. In fact, the largest of those United Kingdom’s England, celebrates its 1100th anniversary next year.

Until 20th September the whole UK is celebrating its heritage with the latest annual Heritage Open Days. This is a short period when museums, galleries, stately homes, castles, parks, private gardens and places of historical interest open free to the public. Many of these, especially churches, are open every day, but there are hundreds of places that are private and not accessible to the public that have been encouraged to open their doors for a few days to showcase their heritage.

Where I live in Nottinghamshire I am lucky to be surrounded by many places of historical interest, whether it’s Nottingham Castle and Sherwood Forest, or the birth place of the founder of the Salvation Army and the first road in the world that was covered in tarmac.

Today I want to present a few sites of lgbt heritage. Some of them you may know, but some you may not. I won’t dwell too much on the city of Nottingham itself because I covered quite a bit of its heritage in this City Pride article.

Above is a map of the UK, and in green is the county of Nottinghamshire. Below is a map of Nottinghamshire with a selection of places relevant to lgbt history.

1) All Saint’s parish church, Misterton: This church is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and is very familiar to me because Misterton is where I call “home” (I’ve lived in Nottingham since 1998 but don’t call it home). LGBT Link: (Apart from myself!) In 1910 the vicar of Misterton, Rev. Thomas Philips, was convicted of homosexual acts against choirboys and was jailed. Speaking as the village historian for over 45 years I don’t know of another clergyman in Misterton of any denomination who have been identified who was gay.

2) Windmill at North Leverton with Habblesthorpe: This village with the longest name in England (and the second longest village name in Europe) has a working windmill that was built in 1813. It is usually open every Saturday and you buy flour that was milled there. LGBT Link: This is one of hundreds of windmills around the country that was painted or drawn by Karl Wood. He began a project he called Mühlendämmerung (Twilight of the Mills) in the 1920s in which he endeavoured to paint very surviving windmill in the UK at the time. North Leverton mill was one of them. I included Karl’s military career here in 2014, and a brief account of his imprisonment for homosexuality.

3) Retford Town Hall: Built in 1868. This market town is another place I know well, and an ancestor of mine was Bailiff of Retford in the 1600s. LGBT Link: Ian Campbell was elected Mayor of Retford 2010-11. At 23 he was the youngest mayor in the UK at the time (despite claims on the internet, he was not the first openly gay UK mayor). Being Mayor of Retford is quite unusual, because there is no Retford town council. In 1974, local government in the UK was reorganised, and Retford borough was abolished and its councillors transferred to the larger district council. However, district councillors elected to former Retford borough wards, including those currently elected, become Charter Trustees of the borough. The Charter, granted in 1246, allows the Trustees to elect a ceremonial mayor from their number. Ian Campbell was a Charter Trustee 2010-14. He later became Chair of the district council 2012-14.

4) Worksop Priory Church and Gatehouse: The only surviving remains of the former Augustinian priory founded in 1103 by William de Lovetot (another ancestor). Like all monastic establishments it fell victim to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a campaign begun in 1536 by King Henry VIII after he declared himself Head of the Church of England. LGBT Link: Before the Dissolution all monastic establishments were visited by Henry VIII’s agents to ascertain their wealth, and to paint the reputation of all the monks, friars, nuns and canons in as bad a light as possible to justify their dissolution. The canons of Worksop Priory were among hundreds who were accused of sodomy, incontinence, adultery, and unnatural sin. While the first three terms could be applied to sex with either a man or woman, the fourth was usually reserved for homosexual activity. Four of the 13 canons at Worksop were accused of unnatural sin. Their names were not recorded.

5) Clumber Park: Only the park, stables and church remains of this once magnificent estate of the Dukes of Newcastle. The stately home was demolished by the Duke in 1938. The park is now owned by the National Trust. LGBT Link: Lord Arthur Pelham-Clinton was the son of the Duke of Newcastle and was elected MP for Newark 1865-8. He has a relationship with a famous Victorian cross-dresser and drag act Ernest Boulton, who billed himself as Lady Stella Clinton. Sadly, Lord Edward was dragged into the trial of Boulton and his fellow cross-dressing act Frederick Park who were arrested for appearing in female clothes in public in 1870. Rather than testify against them, Lord Edward mysteriously disappeared. It is said he either fled abroad or committed suicide (covered up by his family).

6) Thoresby Hall: A grand 17th century mansion and park, the former estate of the Pierrepont family. It is now a hotel. LGBT Link: This is the birthplace of Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu (née Pierrepont). She has featured several times on this blog, especially in this Extraordinary Lives entry.

7) Holocaust Memorial Centre, Laxton: The only national centre dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust and other ethnic conflicts since World War II. LGBT Link: Thousands of lgbt victims of the Nazi regime are commemorated here. A memorial plaque to the lgbt victims was installed in 2005. The Holocaust is, of course, where the pink triangle was first used to signify gay men. The award-winning play “Bent” about the suffering of gay men under the Nazis, premiere in London in 1979 and starred Ian McKellen. The play was inspired by one written and produced by Nottingham’s Gay Sweatshop, as explained here.

8) Clipstone Castle, also called King John’s Palace: Once a fortified hunting lodge of the medieval kings of England, now reduced to a few crumbling walls. LGBT Link: The queer King Edward II was a frequent visitor to Nottinghamshire. When he wasn’t staying at Nottingham Castle he was here as Clipstone Castle, most often for a few weeks during the autumn and winter months.

9) Newstead Abbey: A former Augustinian priory that surrendered its property to King Henry VIII at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Unlike other monastic establishments in Nottinghamshire, no sexual activities were recorded by the Dissolution agents. It was bought by the Byron family. LGBT Link: It is therefore somewhat ironic that Newstead was the home of one of the UK’s most famous “sexual celebrities”, the poet Lord Byron. He inherited the estate at the age of 10 but spent little time there. His celebrity status was indicated by the thousands of local people who lined the route of his funeral cortege from Nottingham to the nearby parish church of Hucknall.

10) Flintham Hall: A mansion has been on this site since the 1600s. It has been the home of the Hildyard family since 1789. The present hall was remodelled in the 1850s. LGBT Link: Until his death in 2005 the Hall was owned by Myles Hildyard, a Captain in the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry. He served in Crete, Palestine and North Africa in World War II. He was taken a Prisoner of War in 1941 but managed to escape. He was even involved in the planning of the D-Day Landings. Throughout his army career he was not afraid to take his male partners to official military dinners and events. After the war he returned to Flintham where he became a champion of conservation and local history. At Flintham, Myles lived with two male companions.

11) Eastwood: a typical small Nottinghamshire town that went from being largely agricultural to a hub of coal mining and industry in the 19th century. LGBT Link: Eastwood is the birthplace of the novelist D. H. Lawrence. His home is now a museum dedicated to him. While some may question Lawrence’s place in the lgbt community, I gave my reasons for including him in this article about the connection between his famous (and infamous) novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” and Nottingham’s lgbt community. He once told a friends “I believe the nearest I’ve come to perfect love was with a coal-miner when I was about 16”.

12) Nottingham Castle: The castle made famous in the legends of Robin Hood, and about which I have written many times, having had the privilege of working there. While most of the original stone castle has gone, parts of the gatehouse, walls, tunnels and dry moat still survive. LGBT Link: Nottingham Castle has had three gay Constables (a sort of site manager appointed personally by the king). They are 1) Sir Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall; 2) Sir William Neville; and 3) Sir George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. All have been covered many times, so if you want to know more about one of them just type his name in the search box.

13) Granby: A small village that has expanded little since it was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.LGBT Link: It is the Domesday Book which links Granby to lgbt heritage. The lord of the manor in 1086 was Sir Robert d’Oilly, who is what we now call a Norman Baron. He may have fought with King William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. In many grants and documents of the time his name is partnered with Sir Roger d’Ivry, another Norman Baron and Constable of Leicester Castle as few miles away. Historians have recently begun to interpret them as being a same-sex couple.

14) Thrumpton Hall: A 17th Jacobean building. It was owned by the Byron family (but not by the famous poet, he had died beforehand) between 1832 and 1948. It was then inherited by the Seymour family. LGBT Link: Until his death in 1994 Thrumpton Hall was owned by George Seymour. He was a bit of a snob, always eager to point out that he was a descendant of King Charles II. Later in life he acquired a passion for motorbikes…. and young male bikers who were invited to live at Thrumpton, despite him being married with children.  For 14 years Seymour was in a relationship with one biker in particular who sadly committed suicide. Seymour died of a broken heart soon afterwards.

15) Bunny Hall: Yes, there really is a place called Bunny. The Hall was originally Elizabethan and rebuilt in 1720. LGBT Link: Bunny Hall was owned by the Parykns family who held the title of Baron Rancliffe. The estate descended through the male line, so the 1st Baron’s daughter was passed over for her brother. However, her brother died without legitimate children so she became a coheir to her late father, but not to Bunny Hall. She married a French prince and was the mother of Prince Edmond de Polignac, a flamboyant and openly gay social climber and mediocre composer. His marriage to lesbian sewing machine heiress Winnaretta Singer fooled nobody. Everyone knew it was only to provide Winnaretta with a title and Prince Edmond with money.

And there you have it. Just a few of the sites of lgbt heritage in Nottinghamshire. The UK is smothered with such history and it is no surprise that there is too much for anyone to know about.

William and John: Part 6) Outlaws and Villains

We return to the story of Sir William Neville and his partner Sir John Clanvowe. Last time we concentrated on Sir John’s writings, specifically my theory that he wrote the original version of the Robin Hood ballad later printed as “The Geste of Robyn Hode”, the basis of every film and television version that are familiar today.

Today we look at characters in “The Geste” and discover how some of them can be connected to Sir John and Sir William.

First of all, forget about the characters who don’t appear in “The Geste” – Prince John, King Richard, Maid Marian, and Friar Tuck. They were added to the legends later. So, which of the remaining characters are connected to Sir John and Sir William? Below is a family tree to help explain those connections.

THE HIGH SHERIFF OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

The man who appears in "The Geste" is the High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, not the Sheriff of Nottingham. (See here for my own connection to the real Sheriff of Nottingham.) He is never mentioned by name, though historians suggest he may have been modelled on Sir Henry Fauconberg. When King Edward II visited Nottingham in 1324 to pardon outlaws, an event which features in “The Geste”, Sir Henry Fauconberg was the High Sheriff.

The Fauconberg family were related to the Nevilles. Sir William Neville’s aunt was married to Sir Walter Fauconberg, whose father leased a manor in Holderness, East Yorkshire, to his second-cousin (i.e. they shared one set of great-grandparents), who the father of High Sheriff Sir Henry Fauconberg.

As a supporter of King Edward in a rebellion of 1322 Sir Henry was rewarded by being appointed Commissioner of Array for Yorkshire, responsible for raising troops for battle. However, he got this appointment at the expense of his predecessor, Lord Waleys, the grandfather of Sir William Neville’s wife, Elizabeth. Lord Waleys’ manors were seized by the Crown and he had to pay a large fine. Even though he was pardoned by King Edward at Nottingham (as Robin Hood was in “The Geste”) in 1324 and had his manors returned, his appointments weren’t and he would have had no good feelings towards Sir Henry Fauconberg.

Other High Sheriffs have also been suggested as the model for Robin Hood’s archenemy.

LITTLE JOHN

In "The Geste" Little John says he is the disinherited heir of a manor in Holderness. Sir Henry Fauconberg had an older brother called Sir John who, for reasons that are not clear, was deprived of manors in both Holderness and Sherwood. However, there is an absence of any recognition between Little John and the High Sheriff when they meet in “The Geste”, though Little John was in disguise at the time and probably didn’t want to be recognised.

GUY OF GISBORNE

This character who doesn’t appear in “The Geste” yet is now an integral part of the legend and can be linked to the Fauconbergs. He first appears in a separate manuscript ballad dated to around 1475.

Historians suggest that Gisborne refers to a town in Lancashire just over the Yorkshire border. However, others have pointed out that in Sir John Clanvowe’s lifetime, Gisborne was also a name applied to the town of Guisborough in Northumberland. Guisborough was a familiar to Sir John Clanvowe and the Neville family as they would have passed through it on their way to the Neville estates in the north, and the lords of Guisborough at the time were the Fauconbergs. So, I believe Guy of Gisborne should today be called Guy of Guisborough.

Bearing in mind that Guy of Gisborne was a bounty hunter it would be the High Sheriff to whom he would have handed Robin Hood. With his Fauconberg connection Guy would be another suitably villainous addition to the ballads. Which makes me wonder, is the earliest surviving manuscript of “Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne” copied from one that Sir John Clanvowe wrote a century earlier?

SIR ROGER OF DONCASTER AND THE PRIORESS OF KIRKLEES

Sir Roger of Doncaster and his mistress the Prioress of Kirklees murder Robin Hood in “The Geste”.

Doncaster is a Yorkshire town (and my birthplace) between Barnsdale and Sherwood. A family called de Doncastre lived in the area during the 1300s and some of them held judicial and manorial offices. For instance, Sir John de Doncastre was steward to the Abbot of St. Mary’s in York, an abbott from whom Robin Hood stole in “The Geste”.  Being in the abbot’s service, this would place Sir John, named as Sir Roger of Doncaster in “The Geste”, on the villains list. Sir John was also Steward of Wakefield in 1324, where manorial rolls include the name of a Robert Hode (Robert and Robin were interchangeable names).

Moving on to the Prioress of Kirklees, a noted historian called Joseph Hunter (1783-1861) formulated a theory about her in the 1830s. He said that Robin Hood was based on Robert Hode of Wakefield. "The Geste" says that the Prioress was “nye was of his kin", i.e. near kin to Robert Hode. Hunter suggested that the Prioress of Kirklees was called Elizabeth de Stainton, and that she was step-sister to Robert Hode's wife, Matilda.

The Staintons were landowners in Tickhill, a town 7 miles from Doncaster. It is interesting to note that one Sir John de Doncastre was Constable of Tickhill Castle from 1304, very likely the same man who was Steward of Wakefield, so he would have known the Staintons as well as Robert Hode of Wakefield.

There’s no contemporary record naming Elizabeth de Stainton as a Prioress of Kirklees. It has been assumed that she was appointed during a gap in the records between 1328 and 1350. But there’s a problem. The only records which mention an Elizabeth de Stainton say she was under 12 years old in 1347, making it impossible for her to be the Prioress of Kirklees between the above dates. Perhaps Joseph Hunter was wrong, or that the prioress is a general composite character.

SIR RICHARD AT THE LEE

Sir Richard at the Lee is a major character in later parts of "The Geste". He gives refuge to Robin Hood and his Merry Men after a battle with the High Sheriff. From this point until the end of the ballad Sir Richard is a companion of Robin Hood. A similar scenario had already appeared in the poem "Fulk le Fitz Waryn" dating from 1260. As mentioned in Part 5, Sir John Clanvowe was familiar with the legend of Fulk le Fitz Waryn and clearly used it as the basis for the story of Sir Richard at the Lee.

GILBERT OF THE WHITE HANDS

This character only appears briefly twice in "The Geste" as one of the Merry Men taking part in two archery contests; the famous contest at Nottingham Castle and one later in the forest against the king. "The Geste" implies Gilbert is the second best marksman in England after Robin Hood. It is surprising, therefore, that Gilbert doesn’t appear have his own set of folk tales and ballads. So, who was he?

I think the answer lies in "the White Hands". Among the many different feudal services in England was the presentation of white leather gloves (white hands?) at the coronation of the monarch by the Furnival family as lords of Farnham Royal in Buckinghamshire. After 1379 this hereditary service was vested in Joan Furnival who married Sir Thomas Neville, Sir William's nephew. During the visits of King Richard II to Nottingham Castle during the 1380s, when Sir William was its Constable, the Furnivals would have been expected to be present, as they were also the lords of Worksop in north Nottinghamshire.

Alternatively, could "white hands" actually be "white hounds"? In the 14th century "hand" and "hound" were often spelt and pronounced the same. Could the first printers of "The Geste" (c.1492-1534) have misinterpreted the word from the original manuscript and the actual name should read “Gilbert of the White Hounds”? This also fits the Furnivals. They had to give two white hunting hounds to the king as part of their feudal service as lords of Worksop. What better time and place to present them than during a royal visit to Nottingham Castle. But the Furnivals don't provide us with a Gilbert. However...

A white hound was the livery badge of the Talbot family, and this type of hound became so associated with them that it was named after them – talbot. The word talbot is still used in heraldry for a hunting dog and still appears as the Talbot’s crest. The feudal presentation to the king of white hounds, and also that of white gloves, passed from Joan Neville to her son-in-law, Sir John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury (whose father was Sir John Clanvowe’s cousin). There were three Gilberts in the Talbot family tree - the 1st, 3rd and 5th Barons.

Perhaps one of these Gilberts, even both the 3rd Baron Talbot and the young, future 5th Baron, was present with their famous white hounds when Sir John Clanvowe, as I believe, presented his ballad for the first time in front of the king and court at Nottingham Castle in the mid 1380s.

Perhaps we’ll never know if my theory is correct, but there’s a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest to me that I’m right.

That’s enough speculation. We return to established fact in the next and final part of the lives of Sir William Neville and Sir John Clanvowe, in which we encounter pirates of the Mediterranean.

Out of King Edward's Tree: Part 3

Today is St. George’s Day. St. George became the patron saint of England during the reign of King Edward III (1312-1377). Over the past two days I have listed the many lgbt descendants of King Edward, and his father, the gay King Edward II (1284-1327). See my article of two days ago for the family tree which shows which of Edward III’s grandchildren the following people descend.

List 8 – descendants of Lady Joan Beaufort (c.1379-1440) through the Nevilles

Eva Gore-Booth (1870-1926), poet and suffragette (61 lines)

Hon. Hugh Lygon (1904-1936), banker (697 lines)

T. E. Lawrence (1888-1935), Lawrence of Arabia, author and adventurer (16 lines)

Pamela Schwerdt (1931-2009), horticulturalist (70 lines)

Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962), author (81 lines)

Edward Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu (1926-2015) activist and motor museum owner (320 lines)

Roden Noel (1834-1894), poet (27 lines)

Rupert Buxton (1900-1921), Oxford University student (27 lines)

George Mallory (1886-1924), mountaineer (26 lines)

Fiona Cunnigham-Reid (b.1956), documentary film-maker (281 lines)

William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), Britain’s youngest ever Prime Minister (8 lines)

John Waters (b.1946), film director (3 lines)

Glen Maxey (b.1952), American politician (3 lines)

Sir John Bramston (1832-1921), Australian politician (10 lines)

Margaret Damer Dawson (1873-1920), co-founder of women’s police force (29 lines)

Charles Ricketts (1866-1931), artist (10 lines)

Ellen Degeneres (b.1958), broadcaster and comedian (7 lines)

E. M. Forster (1879-1970), author (15 lines)

William Leonard Courtney (1850-1928); author and philosopher (12 lines)

Peter Cokes (1913-2008), actor (16 lines)

Patrick Trevor-Roper (1916-2004), eye surgeon and activist (45 lines)

Ernest Thesiger (1879-1961), actor (23 lines)

Clare Balding (b.1971), sports broadcaster (263 lines)

Cara Delevigne (b.1992), actor (66 lines)

William Beckford (1760-1844), novelist and arts patron (4 lines)

Francis Bacon (1909-1992), artist (6 lines)

Marlon Brando (1924-2004), actor (2 lines)

Randolph Scott (1898-1987), actor (2 lines)

Gore Vidal (1925-2012), author (2 lines)

Dale Parker Anderson (b.1965), activist, founder of lgbt micronation (1 line)

George Seymour, 7th Marquess of Hertford (1871-1940), party giver (141 lines)

Tony Scupham-Bilton (b.1960), historian, writer of The Queerstory Files (4 lines)

Peggy Seeger (b.1935), singer and songwriter (2 lines)

Vincent Price (1911-1993), actor and art collector (4 lines)

Victoria Price (b.1962), author and public speaker (4 lines)

Leona Holbrook (1909-1980), Professor of Physical Education (2 lines)

Frances Norma Loring (1887-1968), sculptor and artist (2 lines)

Reynell Grissell (1927-1999), classical pianist (4 lines)

Very Rev. Charles Vaughan (1816-1897), Dean of Llandaff Cathedral (4 lines)

Eustace Robb (1899-1985), television producer (8 lines)

Rt. Hon. Jeremy Thorpe (1929-2014), MP, Leader of the Liberal Party (4 lines)

Lady Eve Balfour (1899-1990), pioneer of organic farming (116 lines)

Tennessee Williams (1911-1983), author (2 lines)

G. DeWolf Shaw (b.1950), human capital evaluator (2 lines)

Gerald Heard (1889-1971), historian, author and philosopher (1 line)

Hon. Eleanor Acheson (b.1947), US Assistant Attorney General (10 lines)

Sir Robert Herbert (1831-1905), Premier of Queensland (70 lines)

Mark Frankland (1934-2012), journalist and spy (14 lines)

Divine (1945-1988), actor and performer (3 lines)

Cynthia Nixon (b.1966), actor (3 lines)

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), author (3 lines)

Doris Fielding Reid (1895-1973), stockbroker (8 lines)

John Holmes III (b.1984), flower shop proprietor (8 lines)

List 9 – Descendants of Princess Constance of York (c.1374-1416)

Lady Eleanor Butler (1739-1829), one of the Ladies of Llangollen (2 lines)

Sir Arthur Vicars (1862-1921), herald (1 line)

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), author (1 line)

Dolly Wilde (after 1893-1941), socialite (1 line)

List 10 – Descendant of Princess Anne, Countess of Buckingham (1383-1438)

Rt. Rev. Mary Glasspool (b.1954), Assistant Bishop of New York (2 lines)

Out of King Edward's Tree: Part 2

Here is the second part of the list of lgbt descendants of King Edward III, who made St. George the patron saint of England, and his father, the gay King Edward II. See yesterday’s article for the chart which shows which of Edward III’s grandchildren the following people descend. Again, the numbers after their occupation are the total known lines of descent of that person from the two Edwards.

List 4 – descendants of John and Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset

James Ogilvy, 7th Earl of Findlater (1750-1811), architect (22 lines)

Rt. Rev. Percy Jocelyn (1764-1843), Bishop of Clogher (24 lines)

Julia Pell (1953-2006), civil rights advocate (1 line)

Myles Hildyard (1914-2005), landowner (18 lines)

Philip Streatfield (1879-1915), artist (48 lines)

Lady Anna Gordon (b.1988), 1st same-sex engagement announced in the Daily Telegraph (504 lines)

Lord Alfred Douglas (1870-1945), partner of Oscar Wilde (70 lines)

Stephen Tennant (1906-1987), socialite (69 lines)

Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986), author (6 lines)

Una, Lady Troubridge (1887-1963), sculptor and author (13 lines)

Judith Furse (1912-1974), actor and director (13 lines)

Rupert Barneby (1911-2000), botanical scientist (2 lines)

Olive Custance (1874-1944), poet (20 lines)

Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven (1593-1631), rapist (1 line)

List 5 – Descendants of Lady Joan Beaufort (1407-1445)

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), First Lady of America (1 line)

Joseph Alsop (1910-1989), journalist (1 line)

Alan Turing (1912-1954), codebreaker and mathematician (20 lines)

Miranda Ponsonby (b.1933), author, transgender (7 lines)

Robert Boothby, 1st Baron Boothby (1900-1986), politician (19 lines)

Dennis Price (1915-1973) actor (41 lines)

Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966), author (20 lines)

Alexander Hamilton (c.1756-1804), Founding Father of America (1 line)

Jasper Conran (b.1959), designer (16 lines)

Francilia Agar (b.1975), Olympic swimmer (50 lines)

Lytton Strachey (1880-1932), author (3 lines)

Duncan Grant (1885-1978), artist (3 lines)

Michael Pitt-Rivers (1919-2000), activist (499 lines)

Lord Arthur Pelham-Clinton (1840-1870); politician (260 lines)

Prince Egon von Furstenberg (1946-2004), fashion designer (146 lines)

William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp (1872-1938), colonial governor (48 lines)

Bram Stoker (1847-1912), author (2 lines)

Simon Fanshawe (b.1956), broadcaster (220 lines)

John Hervey, Lord Hervey (1696-1743), politician (15 lines)

Tamsin Ormond (b.1984), environmental activist and journalist (15 lines)

Norman Douglas (1868-1952), author (12 lines)

Ursula Bethell (1874-1945), poet and social worker (8 lines)

George Byron, 6th Baron Byron (1788-1824), poet (16 lines)

Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), composer (1 line)

Sir Ewan Forbes, 11th Bt., (1912-1991), 1st transgender knight (20 lines)

Eileen Gray (1878-1976), architect (29 lines)

Francis Turville-Petre (1901-1941), archaeologist (73 lines)

Sir Edmund Backhouse, 2nd Bt. (1874-1944), oriental scholar (16 lines)

Sir Peter Pears (1910-1986), classical singer (13 lines)

Hon. Edward Adeane (1939-2015), civil servant (33 lines)

Sir Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley (1545-1567), husband of Mary, Queen of Scots (7 lines)

King James I Stewart of Great-Britain (1566-1625) (13 lines)

Lord Ivar Mountbatten (b.1963), cousin of the Prince of Wales (26 lines)

Prince Philipp von Hessen (1896-1980), Landgrave of Hesse (13 lines)

King Friedrich II the Great of Prussia (1712-1786) (13 lines)

King Gustav III of Sweden (1746-1792) (13 lines)

King Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845-1886) (13 lines)

Gavin Henderson, 2nd Baron Faringdon (1902-1977), politician (2 lines)

Sir Noël Coward (1899-1973), actor, author, songwriter (1 line)

Daniel Veatch (b.1965), Olympic swimmer (1 line)

List 6 – descendants of Cardinal Henry Beaufort (c.1375-1447)

Martha Eliot (1891-1978), Assistant Director of WHO (1 line)

Charles Adams (1770-1800), lawyer (1 line)

Sally Ride (1951-2012), astronaut (4 lines)

Rosamund Grosvenor (1888-1940), socialite (8 lines)

Will Young (b.1979), singer and actor (6 lines)

Sarah Ponsonby (1755-1831), one of the Ladies of Llangollen (4 lines)

Violet Martin (1862-1915), author (15 lines)

Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington (1885-1972), diplomat (32 lines)

Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu (d.1762), author, traveller (15 lines)

June Millington (b.1948), musician and songwriter (1 line)

List 7 – descendants of Lady Joan Beaufort (c.1379-1440) through the Ferrers family

Prince Edmond de Polignac (1834-1901), composer (2 lines)

Montgomery Clift (1920-1966), actor (1 line)

Tomorrow I give the third and last group of lgbt descendants with royal blood.

Out of King Edward's Tree: Part 1

Today the UK is thinking about the Queen on what is her 95th birthday. It is a sad birthday, her husband having died two weeks ago. In two day’s time it is St. George’s Day. St. George is the patron saint of England, though his feast day has never been a public holiday. It was one of the Queen’s ancestors, King Edward III, who made St. George our patron saint. To celebrate the Queen’s birthday and St. George’s Day I have compiled a list of lgbt descendants of King Edward III. This also means that they are all descended from Edward’s father, the gay (though some gay historians refuse to accept this) King Edward II.

This year sees my 60th St. George’s Day and I want to celebrate, so I hope you’ll forgive my indulgence.

An ancient Greek philosopher once said “in the ancestry of every king is a slave, and in the ancestry of every slave is a king”. Mathematically, everyone must have a king, hereditary chieftain or tribal leader in their ancestry if you go back far enough.

I come from a family whose entire ancestry for the past 250 years has been working class. People only need what genealogists called a “gateway ancestor” to acquire royal blood. My gateway ancestor is Robert Appleyard whose parents were both descended from Edward III.

Today I bring the first part of my list of lgbt descendants of King Edward III. There are hundreds on my database, all of them distant cousins to each other, of course. I couldn’t justify excluding any of them from the lists. Because of this I have had to group the lists into three sections. Today is section 1, tomorrow I gives section 2, and on St. George’s Day I give section 3.

I wondered how best to chart all the descendants. There are two many names to produce anything like the lgbt Mayflower descendant charts I produced last year. In text alone the complete lines of descent cover 900 pages. Most of those listed have multiple descents from Edward III, so what I’ve done is select the shortest, senior line of descent for each lgbt descendant. I descend from Edward’s eldest son, Prince Lionel, but I also descend from two younger sons, Princes John and Thomas, through fewer generations.

The chart below shows how I’ve grouped the descendants together, primarily according to King Edward III’s grandchildren.

Here is the first section of lgbt descendants of King Edward III. They are listed according to the seniority of bloodline. After their person’s profession is the total number of lines of descent from Edward III.

List 1 – descendants of Princess Philippa, Countess of Ulster (1355-1381)

Rufus Wainwright (b.1974), singer and songwriter (1 line)

George Seymour (1924-1994), Nottinghamshire landowner (223 lines)

Anthony Blunt (1907-1983), Russian spy (4 lines)

Noel Currer-Briggs (1919-2004), codebreaker and genealogist (2 lines)

Virgil Thomson (1896-1989), composer (1 line)

Neil Patrick Harris (b.1973), actor (1 line)

List 2 – descendants of Princess Elizabeth (1363-1426) and King Henry IV (1367-1413)

Linda Hunt (b.1945), actor (4 lines)

Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909), poet (92 lines)

Teddy Tinling (1910-1990), tennis player and fashion designer (4 lines)

Roger Senhouse (1899-1970), publisher and translator (5 lines)

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), poet (6 lines)

Hallam Tennyson (1920-2005), television producer (6 lines)

Geoffrey Winthrop Young (1876-1958), mountaineer (6 lines)

Isabella Norcliffe (c.1785-1846), partner of Anne Lister (39 lines)

John Addington Symonds (1840-1893), poet and critic (2 lines)

Brooke Auchincloss (b.1963), photographer (5 lines)

Sir John Finch (1626-1682), British Ambassador to Turkey (2 lines)

W. H. Auden (1907-1973), writer (2 lines)

Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron Berners (1883-1950), composer (2 lines)

James Lees-Milne (1908-1997), author and historian (1 line)

List 3 – descendants of Princess Catherine, Queen of Castille (1373-1418)

Luisa Álvarez de Toledo, Duchess of Medina Sidonia (1936-2008) (6 lines)

Louisa Abbéma (1853-1927), artist (50 lines)

Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I de Medici (1610-1670) (13 lines)

Grand Duke of Tuscany, Gian Gastone de Medici (1671-1737) (13 lines)

Rupert Everett (b.1959), actor (95 lines)

Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon (1930-1985), government minister (122 lines)

Hughes Cuénod (1902-2010), classical singer (227 lines)

Violet Trefusis (1894-1972), author and socialite (28 lines)

Cardinal Prince Henry Stewart, Duke of York (1725-1807) (18 lines)

Tomorrow I give section 2.

Advent 2 : A Topsy-Turvy Bean Feast

Last Sunday we looked at how a 2nd century Christian sect called the Gnostics encouraged same sex activity as a means of saving the world and were the first to choose a date to observe the birth of Christ on January 6th. The date spread, but it wasn’t a time to party. It was a religious observance and a time of prayer.

In the 3rd century a man called Sextus Julius Africanus wrote down what I think is the best theory of why December 25th was chosen as Christmas. The Roman Christians didn’t approve of the Gnostics or their beliefs and tried to discourage people from using their date to observe Christ’s birth, so they came up with their own preferred date. They placed the conception of Christ (a feast now called The Annunciation) on Roman New Year’s Day – March 25th. That put his birth 9 months later on December 25th. Even when they’d done that, there was still no partying.

However, people had got used to the Gnostic date and found it hard to change. The solution the Roman Church arrived at was to use January 6th as the last day of the religious observance of Christmas, specifically to commemorate the arrival of the “Three Kings” at the Nativity. The Gnostic name of Epiphany was retained, but it also gained the popular name of Twelfth Night. That’s how we got the 12 Days of Christmas.

Among most communities across the whole of the Christian world at this time there were folk traditions of celebrating winter, hang-overs from pre-Christian times which the Church didn’t officially approve of. During the 12 Days of Christmas the Church preferred people observed the religious aspect and leave the celebrations and partying until January 6th. Most of our Christmas celebrations originate from Twelfth Night parties, including the Christmas cake. By the Middle Ages partying was common throughout the whole Christmas season, even though the Church preferred otherwise.

In the Middle Ages scholars began linking Christian religious observances with those ancient festivals based purely on dates, not continuity. The most common belief was that Christmas was based on the Roman festival of Saturnalia held from December 6th to 21st. Because they were scholars, people believed them, even the Catholic Church. A lot of people still do. But as we have seen Christmas didn’t originate in December, so couldn’t be based on Saturnalia. However, some of the party aspects of Saturnalia were common to most winter festivals across Europe, and were introduced into the celebrations in the Middle Ages (centuries after festivals such as Saturnalia had been forgotten). One aspect was the idea of gender and role swapping. That idea still survives in the traditional British pantomime (more of that in ten days time).

To illustrate another topsy-turvy Christmas tradition I’ll bring in the gay King Edward II of England (1284-1327). He loved Christmas, and we know exactly what he was doing every Christmas of his 20-year reign because they’re all recorded in court documents. He and his court spent at least part of the Christmas season here in Nottinghamshire at least five times. His Christmas routine in Nottingham was probably the same as every other year, wherever he spent it. He would gamble on Christmas Eve (probably dice), go to church on Christmas Day, and go hunting on December 26th (in Sherwood Forest when in Nottinghamshire).

A Medieval Feast

One topsy-turvy Christmas customs began in the Middle Ages in France in which bishops chose a boy chorister to become Boy Bishop for part, or all, of the Christmas period. This boy would perform services and preach sermons and be treated exactly like his adult counterpart. He would be paraded around the diocese and receive gifts from landowners. Even the king had to treat the boy as a proper bishop and give him a gift.

In 1315 and 1316 King Edward, his queen Isabella and the entire court spent Christmas at the royal palace at Clipstone, just over 19 miles due north of Nottingham. On the second occasion it is recorded that Edward gave a gift of money to the Boy Bishop of his chapel there, a boy called John, son of Alan de Scrooby. This was on December 6th, the traditional date on which Boy Bishops were chosen. By December 28th King Edward was at Nottingham Castle where he gave another gift to the Boy Bishop of St. Mary’s Church, the main parish church in Nottingham.

Also in 1316 Edward gave gifts to another topsy-turvy character called the King of the Bean. It’s customary in the UK to put a coin in the Christmas pudding (if you’re baking it yourself and not buying one from a supermarket). The person who finds the coin when eating the pudding is considered lucky. Originally the coin was a bean. At large Medieval communal festivities, and small family ones, the person who found the bean in his pudding was treated like a king for the day – the King of the Bean. This was a traditional event for Twelfth Night, January 6th. Some of us “up north” in the UK still call a big party a “bean feast”.

At King Edward’s celebrations on 6th January 1317, ten days after meeting the Boy Bishop of St Mary’s, one of his courtiers, William de la Beche, became King of the Bean. This meant he was allowed to take on King Edward’s role as leader of the festivities. Edward gave him a gift of a silver-gilt basin. The following year, at the Twelfth Night party in Beverley, Yorkshire, King Edward gave gifts to a young squire who became King of the Bean.

During the 19th century these age-old celebrations of Twelfth Night moved to Christmas Day itself, probably because in 1834 the British parliament created Christmas Day a public holiday, which meant that for the first time in history people didn’t have to go to work that day.

These topsy-turvy celebrations which originate in European-wide winter festivals, including Saturnalia, weren’t the only non-Christian festivals that have been suggested as the “true” origins of Christmas. As we shall see next Sunday there’s one alleged origin which didn’t even exist when the Gnostic Christians began observing Christmas Day. In fact, in a topsy-turvy kind of way, it was created because Christmas had already become too popular.