The Bloomsbury Group: A Queer History - Nino Strachey

This lecture will explore the world of the second Bloomsbury generation, delving into the intricacies of being young and queer in the 1920s, and how their open way of living and loving is still relevant to our present day. Lesser known than their predecessors, they continued the celebration of freedom of expression and creativity.

The lecture will introduce artists and intellectuals such as Eddy Sackville-West, Stephen Tomlin and Julia Strachey, who led an unapologetic life by pushing gender boundaries and social conventions, as well as exploring gender fluidity and pansexuality.

This lecture was recorded by Nino Strachey on 11th June 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/queer-bloomsbury

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Transcript

0:06

Hello, I am delighted to be here this evening talking about the queer history of the Blooms Street Group. I'm going to start by focusing on the younger associates of the Blooms Street Group in the 1920s, uh, looking at what it meant to be young and queer a hundred years ago, and how their open way of living and loving is still relevant to the present day. So in the years before the First World War, a collection of writers and artists began to make a name for themselves in England and America celebrated for their irreverent spirit and provocative works of literature and art, uh, including Litten Strait, she, Virginia Wolf, Vanessa Bell, and Duncan Grant. They called themselves the Bloomsbury Group. And by the 1920s, they were at the height of their influence. Then a new generation stepped forward, creative young people who tantalized their elders with their captivating looks and bold ideas. Some were the children of Bloomsbury families. Others were lovers who became friends most remarkably for the period. They were a group of queer young people who found the freedom to express their sexuality. Amidst a group of supportive adults to a 21st century world still riven by homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia, they provide a powerful historical example of the benefits of acceptance. Bloomsbury had always celebrated sexual equality and freedom in private feeling that every person had the right to live and love in the way they chose. But as transgressive self-expression became more public, this younger generation gave old Bloomsbury a new voice. Together, they pioneered an exte inclusive way of living, not seen for another century, a brief flowering of intergenerational acceptance, pushing at gender boundaries, floating conventions, embracing sexual freedom. So first of all, talking about old Bloomsbury. So the Bloomsbury Group had gained a controversial reputation before the First World War. By the twenties, they reached a new level of commercial success. Blooms Bri's, irreverent spirit struck a chord with this post-war generation reaching an audience eager to challenge traditional conventions. Young people who met them in person was struck by their frank approach to life and love. It was rare to find an older group so open to new ideas. So accepting of different sexualities. Meeting your heroes was easier when most of them lived next door to each other. Uh, Vogue's October, 1925 edition provided a helpful guide to the Bloomsbury area of London, the Strait. She family, Vanessa Bell, Clive Bell, Duncan Grant, and Main a cas were all in Gordon Square and Virginia and Leonard Wolf were just around the corner in Tavistock Square, living above their Hogarth press. Now it's easy to imagine the Bloomsbury group running on a small, smooth pass towards success in continuous occupation of their favored territory in London. But their habitat was in fact the result of determined action dispersed during the First World War. The friends came back together in the twenties, like homing, pigeons, reassembling in the streets around 46 Gordon Square, the home to which Vanessa and Virginia, Steven had escaped after the death of their father in 1904, seeking a life free from adult interference. It was here that the Steven Sisters had first got to know the Cambridge friends of their brothers, Toby and Adrian, finding new ways to connect, a commitment to honest communication between the sexes to freedom in creativity, to openness in all sexual matters, a family of choice. They created ties of love that lasted a lifetime, embracing queerness, acknowledging difference, defying traditional moral codes with Litten Strait, she as their a agile provocateur, the friends challenged each other to break new ground economists Maynard Keynes stood alone amidst a group dominated by artists and writers, painter. Vanessa Steven became Vanessa Bell when she married the art critic. Clive Bell, writer Virginia. Steven became Virginia Wolf when she married. Aspiring author Leonard Wolf of the Writers, only Em Foster reached a major audience before the first World War. In the early days, it was the painters who gathered public attention, curator and critic Roger Fry inspired Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, with his passion for the French Post Impressionists seen as part of a pioneering group of British modernists. Their reputations were amplified through association with the Omega Go Workshops. An artist collective that helped to develop public perception of Bloomsbury as a brand critical support was just gathering momentum when war broke out in 1914. And the war years formed a temporary break in the group's activities. But sales of works by Bloomsbury writers and artist took again off again after 1918, building a definitive reputation on both sides of the Atlantic. By this stage, most of the original members were nearing their forties. Their ideas honed by years of close-knit conversation. Litten Rai. She set the ball rolling with eminent Victorians. In 1918, Maynard Keynes challenged conventional economic thinking with the economic consequences of the piece. In 1919, Duncan Grant held his first solo exhibition in 1920, impressing reviewers with his defiantly modern style strai. She followed up with Queen Victoria in 1921, breaking British publishing records by selling 4,000 copies in 24 hours. Something I'd love to do do <laugh> Virginia Wolf couldn't compete at this stage with litton's sales figures, but she took comfort in the response of literary critics, um, signing up with the same US publisher Har court brace for her American editions. And Virginia resented the way that journalists began to lump together pre-war founding members of Bloomsbury with the younger circle of admirers who gathered in the twenties. But other members of the group were more matic, well aware of the publicity value of linking their names with fashionable, bright young things. So young Bloomsbury seems the most helpful shorthand to describe these younger admirers who gathered near Gordon Square, renting rooms in Gordon Place, Tavern Street, Brunswick Square, and Heathkit Street. Oh, you can walk around and and map exactly where they were living today. And a lucky few actually found lodgings in Gordon Square itself. Leasing whole floors of these two tall Bloomsbury houses from Vanessa Bell or from Litton's, half-brother James and his wife Alex Strai. She many were fresh from university, finding useful starter roles as models or assistants. They posed for grant and Bell's paintings, organized exhibitions set type for the whole Garth Press and sifted Litten Rai. She's erotic correspondence. Others were already launched on their own successful careers, bringing reflected glory on their idols. Talented and productive. They led interesting professional lives and complicated emotional ones. Individually intriguing. Their collective value has been consistently underplayed. Their ob achievement obscured in later accounts, young men dismissed as frivolous for embracing their femininity. Young women judged by their relationships rather than their careers, connections with fashion show business or the popular press portrayed as culturally inferior to more intellectual pursuits. Most were graduates from Oxford, Cambridge, or the Slade School of Art. Young people with artistic or literary ambitions seeking their way in the world, nearly all were looking for ways to explore different sexual identities post university and blues breeze's approach was unusually appealing. His twenties, London was a place of confusing extremes. On one side stood this news syncopated world of the bright young things with treasure hunts, fancy dress parties, jazz music and cocktails. On the other stood the old establishment, stern figures of conservative reaction represented most fiercely by William Joins and Hicks, who was the repressive home secretary from 1924 to 29, who cracked down on nightclubs and indecent literature. At the beginning of the decade, Bloomsbury stood somewhere in between, offering safe spaces for experimentation and conversations of reassuring emotional honesty with men and women who had earned a reputation for candor. Gradually, the closed circle expanded to bring a wider range of new recruits, a more playful understanding of intellectually appropriate activity. And when I was researching this period, I was continually struck by the cultural resons with the present day, this inclusive approach to sexuality, a joyous exploration of different gender identities. And with this in mind, I want to consider this wonderful image taken by Ctle Beaton, uh, 'cause for me it symbolizes more than anything this crossover between Bloomsbury and the bright young things. The photograph was taken on the morning of the 17th of October, 1927 at Wilford, the home of the artist Stephen Tenet, who you can see standing on the left. Later that day, the poet Siegfried Suo took tenant over to tea with litten strai, she and Strai. She spread the story all round. Bloomsbury and Litten sent a r account to his lover, Roger Shouse in London. And he said of this group, he said the night before, they had all dressed up as nuns. That morning they had all dressed up as shepherds and shepherdess. In the evening, they were going to dress up as God knows what, but they begged and implored me to return with them and share their raptures. So this, uh, inspired by the romantic pastoral paintings of the 18th century French painter, Nicola Re tenant had supplied his guests with seven identical shepherds outfit to wear in a tableau printed floral jerkins and with white ruffled collar on top. And they've all got knee britches and stockings below. And there are a whole series of photographs. And baten and tenant led the group like Pi Preppers across the lawn at Wellsford. And they posed with these baskets of flowers and willow wands and straw hats. And although Litton was correct to mention shepherds and shepherdess, as both men and women were involved, the costumes actually unisex. And if anything, the male members of the party look more decorative as they seem to have whitened faces and rou cheeks. And so these crop headed young people skipped interchangeably across the grass, and they have, they collapse and abandoned beneath trees and they line up on a rustic bridge at their ruffles and ribbons silhouetted against the sky. Our lit and strait shoes. Wheelchair home ham spray was only about a 40 minute drive, drive from Wilford. And tenant would've found the atmosphere that day, very welcoming. By October, 1927, Litton was deeply involved with a former Oxford student, Roger Shouse, who made him so happy that Litton said he wanted to do cartwheels over the downs. Somewhat unlikely, I think, but he felt like that. Uh, and he loved to deck Roger with garlands of flowers. And there's some wonderful photographs showing with, um, Roger surrounded by lilies. Um, and he devised plays and performances where genders were disguised. And in 1927, Litton was writing Elizabeth and Essex and echoes of his relationship with Roger appear in the description of his relationship between the aging queen and her much younger favorite. So I wouldn't want to give the impression that Hams Spray was all about Litton. And Roger Litton lived in a creatively productive polyamorous throuple with Dora Carrington and her husband, Rafe Partridge Carrington was a painter and decorative artist. And Partridge worked as litten secretary and literary assistant. Their relationship was sensually, non-monogamous and litten welcomed Rae and carrington's lovers in the same way as they welcomed his and Hams Spray became a creative crucible with Litten and Carrington nurturing the output of those they loved. Stephen Tomlin became Litton's sculptor in ordinary at Hams spray, fulfilling multiple commissions. Uh, notably a nymph of the IEX modeled on Litton's niece Julia, the writer Julia Strait. And when Julia and Tomlin fell in love, Litton and Carrington encouraged their work, supported the couple financially, and gave them refuge at Hams bra whenever challenges arose. So how did Old Bloomsbury meet all these young people? Uh, by happy Accident, Oxford University was only a short drive away from Garsington Manor home of the pacifists. Philip and Lin Mull a haven for Bloomsbury conscientious objectors before the war. It reigned a were welcome weekend retreat thereafter. Um, and Lin's eccentricities were ruthlessly mocked by Litten and Virginia. But the charm of her golden stone house with its shaded terraces was hard to resist. Um, and I always think it's quite naughty of blues group members. They tended to be rude about those, those they stayed with, however often they went back <laugh>. Um, and in the 1920s, Gaston gained a new attraction, delicate Oxford undergraduates said by Virginia Wolff to grow like asparagus shoots on the lawn.'cause they were all so delicate and attenuated. Um, so they're invited by ly to amuse her teenage daughter. They were of much more interest to lit and rai she and Duncan Grant, who followed them attentively around the garden. And one young man who caught everyone's attention was Philip Richie, a handsome broad shoulder figure. He had thick auburn hair, green eyes, and a tendency to burst into song, um, escaping the restrictions of his background through drink and gambling Rich. He experienced a sense of release when, uh, introduced to Litton's Bloomsbury friends Carrington remembered him talking frenziedly about male love at Hams spray. And Virginia Wolf used to use him as bait to tempt litten to her parties. And when Richie died suddenly of tonsillitis in 1927, Wolf experienced a twinge of regret. She wished she'd paid more attention to him during his life, being kinder to him, and suddenly conscious of her own mortality. Wolf wrote in her diary that she wanted to write a history of all her friends during their lifetimes. And she created a hero who evaded death remaining forever young, changing their gender as the centuries progress. This was the book, which became Orlando Feta Sackville. West's role in the genesis of Orlando has been widely acknowledged, but the role of her first cousin, Eddie Sackville West, and his circle of genderqueer Oxford friends, tends to be downplayed. These were the graceful young men, Virginia encountered at Garsington, surprising her with their tendency to wear lipstick and powder, small and delicate with large violet eyes. Eddie sat for West, had his own distinctive charm. Virginia Wolf pretended to be irritated by Eddie of Feminity, his frivolous interest in makeup and jewelry, but she never turned him away. She'd listened to agonized accounts of his broken relationships, had spirited debates with him regarding sexuality, and even said she would read his diary if it would help him to unravel his emotional. In fact, he used to bring his diary round to her house and they'd, they'd read it together. Um, after Oxford, Eddie's life became a crisscross of Bloomsbury connections, he moved into a London flat with Litton's cousin John Strait. She and enjoyed brief, but passionate love affairs with Stephen Tomlin and Duncan Grant. And his first two novels were snapped up by Heinemann and appeared in quick succession in 1925 and 26, which is pretty good when that's your first year after university, I think one year after the other. And the proud young author was photographed for Vogue by Cecil Beaton, lying under a leopard skin with Stephen Te. It's a wonderful photograph. They're all lying with their heads tipped back. Now, Stephen Teon didn't go to Oxford. He trained at the Slade School of Fine Art, but he fitted very neatly with Eddie's circle of painted Oxford boys. His clothing designs explored the boundaries between masculinity and femininity. Sometimes they veered into full drag as when he appeared as Queen Marie of Romania for the impersonation party of July 27. And more often, they were blended in approach with an element of poetic humor, as with his pink satin outfit for the great lovers of the ages pageant, where according to the press, he had difficulty with the slipper of his Cinderella. Our tenant produced beautiful line drawings in the style of Aubrey Beardsley. And his proud mother mounted his first solo exhibition at the age of 15 Tenants designs, uh, by, no, by 27, he was swamped with illustrative work for books and magazines, and his designs were sensuous and atmospheric with a hint of the Russian artist Leon Bt, as well as Aubrey Beardsley and his exploration of bodily adornment and his love of performance, anticipate the self-expressive confidence of modern drag culture. And his friends remembered his public appearances fondly. So we've talked about Oxford and the Slade. I'm now going to move on to talk about Cambridge, uh, which was an equally productive source of stimulating youth. So Maynard Keynes left the Treasury to return to King's College as an economics lecture in 1919. And one of his first actions was to help revive the apostles, the Secret Discussion Society where many of the original Bloomsbury group had met in the early 19 hundreds. Old members were allowed to return for the Saturday night meetings. And Litten Rechy and Ian Foster spent many pleasurable weekends in Cambridge, surveying each new set of e initiates. And I love the idea of they then coming back every weekend to meet these new generations of students. So one of them was, uh, a young man called Wal Walter Sprott, who was rebranded as Sebastian when he, uh, joined the Apostles. Uh, and he enjoyed a non-exclusive relationship with Maynard Keynes from 1920 to 1925. Uh, he was the son of a provincial solicitor and he was less financially comfortable than some of his Oxford contemporaries. He was elegantly attenuated, uh, and he had sharp cheek bones and a shock of dark hair. And he was, um, studying moral sciences with the hope of becoming an academic friendly and self effacing. He was quickly, uh, absorbed into many Bloomsbury households. Virginia Wolf worried about his skinny frame, his lack of resources, and made sure he was invited to Garsington. And there's a lovely picture of of, of Sebastian as he was by that point on his bicycle, 'cause he was bicycling from Oxford Station out to Gaston. Vanessa Bell employed him one summer as a tutor for her children, uh, and he also served as a model for her and Duncan Grant. Now Sebastian took a double first and went on to, became a, uh, professor of psychology at the University of Nottingham. And here he began a long-term relationship with a young man called a local man called Charles Lovett. And it was through, uh, Sebastian and his writer friend Joe Ley, that em Forster began to connect more regularly with young gay men from working class backgrounds. And Forster found these experiences, life changing, triggering revisions to his novel Maurice, and the creation of other works, celebrating love between men of different social classes. Although none of this material could be published during Foster's lifetime due to the looming threat of prosecution, the posthumous impact was considerable dismissed by Litten as colorless. Uh, another Cambridge student, Angu Davidson made a deeper impression on the artist Duncan Grant, who found him inspiring as a lover and a model returning to the same subject again and again. And Angus would sit patiently for portraits in oils and for intimate drawings of his naked form. Uh, and when he moved into rooms in Heke Street near Gordon Square, Duncan covered the walls and his furniture with romantic decoration, serenading lovers on the cupboards, em lilies over the fireplace, uh, panels of swirling color in every alcove. And again, this is a lovely gesture. Duncan said that when he went to the home of anybody who had nothing, he longed to fill the walls with decoration. Um, and Angus's rooms ended up being illustrated in vogue and in new interior decoration as examples of Duncan's work. And Astute observers would've noticed his figure appearing both naked and clothed in Duncan solo exhibition at the Independent Gallery in 1923. Uh, and in 1924, the Wolfs took him on as their assistant at the Hogarth Press, thankful to have found someone so quiet and industrious to rely on. And I think it's lovely the way you see these young people being employed in all sorts of different ways across the, the Bloomsbury Group. Um, and, uh, uh, Virginia Wolf and Litten Strait. She would also go to watch student performances from another Cambridge student. Uh, the beautiful Dadi Rylands Duncan grant designed costumes and stage sets. SLE Beaton photographed him, dressed as the Duchess of Mafi. And Wolf offered Dadi a job at the Hogarth press, and published his first volume of poetry, which was called Ross and tta. Uh, but he decided to return to Cambridge to lecture in English and Dadi and his artist friend Douglas Davidson, rented rooms from Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant at number 37 Gordon Square and Dadi. And Douglas threw parties at number 27 37, which spread throughout the house. And what was interesting about them is that they crossed the world of stage and cinema. Introducing Bloomsbury to film stars such as Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. Uh, evenings out with Dadi could be a rollercoaster ride. And I, I find it quite exhausting hearing about them. But, uh, on one night, apparently he ended and started the fun at the Cafe Royal went on to churros nightclub, then to various apartments via taxi, drinking champagne on the way. And on another night they had dinner at the Ivy. Then they went off to the BBC to listen to Dadi give a broadcast, and they finished the evening in the pub so that daddy could pick up a soldier. And Litten leaves long accounts of each of these evenings, which I think quite fun. Um, then finally talking about young relations. Um, so sometimes these connections were sort of closer to home, uh, 'cause there were a few children of Bloomsbury families who reached adulthood in the early twenties. Uh, and of these, the Strai, she were most numerous. Julia Strai, she who was the eldest child of Litton's brother Oliver, would've stood out in any crowd. Virginia Wolf described her as a gifted wasteful, um, one of those beautiful young people who seemed to be able to turn their hand to everything and, and actually end up settling at nothing. Um, Julia could write and act and she drew with unusual sensitivity. And apparently she played jazz piano like a demon. Um, her father hoped she'd make her living as a commercial artist and sent her to study at the Slade. But what Julia really wanted to do was write, um, and so encouraged by Litten and by Carrington, Julia filled notebook after notebook with Proustian descriptions of the world around her. And Virginia Wolf kept a BDI on Julia's work and prized her first finished novel out of her hands, complaining that she was a typical strai she and slippery as Neil. And that Julia's cheerful weather for the wedding was duly published by the Hogarth Press, with a cover drawing of Julia by Duncan Grant. And it was very successful and reviewed both in England and America as an interesting perceptive book. So Uncle Litten and Taunt Carrington, as she called herself, uh, fostered a consensually non-monogamous union, uh, of Julia with Julia and the bisexual sculptor Steven Tomlin. Um, and so little say a bit about Tommy, who had dropped out of Oxford to study with the established sculptor Frank Dobson. And he had a studio in Fulham and a cohort of willing sitters, and he seemed destined for a shining future. Um, the couple married in 27 and moved to swallow Cliff in Wiltshire. But Tommy lived a life of sensory extremes when happy, his wild excitement was infectious. His energy mesmeric when sad, he'd be plunged into almost fathomless despair. He might be present for weeks, then withdrawing silence to his studio, refusing, uh, all contact. Julia accepted Tommy's bisexuality well aware of his ongoing relationships with many Bloomsbury figures, young and old. And she even welcomed one of his male lovers into their home, um, which she found harder to cope with were his periods of severe depression and frenzied self reproach. Um, she was perfectly happy for that, them to live this way, but she didn't want him to be complaining about it.<laugh>. Um, but however erratic his moods, um, the young sculpture went on to create the definitive images of Duncan Grant bitten Strait Sheet and Virginia Wolf. And today many of his pieces are in public collections displayed at Charleston Monk's House Tate and the National Portrait Gallery. And his bust of wolf stares angrily out from a pedestal in Tavistock Square. Wolf absolutely hated being pinned down for sittings. Um, and I think she actually described Tommy, uh, to Litton as the man I hate most in the world. Uh, and her furious discontent is etched into the clay, creating an image of haunting pop potency, and it remains her best known representation. And if any of you, I don't know it, I'd encourage you to go and look at Tavistock Square at the bus that was, um, funded by the Virginia Wolf Society, Julia's cousin John Strai. She seemed set to follow the typical family path, having been embedded in the aesthetic crowd at Oxford. He became a regular at Gaston before setting up home in London with Eddie SVA West. We heard about earlier and inspired by the same sense of Bloomsbury rebellion against conventional moral and social practices. John took his activism beyond that personal sphere and into the political arena. John joined the Labor Party campaigning for his first parliamentary seat in 1924, and he became a committed Marxist editing the Socialist Review and standing on the side of the workers in the general strike of 1926, the Gordon Square Strai. She took this more personal approach to social change. Their dissent was embodied in individual action, and they never sought a fundamental change to the organization of their country. John Strai. She had grown up in a more revolutionary era, exposed to the call of Soviet propaganda, lured by the dream of a socialist utopia. John became a labor MP in 1929 and his 1932 book, the Cumming Struggle for Power, became one of the UK's most influential Marxist publications. So if we think about John's radical political beliefs and Tommy's character revealing sculpture where they represent these interesting touch points between the generations, each group had something to learn from the other cross-dressing. Bright young people were as happy to be snapped by Ctle beaten in broad daylight as they were after dark. And Bloomsbury figures began to embrace the new approach appearing in popular magazines alongside writers and artists. 20 years their junior. Over the next decade, the Oxford and Cambridge graduates transformed into journalists, novelists, poets and party givers, inviting their seniors to join in the fun. After some agonized wrestling with intellectual snobbery, Virginia Wolf embraced the high fees offered for pieces in vogue in an equally bold step. Grant and Wolf signed up as founder members of the Gargoyle Club in Soho, which became a center for Bohemian nightlife in the decades. That follows tempted by the ideas of a club free from rules where members were encouraged to express themselves freely. And I love the idea of Virginia Wolf at the Gargoyle, which is a very sort of countercultural place. She tended to go there at lunchtime rather than the evenings, I think is what she said.<laugh>. So the younger generation promoted and inspired their seniors, propelling them into new types of media and energizing their artistic and literary production. Bloomsbury figures learn to broadcast on the radio mix cocktails, dance the black bottom and exploit the publicity value of gossip columns. This was the age of the elaborate fancy dress party, and Bloomsbury loved nothing more than gender blurring costume. Litten Straight Sheet and Clive Bell would appear regularly on guest lists in the evening. Standard donning, elaborate outfits for events like the nautical party or the Circus party. And Wolf accepted almost as many invitations merely denouncing her hosts and fellow guests. Afterwards, you wouldn't want to necessarily be recorded by Wolf. And she and Litten adored gossip and sexual injury. Clean a willing ear to troubled young lovers of varying orientations. Journalist Raymond Mortimer was one of many to find contact with Bloomsbury, a transformative experience as a smart young man about town. He was soon writing pieces for the new statesman and Vogue, slim, dark and attractive with a mop of curly hair. Raymond would never be Litton's idea of a beauty, but he cut a dashing figure. Virginia was amused by his tiger stripe sweaters and his loud ties she used to comment on regularly. Um, uh, and, um, the curious shape of his inquisitive nose ever charming. He was invited everywhere, figuring us often in the social columns as he did in the review pages. For a few brief years, Raymond became what will be described today as a social influencer. Old Bloomsbury was pleased when he reviewed their work or attended their parties, and Young Bloomsbury turned out in droves for his after dinner gatherings. His flat in Gordon Place was helpfully located halfway between the Wolf's home in Tavistock Square and the growing cohort of Bloomsbury members in Gordon Square itself. And his set, his top floor rooms became the setting for regular late night parties. Some were mixed, including his Vogue editor, Dorothy Todd, and her partner Mag Garland. But the majority were for men only. Vogue articles tend to mention Raymond's Bizarre newspaper wallpaper. He had new topical figures all over the walls, but they tend not, not to dwell on his pair of backlit wig stands she had in the corner. Um, and the cupboards beneath them were painted by the surrealist John Banting, uh, with naked men and the portraits of male friends and the adjoining room murals by Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell show rich red curtains being drawn back to reveal a lush garden filled with fountains, flowers, and fruit. The stage was set for amorous interactions on the van below, and all of those interiors were photographed and repeatedly used as promotion, both for Raymond himself and for the artists in the group. Every now and then Virginia Wolf would stray into one of Raymond's evenings and the frankness of conversation pops up in her letters and diaries. Images, A past round relationships discussed. Clothing admired and similar incapacities are shared in correspondence between young and old male and female. Across the group. In letters to Litton Dadi, Rylands reveals his passion for fellow students, his success with soldiers and sailors. Dora Carrington sends love and lust to Litton's niece Julius Strai, Litten teases Sebastian brat for Glading the eye of male admirers with his taste for rings, dete shirts and Venetian sombreros, which I say, I don't know what a Venetian sombrero looks like, but it sounds fun. Eddie Saville West pours out his his heart to Litten psychoanalysts sister-in-law. Alex Strai, she who returns the favor with tortures, tortured accounts of her rejection by her lover, Nancy Morris. So sexual openness of this type between friends would be impressive in the 2020s. But in the 1920s it was remarkable. Homosexuality remained illegal and hostile attitudes to lesbian love were whipped up. When Radcliffe's Hall, well of loneliness was condemned as an obscene publication. In 1928, Bloomsbury provided a supportive environment for queer young people that they were unlikely to find elsewhere for those who could afford it. Mental healthcare tended to be a traumatic experience. Mainstream psychiatry still saw same-sex love as an illness requiring treatment. My heart bleeds for Eddie Sackville West, who was subjected to an eight week cure in Germany involving painful testicular injections. Stephen Te spent 12 months of virtual isolation in a psychiatric hospital. Freudian approaches were scarcely more sympathetic. The leading British psychoanalyst, Dr. Ernest Jones diagnosed Stephen Tomlin's, lover Henrietta Bingham as suffering from sexual inversion with neurotic symptoms and suggested strategies for displacement using Henrietta as a case study for the treatment of female homosexuality. Dr. Jones was actually sharing progress reports with Freud in Vienna and anonymized accounts with the British Psychoanalytical Society. And it's really interesting to read that, you know, that analysis of of what was happening at the time. Virginia Wolf took no prisoners with her language, but it was surely far better to feel able to have a robust debate with Virginia or litten on sexual terminology than to sit in fearful silence, ashamed of your unmentionable identity. Why does this matter to me? Queerness is no longer seen as a mental illness in Britain, but the mistreatment of queer young people persists. Bullying and discrimination lead to alarming rates of depression, self-harm and feelings. Some suicide children and young adults still go to school and university feeling unsafe. Their peers using labels they identify with as insults. Trans students are particularly at risk with queer histories so often silenced and records destroyed through fear of discrimination or persecution. Sharing stories of positive interaction between the generations takes on a new relevance. Older people play a vital role when they show their support, building, conference, and nurturing future talent. And I found much to celebrate in the world of young Bloomsbury and in the queer history of my own family. Litten Strai, she was one of the lucky guests at a party thrown by Virginia Wolf and her sister-in-law, Karen Steven. In February, 1925, crowds of bright young people flooded through the doors. Litten straight. She hovered ecstatically amongst a group of Oxford undergraduates invited specially to capture his attention. Vanessa Bell spent hours talking to the bisexual sculptor, Steven Tomlin, who was besieged by admirers from every side and writing afterwards to her friend, Jacque Ra Virginia conjured up a perfect vision of queer contentment young men in white tie tails, waltzing around the room in each other's arms, and young women flirting with each other in corners. So Bloomsbury group houses formed safe spaces for sexual expression, places where men who loved men could meet women who loved women with little express of exposure or challenge. Gender non-conformity was to be expected and age was never seen as a barrier for a queer young person. In the twenties, these homes provided welcome moments of life-affirming normality in a generally hostile adult world. Severe legal penalties threatened the unwary policemen prowled the streets around Il, looking for signs of gross indecency, which just at this point could mean wearing lipstick or pado compacts or wide leg trousers were very suspicious.<laugh>, um, tabloid journals like John Bull ated against the apparent rise in painted boys deploring male use of perfume and cosmetics, encouraging arrests for anything that looked suspicious. But tall Bloomsbury houses had their drawing rooms on the first floor, and that meant that their transgressive parties were safely outta view from the pavements below. Men who danced with men became a clear target for police enforcement during this period. Plain clothes officers in vd their way into clubs and dance halls, seething clothing and makeup as evidence and recording what they saw. If you are unlucky enough to have a hostile neighbor, raids can even be made on private homes. A dancer called Bobby Britt was subjected to the full force of the law when officers stormed into his basement flat at 25 Fitzroy Square, arresting everyone present. The police had been watching his home for several days, peering in through the bedroom, Ruth Lights looking for signs of men entering together. A strange double standard seemed to apply if found wandering near Piccadilly with a powder compact in his pocket. A young man could be charged for importuning for immoral purposes and sentenced to three months in prison. If invited to an expensive fancy dress ball, you could smother yourself in makeup and expect your face to appear in the press with little adverse comment. Even if you were dressed as a foreign queen or a famous female film star, the context was critical. Regardless of social background, men who enhanced their features on a daily basis were to be suspected of vice their behavior, a signifier of sexual transition, guests transforming themselves to fit the theme of a party where apparently quite another matter. So the Bloomsbury Group reached a high point of fame in the 1920s. Success is always alluring, but this was not the only reason why a group of 40 somethings suddenly appealed so strongly to young men and women in their twenties. There was something else, something more subtle at play. The growing numbers of admirers who gathered like bees round a honeypot were not just seeking celebrity, they were seeking affection as queer young people. They were looking for a place where they could be themselves amidst adults who would accept them for who they really were. Bloomsbury writers and artists seemed to have defied conventional morality and lived to tell the tale. Faith, fidelity, heterosexuality and patriotism had all been rejected, but without noticeable penalty ahead of their time. They had established an open way of living that would not be embraced for another a hundred years. Okay, thank You.