Steven Dryden explores three executions under the Buggery Act during the 1800s, looking at how they were reported in the media of the time.

The Buggery Act of 1533, passed by Parliament during the reign of Henry VIII, is the first time in law that we see men having sex with men (MSM) being targeted for persecution by government. Sex between men was punishable by death until 1861 in the UK. Accounts of MSM in the UK come predominantly from official sources and newspaper reports of trails, and only ever in relation to detection and punishment. Amongst the collections of the British Library we hold some fascinating accounts of trails and executions relating to MSM.

Trial of 1812

In the last week of April 1812 David Thomas Myers, a tradesman from Peterborough was tried and sentenced to death for an ’abominable crime’ with apprentice tailor Thomas Crow. The Sussex Weekly Advertiser gives us an idea of what occurred in court, describing the overcrowding, witnesses who testified and the demeanour of the accused.

In a pamphlet held in the British Library we find David Thomas Myers again; this time his own words and feelings are captured.

Reading these last words of David Thomas Myers, printed in 1812, the past comes crashing into the present. It is difficult not to read into his words with a contemporary perspective. Does ‘persons in my unhappy situation’ refer to David’s impending execution or his attraction to other men? There was an expectation that all convicted to die should confess to their crimes: ‘I confess that I am guilty of the crime for which I am about to suffer’. Can this be read as a public ‘coming out’? Archives and libraries give us the ability to go back and consider 1812 in a different light. We are ‘launched into eternity’, like Myers. Read more and view the documents via the British Library