Shire Hall - The Crichel Boys for LGBTQ+ History Month

The Crichel Boys were a group of queer friends, who despite the discriminatory stigmas and laws of the 20th century, accepted and embraced their sexuality. Taking a look at the story of these men tells us about the history of queer love, right here in Dorset.

Long Crichel House, which was formerly built as a rectory during the reign of Queen Anne, was purchased by a group of men in 1945 for the sum of £7,500. This group, known as ‘The Crichel Boys’ (and sometimes ‘The Bears’ or ‘The Bachelors’) included Desmond Taylor-Shaw, Edward Sackville-West, Eardley Knollys and Raymond Mortimer. All of these men were heavily involved in the worlds of art, music and literature. Eardley Knollys and Raymond Mortimer were both art critics, and Desmond Taylor-Shawe and Edward Sackville-West were music critics, in addition to their work as art dealers, novelists and editors.

Upon meeting in the spring of 1945, the group of friends explored the idea of purchasing a property in the countryside, which they could all visit at weekends and holidays, embracing a style of communal living. After a short search for the right property, the men moved into Long Crichel House in early August. The Crichel Boys enjoyed visits from a collective of friends, such as E.M Forster, James Lees-Milne, Francis Partridge, Greta Garbo and Cecil Beaton, creating a so-called ‘literary saloon’, similar to that of The Bloomsbury Group. It was here that the men spent the next few decades celebrating not only their love of the arts, music and literature but also their queer identities.

Despite the oppressive societal norms and sexual standards of the 20th century, which heavily criticised and discriminated against homosexuals, this group of men embraced their sexuality.

Raymond Mortimer had a long-term relationship with partner Paul Hyslop, who was an architect, and the pair shared a house in Canonbury. Eardley Knollys lost the man he was in a relationship with during an air raid but later fell in love with Mattei Radev, who ran a picture-framing business and was known for his involvement with E.M. Forster for a time. Shawe-Taylor was known to be the most sexually carefree of the men, attracting partners by advertising troopers’ breeches for sale in the columns of Exchange and Mart.

Unlike his peers, however, Edward Sackville-West often struggled with his sexuality. Sackville-West was known to have fallen in love with Benjamin Britten, a composer, conductor, and pianist. He was also rumoured to have involvement with Paul Latham, a conservative MP who was imprisoned for homosexual offences during the war. Despite the men’s array of homosexual relationships, none of the Crichel Boys ever engaged in sexual relations together, and merely remained friends during their time living together.

When looking at the oppressive and discriminatory legislation that punished homosexual men during this period, it is clear how courageous these men were in defying society’s sexual standards and expectations. The 1533 ‘Buggery Act’, passed by Henry VIII, was the very first instance of the English Parliament passing legislation that persecuted homosexual men for sodomy, which was deemed a capital offence. It was not until the 1861 ‘Offences Against a Person’s Act’ that the death penalty was revoked and instead replaced with the punishment of up to 10 years imprisonment.

Further changes occurred following the 1885 ‘Labouchere Amendment’ to the ‘Criminal Law Amendment Act’, which deemed all homosexual acts of ‘gross indecency’ illegal, even in the privacy of one’s home, with or without a witness. The specifics surrounding the act were so ambiguous that no concrete proof was required to be able to persecute the accused, and in turn, the act was coined ‘The Blackmailer’s Charter’. With this legislation still in place in 1945, the Crichel Boys faced potential scrutiny and persecution for their choice to live communally (even though their relationships remained platonic). It was a later addition to the Crichel Boys, however, who was instrumental in decriminalising homosexual acts in the UK.

In the mid-1960s, Patrick Trevor-Roper, an ophthalmologist and gay rights activist, bought a share in Long Crichel House. Before this, in 1955, Patrick Trevor-Roper was one of three openly gay men involved in ‘The Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution’, also known as the ‘Wolfenden Report’. The Government assigned the Wolfenden Committee the task of investigating male homosexuality, to ascertain whether gay relations should remain a criminal act.

Through his involvement in the 3-year enquiry, Patrick gave several oral testimonies and written accounts that highlighted numerous ‘social evils’ as a result of the current homosexuality laws, such as blackmail, corrupt police officers and the high suicide rates in gay men. Patrick argued homosexual men did not pose a threat to either children or the morality of the public and that the laws merely worked to isolate gay men and allow for blackmailing.

After considering the interviews and statements of those involved, The Wolfenden Committee recommended that ‘homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence’. While the ‘Wolfenden Report’ was initially rejected by the Government, the findings eventually led to the 1967 ‘Sexual Offences Act’, which legalised same-sex acts in the U.K. for men over the age of 21, in private, which was accepted by the House of Lords and The Church of England.

The Crichel Boys led lives that largely conflicted with the societal norms of the period, as they daringly accepted and embraced their homosexuality. During their time living communally at Long Crichel House, these men not only witnessed but at times were instrumental to some of the most revolutionary changes to LGBTQ+ laws in history. Taking a look at their lives, we can see that despite being largely ignored in history, queer life and love did exist in the rural countryside, and at times it was here that it thrived.

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