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During practical sessions at the Berkshire Record Office, community volunteers and staff initially discussed and researched the laws that regulated sex between men historically, and located indictments for prosecutions under them. To read more about this process, please do take a look at our Toolkit [2] and the ‘Rural Queer Lives in Berkshire Criminal Archives 1861 – 1967’ Online Exhibition. [3] Utilising the records held at the Berkshire Record Office, the history group then read through the crime and punishment archives and collated lists of men charged and/or convicted for having sex with another male. We utilised the following physical records:
·Reading Borough Quarter Sessions 1836-1969
oCalendars of Prisoners BRO R/JQ7/1-7, 7 bundles [4]
·Petty Sessions Records
oWindsor: PS/WI2 /1-12 1900 – 18 [5]
oReading Borough: PS/R2/1-18, covers the period 1902 – 1919 [6]
·‘After-Trial’ Calendars of Prisoners of the Berkshire Assizes and Quarter Sessions
oQ/SMC/1 – 16, covers period between 1854 to 1930 [7]
·Reading Prison Records
oP/RP1/1 – Records of Admission, Nominal Registers for Reading Prison 1889-1920 [8]
oP/RP1/5 – Photograph Albums of Prisoners, ‘mugshots’ [9]
Due to the COVID-19 lockdowns, the history group transitioned to online research, and utilised online sources, specifically the National Archives’ electronic versions of the Home Office copies of the Calendars of Prisoners, under reference HO 140 in their online catalogue available online, through a partner website, Find my Past, UK. [10]
After collating lists of individuals who experienced the criminal justice system for sex between men, we sought to enquire more about the details of the crime within the British Newspaper Archive, [11] and we started to humanise the individual located by finding more general newspaper stories and life records held within genealogical databases like Ancestry [12] and Find My Past, UK. [13] A number of these biographies can now be located [www.brokenfutures.co.uk/stories].
References included at the bottom of this page.
In the online newspapers databases, like the British Newspaper Archive, the history group researched search terms throughout our two periods of interest: 1861 to 1919 and 1920 to 1967. Due the record closure for data protection, and COVID-19 preventing access to any physical records that may have been searchable, the approach of newspaper research was the only viable option for this period. To do this, we compiled a list of search terms from the following avenues: the guidance and support of Shopland and Leeworthy’s guidebook from their project in Glamorgan Archives in 2018, which provides a detailed coverage of search terms [14] and analysis of the research already completed between 1861 to 1919, utilising the crime and punishment archives and newspaper and genealogical databases. The project team were aware that our second period of interest may relate to individuals who are within living memory, meaning there may be family members or descendants. In some cases, the individuals themselves may still be living. Due to the sensitivity of the stories between these dates, the research group did not compile biographies for the individuals, and instead used a reading of their experiences to pull together a broader understanding of how sex between men was regulated between 1920 to 1967. To read more about our findings from research within this area, please visit our toolkit and our museum exhibition focused on Berkshire’s general ties to the history of regulation for sex between men. [15]
References included at the bottom of this page.
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References
[1] A note on terminology, the use of the term ‘sex between men’ will be used to cover both acts of penetrative anal sex and any other sexualised behaviour that is encompassed by a charge or conviction of gross indecency and attempted buggery.
[2] Accessible: www.brokenfutures.co.uk/toolkit
[3] Online Exhibition available at: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/online-exhibitions/rural-queer-lives-berkshire-criminal-archives
[4] Access available to view the Berkshire Record Office’s Catalogue covering the Reading Borough Quarter Session Calendars. http://ww2.berkshirenclosure.org.uk/calmview/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=R%2fJ%2fQ%2f7
[5] Berkshire Record Office Catalogue Reference: http://ww2.berkshirenclosure.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=PSWI%2f2
[6] Berkshire Record Office Catalogue Reference: http://ww2.berkshirenclosure.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=PSR%2f2
[7] Berkshire Record Office Catalogue Reference: http://ww2.berkshirenclosure.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=Q%2fS%2fM%2fC
[8] Berkshire Record Office Catalogue Reference: http://ww2.berkshirenclosure.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=PRP1%2f1p
[9] Berkshire Record Office Catalogue Reference: http://ww2.berkshirenclosure.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=PRP1%2f5
[10] National Archives, Kew, Ho 140, ‘Home Office: Calendar of Prisoners 1868 – 1971’, Searchable online: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9004 and through partner website: https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/england-and-wales-crime-prisons-and-punishment-1770-1935
[11] British Newspaper Archive, accessible: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk Please note: this website requires the user to hold a paid subscription.
[12] Ancestry, UK: www.ancestry.co.uk Please note: this website requires the user to hold a paid subscription.
[13] Find my Past, UK: www.findmypast.co.uk Please note: this website requires the user to hold a paid subscription.
[14] Norena Shopland and Dr Daryl Leeworthy , ‘Queering Glamorgan: A Research Guide to Sources for the Study of LGBT History’ (Glamorgan Archives 2018) available at: https://glamarchives.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Queering-Glamorgan-28Aug2018.pdf accessed 22/03/2021
[15] Online Exhibition available at: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/online-exhibitions/rural-queer-lives-berkshire-criminal-archives