Marathon Efforts

When Pheidippides finished running what is now regarded as the first marathon in 490 BC he dropped dead from exhaustion. Just imagine, though, what he would have thought about the prospect of running the 26 miles every day for 106 consecutive days, or even 401 days.

To celebrate today’s London Marathon, and the feast day of our patron saint, St. George, here are the feats achieved by two British lgbt+ runners from my region.

The first of these was the 401 Challenge to run 401 marathons in 401 days set by Ben Smith.

Ben was born into a Royal Air Force family, which meant being stationed in a succession of RAF bases around the world. When Ben was 10 his parents decided to place him in a boarding school in England. Ben went from one school to another over the next few short years, including one near Retford, a town I know well not far from Nottingham.

Sadly, Ben’s school experiences were not all good ones. Having come from a close loving family he felt isolated and withdrew into himself. He began to realise he had sexual feelings towards other boys. Becoming more introvert and being bullied, and confused by his sexuality, Ben attempted suicide twice. After school he fell into depression even though his family had now returned to England and were close by.

In 2012 Ben took up running. He was instantly hooked and began training for long distance racing. In 2014 he entered his first marathon. From this experience he developed his 401 Challenge to raise awareness and funds for vulnerable youngsters who were being bullied for whatever reason. The charities he chose to fundraise for were Stonewall, the biggest lgbt+ charity in the UK, and Kidscape, a charity specialising in providing help to tackle child bullying.

The first of the 401 marathons was on 1st September 2015 in Plymouth. Sadly, the page which listed all of his run on the 401 Challenge website is no longer available. However, searching the internet I have found what I think is a list of the marathons Ben ran in my home county of Nottinghamshire. Here they are:

27 December 2015 – Newark

28 December 2015 – Nottingham

29 December 2015 – Nottingham

5 May 2016 – Retford

13 August 2016 – Clumber Park, near Worksop.

Everything was going to plan. Then, during his Aberdeen run in June 2016 Ben suffered an umbilical hernia and had to take ten days rest to recuperate. Sadly, this meant that he could no longer aim for 401 marathons in 401 consecutive days. An alternative plan was devised to ensure that by the end of his challenge he had run the full equivalent to 401 marathons in 401 days. For his subsequent marathons Ben ran an extra 2 and a half miles to make up the distance.

The climax of the 401 challenge came on 5 October 2016 in Bristol. There to cheer him over the finish line of his 401st marathon were hundreds of spectators, supporters, family, friends, and his partner Kyle, not to mention a lot of media. He had raised £250,000 for his charities.

Ben may not have made it into the records books because of his injury, but he won the admiration of the public. In October 2016 he won Fundraiser of the Year at the Pride of Britain Awards. In December he won the Helen Rollason Award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony. This last award is named after a very popular sports presenter who died of cancer at the age of 43 and in awarded to athletes who have made an “outstanding achievement in the face of adversity”.

Even if Ben didn’t enter the Guinness Book of World Records, another runner from my region did. Her name in Kate Jayden (b.1987). Kate lives with her wife in Hartington, a village in rural Derbyshire about 35 miles from Nottingham. She was already an experienced marathon runner and triathlete with over 230 finishes.

Overcoming difficult experiences or health issues is often a spur for the athletically-minded person. Kate’s youth was bedevilled with anorexia and bulimia. It was to raise funds for a charity which helps sufferers of eating disorders that was the start of Kate’s marathon running.

The challenge to run 106 marathons on 106 consecutive days began as a joke with a friend, but Kate thought “why not?” The chosen charities for which the challenge would raise funds were the Refugee Council, the Trussell Trust and the Hygiene Bank. The two latter charities provide food banks and hygiene products respectively to people on a low income.

Kate’s challenge began on 31st December 2021. Unlike Ben Smith, Kate also had a full-time job while taking on her challenge. Not all of her marathons were run outdoors. Some of them were on a treadmill.

Kate often ran in the early morning before leaving for work, sometimes running in the cold and dark of a British winter. This may have brought back an unhappy memory of competing in a 24-hour run in 2014. During the night-time stage when she was several miles ahead of the rest of the runners Kate was grabbed from behind by a stranger and sexual assaulted. Kate fought off the assailant, and ran back several miles to find the next runner to raise the alarm. The race was suspended while the police carried out their initial investigation, then the race resumed, and Kate won.

On day 46 of the 106 challenge (15th February 2022) Kate experienced pain in her knee which slowed her down on subsequent runs. Only after the last marathon was it discovered that Kate had a fractured knee.

Kate’s challenge didn’t have as much of a high-profile as Ben Smith’s, but she had a solid fan base and interest picked up as she neared the final marathons. The 106th marathon was completed on 15th April 2022. Kate was now a Guinness World Record holder and had raised £25,000 for her charities.

Because Kate completed some marathons on a treadmill she shares the record with a Scottish couple, Fay Cunningham and her partner Emma Petrie, who ran 106 road marathons on 106 consecutive days. They began their challenge on 19th February 2022 and submitted their record attempt of running 100 marathons on 100 consecutive days. Having discovered that Kate Jayden was already attempting 106 marathons they added 6 more to their schedule to equal the record attempt. Fay and Emma now hold the record for the most consecutive road marathons, and Kate holds the record for the most consecutive road/treadmill marathons (as of todays’ date).

With more and more ultra and extreme sport challenges being created it should be a matter of pride that there are many lgbt+ runners who are representing our community and receiving recognition for their achievements.

William and John: Part 5) Robin Hood

 “Robin Hood and his Merry Men Entertaining Richard the Lionheart” by Daniel Maclise (1806-1870). This painting was always on display at Nottingham Castle in my time there.

When I worked at Nottingham Castle the last weekend in October was the annual Robin Hood Pageant. The grounds were filled with craftsmen, re-enactors and jousting contests. Sadly, the last pageant at the castle was in 2018. To remind me of those happy days I’ll continue telling the lives of Sir John Clanvowe and Sir William Neville. In the previous article Sir William had been appointed Constable of Nottingham Castle.

You can’t think about Nottingham Castle without thinking of Robin Hood. I believe Sir John Clanvowe wrote the ballad “The Geste of Robyn Hode”, printed posthumously between 1493 and 1534 (“geste” means “adventure”). It contains a remarkable amount of similarities to people, places and events in the lives of Sir John, Sir William, and William's wife Elizabeth le Waleys.

I wrote a small e-book called “Robin Hood – Out of the Greenwood: His Gay Origins Revealed” in which I go into much more detail about my theory. You can purchase it from Amazon here. There is only room for a very brief explanation of my theory on this blog.

The earliest reference to Robin Hood as a subject of ballads is in "Piers Plowman, a poem written around 1377. One line says: “But I know rhymes of Robin Hood and Randolf, Earl of Chester", indicating that “rhymes”, or ballads, about Robin Hood were well known. Unfortunately no-one wrote those ballads down, meaning everything we know about Robin Hood the outlaw hero was written after 1377. Before then, many legal documents record Robin’s as a common alias adopted by criminals. "Piers Plowman" is the first time Robin is associated to ballads.

The other man mentioned with Robin in "Piers Plowman" was a real person, Randolf de Blundeville, 6th Earl of Chester (b.1170). By 1216 Randolf was the greatest magnate in all England and virtual ruler of Cheshire. He also appears in another ballad, probably written in 1260, named after another folk hero, "Fulke le Fitz Waryn". Its plot bears more than a passing resemblance to "The Geste of Robyn Hode”. The synopsis of both are interchangeable and goes like this -

The outlaw hero has a right-hand man called John who waylays travellers in a forest and brings them back to the camp for a meal with the hero. They pay for the meal with their valuables. One of the hero’s companions assumes a false identity in the presence of the hero’s archenemy. The disguised companion lures the archenemy into the forest where the hero kills him. The king hears about the outlaw hero and comes to deal with him in person. The king’s men injure one of the hero’s companions who begs to be killed. The hero seeks refuge with a friendly knight. The king can’t find anyone willing to help him find the hero, but eventually he finds and pardons the outlaw.

Historians are convinced that “The Geste of Robyn Hode” (which I’ll just refer to as “The Geste” from now on) was influenced by “Fulke le Fitz Warine”. The real Fulk FitzWarin was a popular folk hero in the county where Sir John Clanvowe was born and raised. I believe he based “The Geste” on “Fulke le Fitz Waryn” and moved the action from his home county to Nottinghamshire.

Elizabeth le Waleys, the wife of Sir John’s partner Sir William Neville, (explained here) was step-niece to King Robert the Bruce of Scotland whose ancestor Prince David of Scotland was married to the sister of Randolf, Earl of Chester.

The few surviving ballads about Robin Hood date from the 1400s. Scholars of language and grammar use in “The Geste” suggest it was originally written before 1400. The same grammar is used in "Piers Plowman" and Sir John Clanvowe’s own poem "The Boke of Cupide" throughout, suggesting it was written in their lifetime. The language in "The Geste” is also consistent with Sir John's Lollard writing (explained here) - another clue linking Sir John to “The Geste”.

"The Geste" is composed of four interwoven plotlines. The first and last are set in Barnsdale Forest, Yorkshire. The plotlines in the middle takes place in a forest in Nottinghamshire. Sherwood is never mentioned, it is only implied by us today because it is the only forest in Nottinghamshire. A manuscript from around 1410 contains the line "Robin Hood in Sherwood stood." However, another document of 1429 says "Robin Hood in Barnsdale stood”. Both are used in a similar fashion to someone today saying “Is the Pope Catholic?” meaning something is blatantly obvious. This suggests the locations were interchangeable. There’s much rivalry today between Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire over which county Robin Hood comes from. The answer is, both. The forests were a short distance from each other, and the main road from London to York runs through both.

The author of “The Geste” shows a geographical knowledge of specific locations in both areas. Sir William Neville’s wife Elizabeth owned several manors in Barnsdale, and William himself was Constable of Nottingham Castle. Sir John Clanvowe would have known both areas well, and my theory is that he used this knowledge of both areas to write “The Geste”.

It’s difficult to imagine Robin Hood without King Richard the Lionheart and his brother, the evil Prince John. One read of "The Geste" and you are struck by the absence of both. The only king mentioned is Edward. Before 1400 there were only three kings called Edward – a father, son, and grandson - who reigned beween 1272 and 1377. But which King Edward is featured in “The Geste”?

Edward II was the most frequent to visit Nottingham and is the most widely accepted candidate by modern historians. One visit of note was in 1323-4 when he came in pursuit of outlaws whom he later pardons, as King Edward does in “The Geste”. One of those pardoned was Sir Richard le Waleys, Elizabeth le Waleys’ grandfather.

One interesting fact is the presence of a real man named Robin Hood in documents relating to this visit. Robin is one of Edward's porters, but about six months later he leaves the king's service. In "The Geste" Robin Hood joins the king's service after being pardoned and leaves a year later. Was this Robin Hood the man who was turned into an outlaw hero by ballad writers, and was the man whose “rhymes” became widely known by the time “Piers Plowman” was written in around 1377?

This is just an outline of some of my research. Historians of medieval literature agree that “The Geste” was written by a competent author, someone writing in the late 1300s whose work was considered worthy of saving and printing in the 1490s. None of the known English writers or poets of the late 1300s can be connected to “The Geste” in as many different ways as Sir John Clanvowe, either directly or through his partner Sir William Neville and William’s wife Elizabeth.

In the next part of “William and John“, published some time next year, I’ll continue to look at the Robin Hood connection and some of the famous characters in “The Geste” and reveal more family ties to Sir John, Sir William and Elizabeth, including Little John and the Sheriff of Nottingham.

William and John: Part 4) Nottingham

Nottingham Castle gatehouse, part of the medieval castle that survives.

Nottingham Castle reopened to the public last month after a £30 million pound make-over (of the parts not protected by law). As regular readers may recall, I worked there for seven years as a gallery assistant and tour guide (winning the Best Guided Tour in the UK award in 2003 by “Good Britain Guide”).

2021 is an anniversary year for Nottingham Castle, because 640 years ago Sir William Neville was appointed Constable of Nottingham Castle. In the previous chapter I described how he and his partner Sir John Clanvowe acquired positions at the court of King Richard II. Today I’ll explore their connection to Nottingham.

Sir William’s first appointment which brought him to Nottingham was as Justice of the Forest North of the Trent in May 1381. The office, one of two English Justices of the Forest (the other being South of the Trent) were the chief magistrates of forest law. Sir William's appointment covered the forests of Sherwood in Nottinghamshire, and Knaresborough and Inglewood Forests in Yorkshire.

The medieval idea of a forest is different to ours today. A forest was not just trees, as you imagine Sherwood Forest to be. The word derives from the Latin for “outside”, so a forest included open fields, meadows, rivers, villages, and occasionally a small town. What united them was that the area covered by forest law, where the king had sole rights of hunting, hence they are called royal forests.

Being Justice of the Forest meant you only had to carry out your duties once every three years, but the actual performance of these duties would take many months as the Justice was required to sit and judge the accumulated violations of forest law and review the forest’s administration. If anyone poached deer or took wood for fire without permission within a royal forest, the Justice presided over their case. In modern versions of Robin Hood it is often the Sheriff of Nottingham who arrests and presides over the court in Sherwood Forest, but in real life he had no authority there. He couldn’t arrest Robin Hood for any law he broke in Sherwood Forest. That was the job of the Foresters. In 1387 Sir William Neville resigned from this appointment.

Often accompanying the office of Justice of the Forest North of the Trent was the constableship of Nottingham Castle. Unlike the Justice, this was a full-time position. Sir William Neville was appointed as Constable in November 1381. Nottingham was a royal castle and his appointment was a further sign of the king's favour, and William was appointed for life. Sir William would travel between Nottingham and his Yorkshire estates all the time.

But what is a constable? Basically, it’s the general manager of a castle. He kept the castle running when the king wasn’t in residence, and ensured that everything the king wanted when he was in residence was available. As a royal residence Nottingham Castle was visited by King Richard II every year that Sir William was Constable.

One of the most well-known events of King Richard's reign was the Peasant's Revolt of June 1381. Neither Sir William nor his partner Sir John Clanvowe had any real part in it. The revolt was partly a response to the changing social make-up after the Black Death, and partly due to growing support for Lollardy, an early form of Protestantism. There was also a political move against the king who was giving too much importance to his friends and advisers. By 1385 a political group called the Lords Appellant had been formed which openly criticised the king.

Through the influence of the Lords Appellant the parliament of 1386 took away the powers of the 19-year-old King Richard and put them into the hands of commissioners. Richard retaliated by going on a journey around the country to gather support against the commission. At Nottingham Castle in August 1387 he gathered his supporters at a Great Council. A group of judges pronounced the Lords Appellant commission as treasonable.

The king made an error of judgement in thinking that the supporters who gathered at Nottingham Castle were powerful enough to defeat the Lords Appellant, who issued a reciprocal accusation of treason against members of the court, including Archbishop Alexander Neville, the younger brother of Sir William Neville. Sir William had neither the political power nor resources to openly support his brother against the charge. Sir William Neville was wise to not openly declare his own views, which would be to his advantage. As constable of a royal residence he was required to support the king, but he was perhaps remembering the earlier crisis surrounding the impeachment of his brother Lord Neville for the failure of the military campaign in northern France in 1376.

The king reluctantly agreed to arrest the named traitors and bring them to trial at the so-called "Merciless Parliament" in February 1388. Archbishop Neville was found guilty of treason. Only his position as a clergyman protected him from execution. He ended his days in exile as a parish priest in France.

Several courtiers who weren’t charged with treason were, however, banished from court. Sir John Clanvowe was one of them. He disappears from court records for a while, perhaps returning to estates in Herefordshire and Wales. Sir William, however, earned the trust of the victorious Lords Appellant. They awarded him an annuity out of the forfeited estates of the traitors.

The power of the Lords Appellant lasted less than two years. After Richard II regained his personal rule on reaching 21 years of age, Sir John Clanvowe and Sir William Neville were again regular attendees at court, and for a few brief years Richard was secure on his throne.

Earlier I mentioned Lollardy as being a cause of the Peasants Revolt. Both Sir William Neville and Sir John Clanvowe were prominent Lollard supporters, members of a small group of courtiers called the Lollard Knights. I wrote about this several years ago, so I’ll direct you over to those articles where you can read more.

While visiting his royal residence in Nottingham King Richard II would have been entertained with lavish banquets, jousts and entertainment. Sir John Clanvowe was a poet and it is my belief that on one occasion he produced a new ballad to be recited in front of the king and the court at one of those banquets. It featured a well-known character in a new setting, not unlike modern reboots of films and television series. Sir John used personal knowledge and the family backgrounds of himself, Sir William Neville, and the king to give local interest to his ballad. That well-known character was Robin Hood. Most of what is familiar to us about this legendary outlaw comes from the ballad I believe was written by Sir John Clanvowe, and I’ll explain more about it in the next chapter of the lives of Sir William and Sir John.

However, you’ll have to wait a while for that. I’ll explain why in a couple of weeks, but look out for 26th October, Robin Hood Day, when his connection to Sir John Clanvowe and Sir William Neville will be explained.

William and John: Part 3) William at Court

After looking at Sir John Clanvowe’s military career we turn today to the court career of his partner, Sir William Neville.

First of all, let’s look at Sir William’s marriage. It wasn’t what you could call a “marriage of convenience” as it might have been described in the 20th century, in which a marriage was arranged to hide the sexuality of one of the partners. Men we would regard as gay today would often marry and have children in pre-modern times. They didn’t think there was anything was wrong with that.

Sir William’s marriage was more of a political and financial marriage. As I mentioned in Part 1 when I described the childhoods of Sir William Neville and his male partner, William had little chance of inheriting substantial property or an income from his father, being the youngest of five sons. After plans for William to inherit the estates of his step-brother, Lord Greystoke, fell through, Lord Neville arranged for him to marry the heiress of manors spread across Yorkshire.

In 1366 William married Elizabeth le Waleys, the younger of the two daughters and coheirs of Stephen le Waleys, 2nd Baron Waleys. The elder daughter, Anora, died childless within two years and Elizabeth became sole heir to the family estates and "de facto" Baroness Waleys. This meant that William Neville now had an independent income and property through his wife (all property of a married woman usually belonged to the husband in those days). Elizabeth le Waleys was as well connected as her husband. Her father’s step-brother was the famous Robert the Bruce, King of the Scots.

As mentioned in part 2, Sir William Neville spent some time in France serving with the army during the Hundred Years War. When he returned to England he began a distinguished career at court. By this time his eldest brother Lord Neville, who had inherited their father’s title, had obtained the position of Lord Steward of the King's Household in late 1371. Probably through his brother's influence, Sir William succeeded his brother as Admiral of the North in 1372. This was one of the top naval commands in England. As Admiral of the North Sir William was responsible for all the fleet and ports north of the River Thames and naval activities in the North Sea.

In 1373 Sir William temporarily commanded the southern fleet that was appointed to patrol the Norman and Breton coasts and protect the English possessions there. Sir William anchored his fleet at St. Malo for several months and then he was called upon to go to the aid of his brother, Lord Neville. Lord Neville had been appointed ambassador to Brittany in June 1372 in order to negotiate an Anglo-Breton alliance. Brittany was subject to the French crown even though it was English support that had put the Duke of Brittany in power, as explained last time. The resulting alliance, not welcomed by the Breton lords, led to renewed rivalry between England and France. Lord Neville was appointed Captain of Brest and was given command of an English force. The French, under Bertrand du Guesclin, invaded Brittany and laid siege to Brest Castle. Lord Neville was accused of not providing sufficient military defence which led to the siege. This would taint Lord Neville’s reputation and be used against him three years later.

Lord Neville hoped that the army being assembled by Prince John of Gaunt, destined to form the "Grand Chevauchée" (see Part 2), would come to his aid. The army helped to keep the French at bay only temporarily. Sir William Neville's fleet carried an army which reinforced and restocked the Brest garrison. The Grand Chevauchée distracted some French forces away from Brest, but several other garrisons were still taken from the English.

By 1376 the war with France was not going well and people were putting some blame onto Lord Neville. As Lord Steward of the King’s Household he was also accused of helping the Lord Chamberlain to embezzle public funds. Later that year both the Lord Chamberlain and Lord Neville were impeached by parliament, even though the actual evidence of embezzlement against Neville was flimsy to say the least. This “Good” Parliament, as is it known, was called to address the many growing suspicions of corruption among the chief ministers of the old and frail King Edward III. The "Good" Parliament only deepened divisions, both at court and in the country. Sir William Neville seems to have escaped any suggestion that he profited from his brother's alleged actions. However, he was removed from his appointment of Admiral of the North in the same month as the impeachment. It wasn't long, however, before Lord Neville was reappointed Lord Steward by Prince John of Gaunt, who had by now become the chief minister of the country.

King Edward III died on 21st June 1377. His grandson Richard, Prince of Wales, succeeded as King Richard II at the age of 10. Sir William Neville had been appointed to the household of Richard just six months earlier. The succession of a 10-year-old boy as king led to politicians and royal relatives vying to ensure that the king's voice was theirs. Richard's own voice on matters was hardly ever heard, but he was personally responsible for the decision to keep Sir William Neville in his service after his accession, perhaps even making him a Gentleman of the Chamber at that time also.

By 1378 both Sir William Neville and Sir John Clanvowe were favoured members of King Richard's court. Both were King's Knights and in regular attendance on Richard. They had become members of an inner circle of friends which the young king gathered around himself. Their positions of trust was recognised by their additional appointments as Knights of the Chamber by 1381. This brought them even closer to the king than the Privy Council and indicates how much King Richard must have trusted in their confidence.

A few historians believe that by this time Sir William and Sir John had formed a close personal bond. On John's return from the French wars they would have had ample opportunity to meet at court. As the years passed their names appear together in court records more and more often, and chroniclers of their time even begin to acknowledge an unusually close bond between them. They continued to have their separate lives and appointments; Sir William and his wife Elizabeth with their estates in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, and Sir John with his appointments in Herefordshire and the Welsh borders. But they always managed to be together at court sessions and as the King’s Knights of the Chamber, which would be for six weeks at a time on a regular basis.

During their time at King Richard’s court they would have mingled with the other courtiers, and that included the famous poet Geoffrey Chaucer. He became a close friend of both Sir William Neville and Sir John Clanvowe. It was through this friendship that Chaucer and Sir John came up with the idea of St. Valentine’s Day as a day of romance, something that had not happened in history before. The story of how they created it is told here.

It was also at about this time that Sir William Neville acquired his connection to Nottingham Castle and Sherwood Forest. In Part 4 I’ll delve further into their time in Nottingham and how I believe Sir John Clanvowe came up with the oldest surviving ballad featuring a hero well-known across England at the time – Robin Hood.

Out Of My Tree: To Be A Pilgrim

The Mayflower II, a full-size replica of the 1620 Mayflower, built in 1956. (Wikimedia Commons)

Four hundred years ago today a group of people from my home district began a voyage that shaped the future of the world. They travelled on a ship called the Mayflower. On both side of the Atlantic communities are commemorating this anniversary, one of the major moments in the birth of the USA. The covid pandemic has severely effected the commemorations but many are taking place online, and videos have been produced to tell the story of the Mayflower, its impact on Native American communities and how it effected the course of history.

First, some definitions: SEPARATISTS – Christians in England who didn’t follow the established Protestant or Catholic churches (some became known as Puritans); PILGRIMS – (in the context of the Mayflower) Separatists who fled persecution in England and set up a church in Holland, this includes those who didn’t travel on the Mayflower or settle in America; STRANGERS – Mayflower passengers who weren’t members of the Separatist church in Holland and who were looking for a new life in America.

Those of us with a personal connection to the Mayflower story don’t use the term Pilgrim Father. There were Pilgrim Mothers and Children as well. We prefer the terms Mayflower Pilgrims and Mayflower Passengers.

About 10 million US citizens and around 1 million non-Americans are descended from Mayflower passengers. For Americans, showing an ancestor was on the Mayflower is like a European finding a royal descent. Some Americans have both.

On the anniversary of the Mayflower’s arrival at Plymouth Rock in December I’ll present the results of a huge project I’ve been researching over the past two years. It will consist of a pdf giving a more detailed explanation of the Mayflower and the Pilgrims with tables and family trees of the Mayflower, Pilgrim and Separatist ancestors of many members of the lgbt community. Today I want to concentrate on my own links to the Mayflower.

My own links can be summarised in three points: 1) most of my ancestors came from the same area of Nottinghamshire as many of the Pilgrims; 2) for six years I worked at Gainsborough Old Hall, one of the places where some Separatists are known to have worshipped; and 3) one of my ancestors may have been a cousin of William Bradford, a leader of the Mayflower Pilgrims and Governor of Plymouth Colony.

Below is a part of a map printed in 1610. This is as near as we can get to seeing what Nottinghamshire looked like when the Pilgrims lived there. The thick grey line is the county border. It has changed slightly since then. For example, the area at the top with the villages called Akely and Finnyngley (now Auckley and Finningley) are now in South Yorkshire.

I’ve marked several places on the map. Bautre, now Bawtry (pronounced Bor-tre), is also now in South Yorkshire. Just below it is Scrobye, the old name for Scrooby, the village where the Mayflower leader, William Brewster, came from. Mysterton (Misterton) is where I was raised and where many of my ancestors lived. Gainsborough (Ganesburgh) is where the Old Hall is located.

Having so many of my father’s ancestors born in the area I often wondered if I was related to any of the Mayflower Pilgrims. I began researching my family tree in 1978 and it was only last year that I discovered that I might be.

Last year I was sorting out my Norton ancestry, trying to prove if I was related to or descended from an Elizabethan Catholic rebel leader called Richard Norton (2019 was the 450th anniversary of his rebellion). It turns out I was descended from him through his son John. Once I established that fact I found that John’s wife, and also therefore my ancestor, was Jane Morton (Morton, Norton, very confusing) from a landed family in Bawtry.

For several centuries researchers have been looking into the family backgrounds of all the Mayflower passengers and their families. One of the later Pilgrims was called George Morton, and his ancestry has been the subject of much debate ever since.

George Morton (c.1587-1624) was described as a merchant from Yorkshire. He was a member of the Separatist church in Holland and he sailed to join his fellow Pilgrims in 1623. There’s no record of his birth or baptism. There is record of his marriage in 1612 to fellow Separatist Priscilla Carpenter in Holland. A lot of family historians believe George was the son of another George Morton, who in turn was the son of Jane Morton’s cousin (see the family tree below for clarification). It’s possible, but there isn’t enough documentary evidence to prove it. But records show that this other older George married in 1591. It is possible for Pilgrim George to have been born in 1592 and 20 years old when he married, but there’s no record to prove he has any link to Bawtry.

What is more intriguing is that my ancestor Jane Morton may have had a niece called Alice Morton, who is often quoted online as being the daughter of Jane’s brother Robert. Records show an Alice Morton of Bawtry marrying William Bradford of Austerfield (in Yorkshire, half a mile north of Bawtry, not shown on the 1610 map) in 1551. We don’t have any birth of baptism entry for Alice, but this William Bradford has been proven to be the grandfather of Mayflower Pilgrim William Bradford.

As far as I’m concerned that on the evidence so far there’s more likelihood of me being related to William Bradford than George Morton. Incidentally, these two men were married to sisters Priscilla and Alice Carpenter.

The lack of documentary evidence, a paper trail proving either the Bradford or Morton link, is frustrating. It might take another 41 years to find it!

I Need a Hero!

Things seem to be going wrong all at once! If it was just the lockdown due to COVID-19 it wouldn’t be too bad, but in the past two weeks I’ve had technical problems with my laptop, problems accessing my blog account, concerns about whether I’ll have a job to go back to, and the death of my aunt all making it difficult to organise my time.

That is why the articles scheduled for the past week didn’t appear. Hopefully, I can get back on track soon.

I don’t want to leave you all without something to read, so I’m going to repeat an advertisement I made this time last year for my Kindle book “Robin Hood – Out of the Greenwood: His Gay Origins Revealed”.

I began researching this book long before I began this blog. At the time I was working as a tour guide at Nottingham Castle, and we were discouraged from mentioning Robin Hood. The city council who paid my wages insisted that someone who broke the law was not a good role model, and that he didn’t exist anyway. Even today the same council do next to nothing to promote Robin Hood. Even so, tourists were always wanting to know about Robin Hood and it was necessary to answer their questions.

Robin Hood has been mentioned on this blog a few times. A lot of these mentions have been in relation to the theory I expand in my book. Basically, I believe that Sir John Clanvowe, a poet and courtier, was the person most likely to have compiled the ballad which was later printed as “A Geste of Robyn Hode”. It is in this ballad that we get all of the most familiar stories about this world famous outlaw which have been retold in thousands of books, films and television programmes ever since (along with a few later additions, like Maid Marian, Friar Tuck, King Richard and Prince John, none of whom featured in the medieval ballads).

The theory is based on research I conducted into Sir John Clanvowe and the man acknowledged during his lifetime as the man he “married”. This partner was Sir William Neville, the Constable of Nottingham Castle from 1381 to his death in 1391. A lot of the characters and plot details in “A Geste of Robyn Hode” seem to be based on people, places and events in Sir William Neville’s family background. You can type “Clanvowe” into the search box at the side to find out more about this couple.

It was only after I left Nottingham Castle (not from choice) that I was able to do more extensive research, and eventually I put it all together in a display for Nottingham’s first celebration for LGBT History Month in 2008. From there I began writing the book, which has undergone several revisions since then.

My theory is too complex to be restricted to a few blog posts, so a fuller explanation in book form was the only way to go.

As my book is now published on Kindle Amazon here. I’m not expecting a huge response. All I expect is that people may get a new perspective on a familiar legend and, perhaps, realise that the medieval world wasn’t how it is often presented.

It is my hope that this will be the first in a series of books based on some of my blog articles and on other, non-lgbt, history research.

That’s enough advertising for now. If you’re interested, take a look and please buy a copy.

Out of the Greenwood

From day one I’ve resisted the temptation to include advertising on my blog. However, today I’m going to make an exception because I have just had my first Kindle book published. It’s called “Robin Hood – Out of the Greenwood: His Gay Origins Revealed”.

I began researching this book long before I began this blog. At the time I was working as a tour guide at Nottingham Castle, and we were discouraged from mentioning Robin Hood. The city council who paid my wages insisted that someone who broke the law was not a good role model, and that he didn’t exist anyway. Even today the same council do next to nothing to promote Robin Hood. Even so, tourists were always wanting to know about Robin Hood and it was necessary to answer their questions.

Robin Hood has been mentioned on this blog a few times. A lot of these mentions have been in relation to the theory I expand in my new book. Basically, I believe that Sir John Clanvowe, a poet and courtier, was the person most likely to have compiled the ballad which was later printed as “A Geste of Robyn Hode”. It is in this ballad that we get all of the most familiar stories about this world famous outlaw which have been retold in thousands of books, films and television programmes ever since (along with a few later additions, like Maid Marian, Friar Tuck and Prince John, none of whom featured in the medieval ballads).

The theory is based on research I conducted into Sir John Clanvowe and the man acknowledged during his lifetime as the man he “married”. This partner was Sir William Neville, the Constable of Nottingham Castle from 1381. A lot of the characters and plot details in “A Geste of Robyn Hode” seem to be based on people, places and events in Sir William Neville’s family background. You can type “Clanvowe” into the search box at the side to find out more about this couple.

It was only after I left Nottingham Castle (not from choice) that I was able to do more extensive research, and eventually I put it all together in a display for Nottingham’s first celebration for LGBT History Month in 2008. From there I began writing the book, which has undergone several revisions since then.

My theory is too complex to be restricted to a few blog posts, so a fuller explanation in book form was the only way to go.

As my book is now published on Kindle Amazon (on Amazon.co.uk here) I’m not expecting a huge response. All I expect is that people get a new perspective on a familiar legend and, perhaps, realise that the medieval world wasn’t how they might think.

It is my hope that this will be the first in a series of books based on some of my blog articles and on other, non-lgbt, history research.

That’s enough advertising for now. If you’re interested, take a look and buy a copy.

Saving the Nation's Heritage

The UK is celebrating its annual Heritage Open Days this weekend. This is an occasion where historic sites who normally charge an entrance fee, or are in private ownership and not open to the public, open their doors free to all visitors.

Unfortunately, there are many sites that have long been demolished. An example of this is my own Nottinghamshire, Clumber House. This was the main country residence of the Dukes of Newcastle. Lord Arthur Pelham-Clinton, son of the 5th Duke, lived there for a time.

The 1930s in the UK saw a change in the fortunes of the landed gentry and aristocracy. Many men from these families had been killed in World War I and left estates with no-one to inherit them. Various death duties and inheritance taxes rose astronomically and people who inherited a stately home couldn’t afford to keep them. That’s what happened to Clumber. The Duke of Newcastle couldn’t afford to keep the house so he had it demolished in 1938. Fortunately, the chapel, stables, stately entrance gates and the longest lime tree avenue in Europe survive, as do the extensive grounds, and they form the present Clumber Park. My family spent many happy days out at Clumber Park when I was young, and my sister worked in the garden nursery for a few years. We are also fortunate in having lots of photographs of both the inside and outside of Clumber House, so it’s possible to create a scale model, as you see in the video below.

Many more stately homes were demolished in the early 20th century. Thankfully a lot have survived and most are in public ownership, either with the National Trust or English heritage, or belong to charitable trusts. Many people have had pivotal roles in the preservation of these buildings, and of many, more ordinary buildings. Here are two men from the lgbt community who are celebrated as saviours of our nation’s heritage.

First of all there is James Lees-Milne (1908-1997). He was an architectural historian who has been described by Hugh Montgomery Massingberd, a renowned historian and genealogist, as the man who “almost single-handedly saved what we now take for granted as the national heritage”.

James was himself a member of the landed gentry, the son of a self-made cotton baron who bought Wickfordham Manor in Worcestershire which James inherited in 1949. After graduating from Oxford with a history degree (and a string of gay lovers, including the young John Gielgud), James went to work as political campaigner for his relative Sir Oswald Mosley. During that time James met another lover, Harold Nicolson of Sissinghurst. It was Harold who was instrumental in getting James a job at the National Trust.

The National Trust was formed in 1895. Its main focus was on preserving open spaces and parkland. In 1936 they formed the Country Houses Committee which aimed to preserve buildings as well, and James Lees-Milne was appointed at is first secretary. With his family, social and sexual connections he got to visit many private stately homes. From the moment he took up his post James embarked on a mission to save as many building from demolition as possible. He was too late to save Clumber House. He hoped to persuade owners to donate their houses to the National Trust when they inherited them, free of any death duties.

There were successes and losses. He was unable to persuade the Marquess of Bath to donate Longleat House to the Trust, but years later the Marquess’s son opened the house to the public in 1949.

One of James’s successes was Cliveden House, which is now a National Trust hotel. Also, like a lot of other stately homes around the country, whether owned by the National Trust or not, Cliveden has been used as the setting for films and television dramas. My favourite use of Cliveden is in “Carry On, Don’t Lose Your Head”.

But heritage is more than stately homes. Even as James Lees-Milne has been credited with saving hundreds of stately homes from the bulldozer there are other people who were looking at urban and ordinary buildings. One of these men died just a few weeks ago and he has been credited with helping to save the urban landscape of Georgian London.

Colin Amery (1944-2018) was also an architectural historian. He held many appointments, including being an advisor to the Prince of Wales and Director of the World Monuments Fund in Britain. Colin’s career began with the Town and Country Planning Association, from which he progressed to being an editor of the “Architectural Review” and a prolific writer of ooks on architecture.

Activism was also one of Colin Amery’s fortes. During the 1960s and 1970s towns and cities across the UK were demolishing large areas of “old” buildings to make way for redevelopment and new concrete block buildings. Colin was appalled at the loss of many perfectly good pre-modern buildings. In London’s East End Colin joined other leading architectural historians in campaigning against redevelopment of the historic Spitalfields area.

Colin co-founded the Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust. In 1977 he joined a sit-in at two 18th-century weavers’ houses and saved them from demolition. In 1981 he joined another sit-in at a Flemish-style building in Spital Square. Other buildings were saved and Spitalfields is now seen having one of the most significant collection of Georgian houses in Greater London, saving the architectural past of the weaving industry for future generations.

Colin was also keen to renovate buildings for himself, which was the reason he appeared in a television series called “Location, Location, Location” in September 2012. The premise of the programme is to take a couple who wish to move house and take them round three other houses selected by the programme’s presenters. The couple then had to chose one to buy, or not, if they don’t like any of them.

Colin Amery and his partner Robin Balance had lived apart for a few years and decided to buy a new house together which they could live in and renovate. Colin and Robin didn’t feel any of the houses the programme’s presenters selected in Cuckfield, Surrey, were what they were looking for. Fortunately, they found another house themselves and moved in. They married in 2014.

Many more people have helped to maintain the UK’s heritage. Whether historians, landowners, members of the public donating to charity, or the Heritage Lottery Fund, there is so much around us that people regard as worthy of keeping. Sites important to the lgbt community are no exception. They have joined thousands of other sites to which the governments in the UK and USA have given special protected status. The Stonewall Inn in New York received protected status a few years ago, and so are a couple of historic gay pubs in London.

Even though the Heritage Open Days are free to the public let’s hope that a new generation, or even an older one, can see hidden parts of our heritage that are worth saving and which remind us all that the past is the only way we have got to the present.

Chain Males : Part 5 - the UK

The final instalment of my mini-series on lgbt mayors beings me back home to the UK. I’ve already covered Lord Mayors and female mayors from the UK and I end with male mayors. As before there are several different criteria for being included but they are all directly elected onto the municipality by the public and hold municipal offices referred to as mayor. Interestingly I have been unable to identify any lgbt mayors, or provosts as they are called, in Scotland.

Here is the distribution map and below that the full list.

Buckinghamshire
Mark Vivis (b.1975)    Amersham 2016

County Down
Andrew Muir               North Down 2013-4

Dyfed
Guy Woodham (b.1968)        Milford Haven 2012-2
William Elliott (b.1988)           Milford Haven 2016-7

East Sussex
E. F. Benson (1867-1940)                Rye 1934-7
Sir Roland Gwynne (1882-1971)     Eastbourne 1928-31

Gloucestershire
Sir Charles Irving (1924-1996)         Cheltenham 1958-60, 1971-2

Greater London
Brian Coleman (b.1961)                   Barnet 2009-10
Marc Cranfield-Adams (b.1960)      Richmond-upon-Thames 2007-8
Bob Crossman (1946-1996)             Islington 1986-7
John Gallagher (b.1948)                  Ealing 2011-2
Philip Glanville                                  Hackney 2016-7
Jeff Hook (b.1954)                           Southwark 2009-10
Jonathan Simpson (b.1970)             Camden 2010-11, 2013-4
Wayne Trakas-Lawlor (b.1966)       Croydon 2016
Christopher Wellbelove                    Lambeth 2009

Gwynedd
John Sam Jones (b.1960)     Barmouth 2014-15

Hereford and Worcester
William, 7th Earl Beauchamp (1872-1838)           Worcester 1895-6
Allan Amos (b.1952)                                             Worcester 2014-5

Kent
Francis Bennett-Goldney (1865-1918)                 Canterbury 1906-11

Lancashire (now part of Greater Manchester)
Sir Cyril Smith (1928-2010)   Rochdale 1966

Nottinghamshire
Ian Campbell (b.1987)           Retford 2010-11

Staffordshire
Mike Wolfe (b.1951)              Stoke on Trent 2002-5
Mark Meredith (b.1965)         Stoke on Trent 2005-9

Surrey
Sahran Abeysundara (b.1974)         Haslemere 2016-17

West Midlands
Andrew Street (b.1963)          West Midlands 2017

In addition to these mayors there have been three Deputy Mayors of London, Sir Simon Milton and Richard Barnes (both in office 2008-11) and Roger Evans (2015-16).

One particularly interesting statistic from an lgbt point of view is that between 2002 and 2007 Stoke-on-Trent had two directly elected mayors and both of them were gay men. Prior to that, and since 2009, the mayor has been selected in the traditional manner by being appointed by the elected councillors. The idea of having a directly elected mayor, as is common in the USA, was a trend begun in the 1990s. Not all cities or municipalities were considered appropriate for such a system but the decision was left to a public referendum in each place. A referendum was held here in Nottingham and we rejected the idea. In Stoke-on-Trent the electorate later voted to abolish the directly elected mayor and return to the traditional appointed mayor.

One area which voted for a directly elected mayor was the county of West Midlands. Generally county councils comprise elected representatives from the towns, city councils and boroughs within them. The leaders of county councils are not generally directly elected by the public. This system explains why there is both a Lord Mayor of London and a Mayor of London. The Lord Mayor is the head of a borough and the Mayor is the head of the county of Greater London.

In 2010 Ian Campbell made national headlines in the UK when he became the youngest mayor in the country at the age of 23 when he was appointed Mayor of Retford, a town I know very well as it is the nearest large town in rural north Nottinghamshire to where I was raised. It is also a place, like my present home in Nottingham, where I have an ancestral connection. As well as being descended from John Tansley, Mayor of Nottingham twice (1399 and 1410), I am also descended from Robert Smeaton who was Senior Bailiff of Retford in 1632 (Senior Bailiff was an alterative title for Mayor; Retford last used the title Senior Bailiff and have used the title Mayor since the 1850s).

A final lgbt mayor to mention is an honorary one. During the London 2012 Olympic Games the athletes’ village had an honorary mayor for the duration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. He was Charles Allen, the Director of the London Organising Committee (LOCOG) who had also been Vice-Chair of the London 2012 Bid. In 2012 he was appointed a life peer with the title Lord Allen of Kensington.

As with all published material the data given in all these Chain Male articles may well be out of date before too long as more elections place lgbt members into mayoral office.