General

Warning: this blog and accompanying document contain references to sexual acts and to acts of sexual violence. 

February is LGBT+ History Month. In this blog we explore how you can use Quarter Sessions records to learn more about LGBT+ history. 

Male homosexuality was illegal in England and Wales until the 1967 Sexual Offences Act decriminalised sexual acts between two consenting males over the age of 21 conducted in private. In 1994 the age of consent was lowered to 18 for gay men. Male homosexuality was decriminalised in Scotland in 1980. Until 1861 sex between men was a crime punishable by death. Same sex relationships between women have never been illegal in the United Kingdom.  

Stories of queer relationships in archive collections are difficult to uncover. The National Archives’ Research Guide How To Look For Records of Sexual Identity And Gender (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/gay-lesbian-history/) provides useful source suggestions regarding records that they hold. One of the issues researchers face is around vocabulary. Because relationships were secretive it is very difficult to pick out references to gay relationships from catalogue descriptions. The National Archives Guide includes a useful section around possible search terms. 

Male homosexuality was considered such a serious offence that criminal cases were heard at the Assize Courts. These courts were held in the main county towns and were presided over by visiting judges from the higher London courts. The Assize Courts heard capital cases – cases punishable by death.  Records of the Assize Courts are held at The National Archives and are not easily accessible remotely. Within the Northumberland Quarter Sessions records Northumberland Archives holds a series of Calendars of Prisoners, 1875-1971 (ref: Q/S/CP). The Calendars record brief details of cases held at the Quarter Sessions Courts (local courts that heard less serious cases) and also details of Assize Courts cases. Local and national newspapers recorded Assize Court cases so another possible source is the British Newspaper Archive (available to view online for a fee at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk). Northumberland Library users can access the British Newspaper Archives in Northumberland Libraries and in our searchrooms. 

As a small research exercise we looked through volume 3 of the Calendar of Prisoners to see how many trials we were able to find. The volume covers the period March 1888 to November 1894 and we were able to discover four trials. Two cases were heard at the Summer Assizes of 1891. In the first John Reed, a 59-year-old forgeman, and Thomas Simpson, a 37-year-old miner, were found guilty of “attempting to commit the act of sodomy”. John Reed was sentenced to 15 months hard labour and Thomas Simpson to 18 months hard labour.  

The second case was heard at the same court sitting. Thomas Cullen, a 30-year-old sailor, was found guilty of “attempting to commit sodomy” and sentenced to 5 years penal servitude. The third case was heard at the Autumn Assizes where Frederick Henry Grieg, a 37-year-old sailor and John Dixon, a 17-year-old sailor, were found guilty of committing an act of gross indecency and sentenced to four calendar months hard labour and two calendar months hard labour respectively. Lastly, at the Autumn Assizes of 1893, Thomas Lough, a 16-year-old tailor, and Robert Hume, aged 15, were found guilty of unlawfully committing an act of gross indecency with each other and were asked to find one surety (or bond) in the sum of £10 to be of good behaviour and to come up for judgement when called upon. 

It is interesting (and harrowing) to compare the crimes recorded in the Calendars shown here. The other cases tried by the Assize court were all violent attacks by one person on another: murder/manslaughter and rape. In contrast, what seem to be consensual acts where no-one is hurt are defined as “against the order of nature”.   

The Calendars provide only the basic information about each case and to discover more background it would be necessary to look at the case papers held by The National Archives. This series of records have been weeded so not all survive. The variance is sentencing in the above cases is interesting and access to the papers may provide insight into this. We were able to find brief newspaper accounts of the first three cases using The British Newspaper Archive website. In each case the report provided some further details about the case.  

The section at the bottom of this illustration follows across a double page in the calendar. John Reed received the same sentence (“the like”) as the prisoner above him on the calendar who was found guilty of raping a woman. Both prisoners received 15 months imprisonment with hard labour. 

Continuing with the work Assistants have been undertaking to summarize the archive’s oral history recordings, I have been listing to an interview with Nancy Clarke from 2015. Nancy had kindly shared her time with us to recount her experiences with the Women’s Institute in the Wark area. 

Nancy joined the WI aged 16 in 1933 at the Carham and Wark branch. Before cars were common, life in rural Northumberland could feel far more isolated. Nancy’s mother had never been a formal member because the three-mile journey to meetings was too much after a long day of work but she did sometimes help friends with organizing the activities. Likewise, Nancy’s work friends were members and invited her to a meeting just to see whether she would enjoy it. Despite the formal atmosphere the Institute provided an opportunity to learn new skills and meet new people with the social nights providing a particular highlight. These social nights required a lot of planning but routinely featured concert parties, poetry, song and guest speakers sharing their knowledge. 

A typical meeting could involve lectures on subjects such as health, cookery and raising children. In the early days meetings could be quite dry and formal so Nancy could be shy to contribute but over the years the organization grew more friendly and inclusive, giving members the opportunity to chat, especially during tea-breaks. More craft skills were introduced which included dressmaking, quilting, decoupage and cake icing, skills which Nancy used for friends. 

During WW2 the WI members of Carham met each day to make jam for the war effort. The sugar was provided, the jars were sterilized and members brought along any fruit they could find including raspberry and rhubarb. Members also knitted socks, scarves and balaclavas which proved difficult work at night in blackout conditions. Nancy felt her main contribution to the war effort was looking after two boy evacuees from Tynemouth who stayed until long after the war. 

The WI arranged a full-day outing every year with a meal at the end. In some years they would also go on a Mystery Tour which provided a lot of fun for members, guessing where the destination would be for bets of 10p which would go to the winner. Trips included a Tyne cruise from Newcastle and places in Scotland. 

Nancy gradually advanced through the ranks of the WI becoming an Assistant and Vice President before attaining the role of President. She had remained shy but, supported by a professional and caring committee, found the ability to speak up for herself which helped with her duties welcoming and encouraging new members and leading the meeting ceremonies. She had skills and experience at Denman College and fondly recalled the experience of attending the Annual General Meetings at the Royal Albert Hall and the power of the spectacle of the uniformed choir singing Jerusalem. 

When Nancy retired in 2014 she had been President for 40 years and witnessed massive change. Her contribution was recognized with an English Heritage “Care in the Community” award for the Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria area. Her most proud moment, however, was the night of her 90^th birthday when a talk from her son David as guest speaker concluded with a surprise meal and entertainment. 

Taken from an oral history, NRO T-959 (NRO 10888), Womens Institute 

In 1924 Dr Ethel Williams and her lifelong companion Frances Hardcastle chose to retire to a corner of Northumberland to a house that they had built together, Low Bridges at Stocksfield.  Two extraordinary, determined and active women, who in many respects lived ahead of their times. 

Ethel Mary Nucella Williams was born in Cromer, Norfolk, the daughter of a country squire and is the better known of the two ladies.  She was physician, suffragist, pacifist and car driver.  After qualifying as a doctor, which had included travelling to Vienna and Paris to obtain practical experience as women were not able to train in British hospitals, Ethel came to settle in Newcastle.  In 1906, she became the first women in the city to open a general medical practice alongside Dr Ethel Bentham in Ellison Place, later moving to Osborne Terrace, Jesmond.  She worked tirelessly to promote issues affecting health and wellbeing of women and children, especially amongst the poor.   In 1917 she founded the Northern Women’s Hospital on Osborne Road (now the Nuffield Health Clinic).  By the time she retired from general practice there were 14 women doctors’ in Newcastle.   During the First World War, Ethel supported the pacifist aims of the International Congress of Women and highlighted the impact of naval blockades on starving refugees. 

Ethel was a tireless advocate of women’s suffrage; she was an active member of the Suffragist movement (The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, NUWSS), believing that suffrage should be achieved through non-violent means.  She went on to become the chair of the North East Society of Women’s Suffrage, and reportedly as the first woman in the north of England to own a car this came in very useful for organising marches and processions.  Ethel was said to have ‘unflagging energy’; she spoke at rallies, attended demonstrations and was involved in marches, including one from Newcastle to London.  In 2018 to mark the centenary of some women getting the vote, a ‘blue plaque’ was mounted on her former residence in Osborne Terrace to mark her many achievements. 

Frances Hardcastle was born near Chelmsford, Essex, her father was a barrister and her maternal grandfather was Sir John Herschel the astronomer.  Frances’ background was in mathematics, being a founding member of the American Mathematical Society in 1894 whilst studying at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania.  Like Ethel, she was also an advocate for women’s suffrage, joining the Cambridge Association for Women’s Suffrage whilst at Girton College, and later working as Honorary Secretary of the NUWSS until 1909 under Millicent Fawcett, supporting the non-violent stance.  Like Ethel she supported the aims of the International Congress of Women, travelling to Zurich in 1919. 

How and when exactly Ethel and Frances became acquainted is unclear, however, it was undoubtedly through their shared interest of women’s suffrage.   

The Second Annual Report of the North Eastern Federation of Women’s Suffrage dated April 1912 records Dr. Ethel Williams as a member of the Executive Committee for Newcastle upon Tyne and Miss Hardcastle as Honorary Secretary; the address given for Frances is Osborne Terrace (no address is given for Ethel).  The 1915 Annual Report records both ladies living at 3 Osborne Terrace, although Ethel was now ‘chairman’ and Frances added Treasurer to her duties. 

On 18^th June 1913, the Newcastle Evening Chronicle newspaper reported on a 50-strong suffragist walk from Newcastle to London with the aim of engaging “in propaganda work en route” to a larger gathering to be held at Hyde Park, London the following month.  Ethel addressed the group before setting off, and then alongside Frances and Miss C.M. Gordon, organising secretary, they followed in a motor-car, probably Ethel’s own. 

The Electoral Registers between 1918 and 1924 show Ethel and Frances registered to vote at 3 Osborne Terrace, Jesmond Ward, Northumberland; their right to vote recorded as ‘O’ meaning ‘occupational qualification’.   

In 1924 they moved to Low Bridges, Stocksfield a house that was purpose built for them upon Ethel’s retirement from general practice.  A copy of the architects’ plan for the proposed house has recently been discovered at Northumberland Archives.  The property and its ‘famous garden’ was opened at a charge of 6d. to benefit Stocksfield Show in 1939; it was described as “by the side of a delightful natural dene with a running stream and many wild cherry trees.  Full advantage has been made of this and rock plants and spring flowers clothe the natural slopes”. 

The Newcastle Journal reported on 2^nd December 1936 that Ethel and Frances attended a Women’s Club dinner to listen to the address by Mrs. Walter Elliot, wife of the Secretary of State for Scotland and sister-in-law of Mr. Asquith (former Liberal Primer Minister).  The article describes them as founder-members of the Club, stating that Ethel worn raspberry lace and Frances burgundy velvet (the article gave almost as much detail of the dress of the attendees as it did the speech). 

The 1939 Register, records the occupants of Low Bridges in Stocksfield as Ethel and Frances along with their private secretary Mabel Annie Burnip and two female domestic servants.   

Frances died on 26^th December 1941 at The Royal Hotel, Cambridge.  The National Probate Calendar shows that she left her effects of £4,400 to Ethel and Mabel.  The following year Ethel left Low Bridges; the Newcastle Journal reporting in August 1942 that she was moving “for what probably will be the duration of the war, though her plans for the future are as yet indefinite”.  The uncertainty of the article is at odds with the direction and motivation that Ethel displayed in former years.  Perhaps it was grief that drove her away, but she returned to Newcastle, volunteering to help with air raid casualties.  The Electoral Registers for 1945 show Ethel and Mabel residing at 125 Osborne Road, Jesmond ward. 

 In 1945 Low Bridges was advertised to let in the Newcastle Journal, for ‘summer months’, possibly signaling a return.  Ethel did return, her death in 1948 is recorded as being ‘at home’ in Stocksfield.  In her will she left an estate of £31,659 Mabel was a beneficiary. 

Mabel stayed in the area, living in Stocksfield before she passed away in 1984 at Riding Mill.  Her estate of £128,893 was given mostly to charitable causes that undoubtedly both Ethel and Frances would have approved off. Two scholarship funds were set up, both in memory Ethel.  The M.A. Burnip scholarship was established with funds from Mabel’s will for the general purposes of Newcastle University in memory of Dr. Ethel Williams.  The Ethel Williams scholarship was created for graduates, male or female, of the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London, to provide additional experience or research at home or abroad.  Funds were also left for the upkeep of Ethel’s grave in Stocksfield.  All of which points to an incredibly strong bond and relationship based on admiration and respect between Ethel and Mabel following Frances’ death. 

In many of the articles Ethel and Frances are described as ‘lifelong companions’.   Female homosexuality was not legislated against (attempts to introduce legislation in 1921 were abandoned due to the fear that drawing attention to it may encourage women to explore homosexuality), but undoubtedly would have been considered highly unusual at best.   It would, however, be wrong to assume the sexuality of either woman or presume to know the exact nature of the relationship they shared; it is clear that their lifestyle would not have been considered the ‘norm’ for women of the time: it was a  “long-term and obviously close relationship these two intelligent women had; both lived unconventional lives for the time, being similarly politically aligned and active, not getting married and having children, choosing to lead financially independent lives”.  

REFERENCES: 

Dr Ethel Williams (1863-1948)’, in Angels of the North Notable Women of the North East by Joyce Quinn & Moira Kilkenny, 2018 

British Medical Journal, February 1921, 1948, p.369, accessed via https://www.bmj.com/archive/

https://www.ancestrylibraryedition.co.uk/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-44872778

https://www.bl.uk/lgbtq-histories/articles/a-short-history-of-lgbt-rights-in-the-uk#

https://co-curate.ncl.ac.uk/ethel-williams/

https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/ (“National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies.  North Eastern Federation of Women’s Suffrage Societies”, annual reports 1912 and 1915. 

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/ (including newspaper articles from Newcastle Evening Chronicle and Newcastle Journal) 

https://peoplepill.com/people/frances-hardcastle/

https://search.ncl.ac.uk/s/search.html?collection=neu-meta&profile=_default&query=burnip

https://womenvotepeace.com/women/ethel-williams-bio/

https://womenvotepeace.com/women/frances-hardcastle-bio/