I’m delighted that Dr Seth Stein LeJacq, my friend and colleague in queer maritime historiography, is bringing out his new book and giving a free zoom talk.
Seth is an expert on the Royal Navy’s GBTQ+ history pre1900. By contrast, I know about the merchant service, from 1900. We dovetail well. I constantly learn from his findings - including Jane Austen's brother's role in judging a midshipman's alleged heterosexual assault of a girl.
If you want to see a collection of important records of 'gay' naval history, as evidenced by “the unnatural and detestable sin of buggery’ and how the Royal Navy handled 'homosexuality' – and more – then explore these transcripts. They reveal:
- trials that erupted into public scandals
- cases that offer a vivid window into naval sexual cultures
- implicitly, varying attitudes towards diversity, human rights and inclusion that contrast with today's social climate
Seth, an Assistant Professor at New York Institute of Technology, accompanies this verbatim material with invaluable editorial commentary. Together such material opens up an obscured past that is usually only accessible to those able to spend months in London archives reading handwritten ledgers.
From November 9 2023: Pre-order a discount copy of Seth’s edited collection: Sexual and Gender Difference in the British Navy, 1690-1900, Routledge, London. ISBN 9781032409900. https://www.routledge.com/Sexual-and-Gender-Difference-in-the-British-Navy-1690-1900/LeJacq/p/book/9781032409900
January 30, 2024: Catch his free online talk ‘Recovering the Queer History of Britain’s Navy in the Age of Sail’. From 5.15pm to 6.30pm, by Zoom only, from the National Maritime Museum, London, UK . There is no need to book. Just before 5.15pm on the day simply click. For more information please go to https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/online/recovering-queer-history-britains-navy-age-sail
Seth finds gender and sexual diversity on naval ships, and a surprising amount of tolerance for that diversity. The talk will ‘investigate sexual cultures at sea, discipline and military justice, including the 1698 trial of Captain Edward Rigby. See pic.
Seth will tackle some FAQs about GBT+ maritime history:
• What is the queer history of the Royal Navy in the age of sail?
• How did seafaring men break their society’s rules about sex and gender?
• To what extent did men enter into same-sex relationships, how and why?
• ‘Queer’ can mean non-conforming, especially in social relationships. So in what other ways did that these men also act in other ways that men ‘weren’t supposed to’?
• What were the consequences of their diversity?
• How can we learn more about these seafarers’ lives?
• Why is it so important to know about LGBT+ lives?
Learning more
Going deeper, sooner: get instant free online access to both lite and academic pieces in the writing section of his website https://www.sethlejacq.com/our-team
Going wider, in terms of periods and navies: see my online timeline of Queer seafaring history in both Royal and Merchant navies in the UK, up to the present day: https://www.academia.edu/101174182/Timeline_LGBT_maritime_history_A_draft_you_can_add_to_Please_do_. (Please feel free to add to it. Doing history is a cumulative ongoing process and you can enrich it.)
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