Shire Hall's Timeline of LGBTQ+ Law and Justice

Over the last 500 years, the law and rights of the LGBTQ+ community in the United Kingdom have changed dramatically. To this day, discussions and debates surrounding LGBTQ+ justice and injustice continue to happen. This timeline provides an overview of some of the key events in the history of LGBTQ+ justice.

1533: The Buggery Act

The ‘Buggery Act’ was the first law introduced into the UK that criminalised homosexuality. Passed during the reign of King Henry VIII, the act made ‘sodomy’ a legal offence, punishable by death. Although the act did not only target homosexuality (this law also applied to sexual relations between a person and an animal), relations between two men or two women were the most common and publicised convictions.

1828: The Offences Against the Person Act

Also known as ‘Lord Lansdowne’s Act’ after the man who proposed it, the ‘Offences Against the Person Act’ attempted to streamline the legal processes in the UK. Eight ‘omnibus’ statutes were created, essentially a collection of laws, which abolished the Buggery Act 1533. This new collection of laws targeted male same-sex activity, whereas previous laws applied to both men and women.

Homosexuality between men remained punishable by death until an updated version of this act was released in 1861. The punishment was then replaced with 10 years imprisonment.

1835: The Last Men Executed for homosexual acts in the UK

James Pratt and John Smith were executed on the 27th November 1835. A chance encounter at an ale house in London brought the pair together, along with another man, William Bonill. The three men became fast friends and Bonill would eventually invite them back to his rented apartment in Southwark, London.

The landlords of the apartment, George and Jane Berkshire, disapproved of the company their tenant kept and so began spying on him through the keyhole of the property. Allegedly, Jane Berkshire had witnessed Pratt and Smith engaging in homosexual acts, despite the majority of the testimony being considered “anatomically impossible”.

Although he was not present, William Bonill was also arrested and found guilty of accessory to the crime. He was sentenced to 14 years transportation to Australia. Their arrest, trial and sentence were all carried out within three months of the men meeting each other.

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Read the full timeline over at Shire Hall's page, here.