Rigby's downfall came in 1698, on Saturday the 5th of November, Guy Fawkes Night, while watching fireworks in St James's Park. And a dandy his full-bottomed wig is absolutely fabulous he wears two rings, an index ring and a pinky ring, which show up on my gaydar. Perhaps he is a bit pompous, but he has an amiable face, not arrogant he is simply a strutting peacock. This is a wonderful "swagger" portrait #150 Rigby is mightily pleased with himself: he has achieved something. The inscription on the mezzotint shows that he was from a gentry family in Lancashire, and bore a coat of arms. The original oil portrait (not traced) was probably made around this time. In 1695 Rigby was made captain of the Dragon, a 40-gun man-of-war. The background of his portrait (above) shows the burning ship Soleil Royal that he captured at La Hogue in 1692. I begin with the very first victim of entrapment, Captain Edward Rigby.Ĭaptain Rigby was a fairly prominent naval commander because he had won a couple of prizes in naval battles with the French.
#Book collector heber series
I'm going to give a series of snapshots for three historical periods: the Late Stuart period, then the mid-Georgian period, then the Romantic or Regency period. Happily none of the men in my survey were hanged. Of course the mere imputation of what were called "unnatural inclinations" was enough to destroy a gentleman's reputation.
The penalty was usually a short imprisonment, a fine, and to be stood in the pillory which itself was dangerous, and many men were killed by the crowd while standing in the pillory.
We don't know the absolute figures, because statistics weren't kept until the 19th century.Īlthough most historians have focused on the dramatic and terrible incidents of men hanged for the felony of sodomy, in fact most prosecutions were for the misdemeanour of "attempted sodomy" this involved any sort of indecent behaviour between men, including groping and kissing and solicitation of sex. (This was true even for crimes such as highway robbery or murder.) Partly due to financial support from the Society for the Reformation of Manners, about 200 men were hanged in the 18th century, and several thousand were imprisoned, fined, and put in the pillory. Prosecutions at this time were paid for by the victim or someone on their behalf, not by the government or the court of law. This was mainly due to the activities of a moral reform group called the Society for the Reformation of Manners. Sodomy had been a crime punishable by death since the Buggery Act of 1533, but it wasn't until the beginning of the 18th century that systematic prosecutions began. The kind of behaviour that most of these men engaged in is no longer deemed to be illegal in England, but in their own day there was a real possibility that they could have been hanged, or at least would have had to stand in the pillory. Specifically I'm going to focus on men who had to flee the country to avoid prosecution or punishment following scandalous revelations about their sexual relations with other men. The subjects of the article are the Exiles and Outcasts whose portraits are represented in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
This article is based on a talk I gave on 5 February 2015 at the National Portrait Galley, London, as part of the Queer Perspectives Series hosted by the artist Sadie Lee. Exiles and Outcasts A Gay Heritage Guide to London's National Portrait Gallery
0 kommentar(er)
