Research into the LGBTQ+ history of Wales
British monk Gildas is one of the best-documented figures of the Christian church in the British Isles during the sub-Roman period and was renowned for his Biblical knowledge and literary style. The Preface of Gildas on Penance is attributed to him and included in it is a reference to penances for sodomy – but the … Read More “6th century” »
1993 The Older Lesbian Network (Wales) is formed in 1993 to provide opportunities for older lesbians who were opposed to discrimination. It was run by volunteers with the aim of encouraging pride and confidence in its members. 1994 American historian John Boswell (1947–1994) publishes Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe (UK title: The Marriage of Likeness: … Read More “1990s” »
Hello sailor!: the hidden history of gay life at sea. Martin relates an anecdote that could have acted as a precursor to the film Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. His ship had docked in an unfamiliar Welsh port, not the most cosmopolitan of places. He and his friend, Gerty G-String, took a look around, realised … Read More “1960s” »
1931 On 14 July Illtyd Harrington is born in Merthyr Tydfil. Harrington was deputy leader of the Greater London Council (1981–84). He was openly gay and lived for fifty years with his partner, Christopher “Chris” Downes, who worked as a theatrical dresser for Laurence Olivier and Maggie Smith. 1933 Stephen Spender (1909–1995), was an English … Read More “1930s” »
1910 PONKY (a village in the parish of Ruabon, about 3 miles south of Wrexham) Mae’r hen arferiad y Morris Dance wedi llwyr gilio, ac nid yw hyny yn golled i neb, gan ei fod wedi dirywio i dduo gwynebau a gwisgo mewn dillad merched, a llymeitian. The old Morris Dance practice has completely disappeared, … Read More “1910s” »
Tom Davies World War I has ended but in the racial cauldron of the slums of Cardiff’s Tiger Bay, a different war begins. Here, Sophie James, a beautiful young Somali whore, plies her dangerous trade. The idealistic Reverend Thomas, believing himself called by God, works among the warring races. The novel features a number of … Read More “Fire in the Bay (1990)” »
“In 1130, Maredudd ap Bleddyn of Powys had his great nephew Llywelyn’s testicles removed and his eyes gouged out. It is unclear what offense Llywelyn had committed against Maredudd to merit this treatment, but events leading up to Llywelyn’s mutilation suggest that Maredudd feared that Llywelyn would become a threat to his own political power. … Read More “12th Century” »
Bran the Blessed Brân the Blessed (Blessed Crow) is a giant and king of Britain in Welsh mythology. Christopher Penczak in his book Gay Witchcraft: Empowering the Tribe claimed ‘Robert Graves, the somewhat controversial author of The White Goddess believed that Bran worshipped by an order of homosexual priests, and Amathon, a version of the … Read More “Antiquity” »
BARTHOLOMEW ROBERTS (1682-1722) Bartholomew Roberts was born in Casnewydd Bach (Little Newcastle) in West Wales in 1682 and became one of the most successful pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy (1650s-1730s). He is believed to have had a relationship with John Waldon. Terry Breverton in his The Book of Welsh Pirates and Buccaneers describes … Read More “17th Century” »
The hero of the following sketch, though now too wealthy to incur adventures such as the one I am about to tell, is, in other respects, so unchanged, that our fair Amalekites will readily guess who sat for this portrait, even if they have not previously heard the tale from the original’s own lips:- Beneath the starlight, uneclipsed … Read More “Short story: The Conquest, or a Mail Companion (1837)” »
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