Boulton and Park
Encyclopedia
Ernest Boulton and Frederick William Park were two Victorian transvestites and suspected homosexuals who appeared as defendants in a celebrated trial in London
in 1871, charged "with conspiring and inciting persons to commit an unnatural offence". After the prosecution failed to establish that they had had anal sex
, which was then a crime, or that wearing women's clothing was in any sense a crime, both men were acquitted.
Boulton (1848 — 1905), son of a stockbroker, and Park were great friends who liked to cruise round London night-spots in drag and were often mistaken for women. Boulton had liked wearing female clothing from childhood and was encouraged in his impersonations of maids and other women by his mother; he used the nickname "Stella". Park, for his part, went under the soubriquet of "Fanny". A third person involved in the affair was Lord Arthur Clinton, who had lived with "Stella" as his/her "husband" and had exchanged love letters with him.
Boulton and Park were arrested at the Strand Theatre
on 28 April 1870 and subject to an intimate examination by a police doctor in order to establish whether they had had anal sex. Despite this and a subsequent examination proving inconclusive both men were committed for trial.
The indictment was against Lord Arthur Clinton, Ernest Boulton, Frederic Park, Louis Hurt, John Fiske, Martin Gumming, William Sommerville and C.H. Thompson. The last three absconded before the trial. Lord Arthur died on 18 June, the day after receiving his subpoena for the trial, ostensibly of scarlet fever but more probably a suicide.
The trial was presided over by Sir Alexander Cockburn
, the Lord Chief Justice. At the hearing Boulton and Park's lifestyle attracted great public interest, especially when a trunkful of their dresses was brought in as evidence. However, the unreliability of the witnesses and the breach of human rights involved in their physical examination by the police without higher authority swayed opinion in their favour. The prosecution was unable to prove that they had either committed any homosexual offence or that men wearing women's clothing was an offence in English law. Cockburn's summing up was critical of the prosecution case and the police's violation of the defendants' rights. After deliberating for fifty three minutes the jury found them not guilty.
The case demonstrated the relative freedom of the Victorian homosexual sub-culture at this time before the Labouchere Amendment
later in the century made it easier for the authorities to prosecute homosexual men, as in the celebrated trial of Oscar Wilde
.
Boulton and Park appear as characters in The Sins of the Cities of the Plain
(1881) a pioneering work of homosexual pornographic literature. In this story the cross-dressing narrator recounts how he meets Boulton and Park dressed up as women at Haxell's Hotel in the Strand
with Lord Arthur trailing along behind. Later on the narrator spends the night at Boulton and Park's rooms in Eaton Square
and the next day has breakfast with them "all dressed as ladies".
Boulton and Park appear in the play Lord Arthur's Bed
(2008) by English playwright Martin Lewton. The play premièred at the Brighton Festival on 14 May 2008. It subsequently toured nationally in 2008, and transferred to Dublin in 2009.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1871, charged "with conspiring and inciting persons to commit an unnatural offence". After the prosecution failed to establish that they had had anal sex
Anal sex
Anal sex is the sex act in which the penis is inserted into the anus of a sexual partner. The term can also include other sexual acts involving the anus, including pegging, anilingus , fingering, and object insertion.Common misconception describes anal sex as practiced almost exclusively by gay men...
, which was then a crime, or that wearing women's clothing was in any sense a crime, both men were acquitted.
Boulton (1848 — 1905), son of a stockbroker, and Park were great friends who liked to cruise round London night-spots in drag and were often mistaken for women. Boulton had liked wearing female clothing from childhood and was encouraged in his impersonations of maids and other women by his mother; he used the nickname "Stella". Park, for his part, went under the soubriquet of "Fanny". A third person involved in the affair was Lord Arthur Clinton, who had lived with "Stella" as his/her "husband" and had exchanged love letters with him.
Boulton and Park were arrested at the Strand Theatre
Strand Theatre
- England :* Royal Strand Theatre, London* Strand Theatre , London in the United States...
on 28 April 1870 and subject to an intimate examination by a police doctor in order to establish whether they had had anal sex. Despite this and a subsequent examination proving inconclusive both men were committed for trial.
The indictment was against Lord Arthur Clinton, Ernest Boulton, Frederic Park, Louis Hurt, John Fiske, Martin Gumming, William Sommerville and C.H. Thompson. The last three absconded before the trial. Lord Arthur died on 18 June, the day after receiving his subpoena for the trial, ostensibly of scarlet fever but more probably a suicide.
The trial was presided over by Sir Alexander Cockburn
Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet
Sir Alexander James Edmund Cockburn, 12th Baronet Q.C. was a Scottish lawyer, politician and judge. A notorious womaniser and socialite, as Lord Chief Justice he heard some of the leading causes célèbres of the 19th century.-Life:Cockburn was born in Alţâna, in what is now Romania and was then...
, the Lord Chief Justice. At the hearing Boulton and Park's lifestyle attracted great public interest, especially when a trunkful of their dresses was brought in as evidence. However, the unreliability of the witnesses and the breach of human rights involved in their physical examination by the police without higher authority swayed opinion in their favour. The prosecution was unable to prove that they had either committed any homosexual offence or that men wearing women's clothing was an offence in English law. Cockburn's summing up was critical of the prosecution case and the police's violation of the defendants' rights. After deliberating for fifty three minutes the jury found them not guilty.
The case demonstrated the relative freedom of the Victorian homosexual sub-culture at this time before the Labouchere Amendment
Labouchere Amendment
The Labouchere Amendment, also known as Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 made gross indecency a crime in the United Kingdom. The amendment gave no definition of "gross indecency," as Victorian morality demurred from precise descriptions of activity held to be immoral...
later in the century made it easier for the authorities to prosecute homosexual men, as in the celebrated trial of Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
.
Boulton and Park appear as characters in The Sins of the Cities of the Plain
The Sins of the Cities of the Plain
The Sins of the Cities of the Plain; or, The Recollections of a Mary-Ann, with Short Essays on Sodomy and Tribadism is a pornographic book written anonymously under the pseudonym "Jack Saul", one of the first exclusively homosexual pieces of pornographic literature ever written in English...
(1881) a pioneering work of homosexual pornographic literature. In this story the cross-dressing narrator recounts how he meets Boulton and Park dressed up as women at Haxell's Hotel in the Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
with Lord Arthur trailing along behind. Later on the narrator spends the night at Boulton and Park's rooms in Eaton Square
Eaton Square
Eaton Square is a residential garden square in London's Belgravia district. It is one of the three garden squares built by the Grosvenor family when they developed the main part of Belgravia in the 19th century, and is named after Eaton Hall, the Grosvenor country house in Cheshire...
and the next day has breakfast with them "all dressed as ladies".
Boulton and Park appear in the play Lord Arthur's Bed
Lord Arthur's Bed
Lord Arthur's Bed is a play by English playwright Martin Lewton. The play premiered at the Brighton Festival in on 14 May 2008. It subsequently toured nationally in 2008, and transferred to Dublin in 2009....
(2008) by English playwright Martin Lewton. The play premièred at the Brighton Festival on 14 May 2008. It subsequently toured nationally in 2008, and transferred to Dublin in 2009.