Research into the LGBTQ+ history of Wales
In 1897 a short story appeared in a Welsh newspaper written by Clara J Denton (1842-1927) an American writer, the daughter of David Melick Fort and Glorvinia Maloney, and wife of Lemi Bradley Denton whom she married 1865, in Detroit, Michigan. Clara wrote several children’s books as well becoming the first president of the Grand … Read More “Francis or Frances” »
Norena Shopland I came across this old newspaper recently, it is a 1976, 100-year celebration edition of the Glamorgan Gazette. Interesting what you can find when leafing through, such as a bit of cross-dressing from an ‘Old family album’ – Note the intimate touching in both photos –
Of medium height, slight build, clear, healthy complexion, beautiful dark eyes, and black hair that curled in bewitching waves over the fine brow. The possessor of regular, intellectual features; small, delicately-shaped hands, and feet, and a moustache so perfect in its size, its shape, its neatness, and its glossy blackness, that it was the admiration … Read More “A Secret Disclosed: a queer short story (1895)” »
Luke Blaidd (NB: Be advised that this blog contains descriptions of historical queerphobia and mention of 19th Century mistreatment of mentally ill individuals, intersex surgery, death) As ever with these history blogs, I like to draw upon classical history as a metaphor for the journeys I go on when researching queer Welsh history. When studying … Read More “Queer Ancestry- A look into the familial lives of some of Wales’ Queer historical figures” »
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” »
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)” »
1922 Mary Louisa Gordon (1861-1941), a British physician, prison inspector, and author publishes Penal Discipline advocating reforms to the prison system. In the book she recalls: I came across another young woman who was continually in prison for stealing men’s clothes. She had several long sentences. I asked her what would keep her out of … Read More “1920s” »
1842 ROMANCE IN REAL LIFE – Considerable excitement was caused in Tenby, on the 21st ult, by the appearance of a person in male attire, who had a short time before introduced herself to several families in the town as a female and partook of their hospitality under that character. On her first visit she … Read More “1840s” »
