With over 60,000 biographies the Oxford DNB includes significant, influential or notorious figures who shaped British history. In this list, you can uncover the fascinating lives of twenty-three significant figures in British LGBTQ+ history. From modern icons like Freddie Mercury to the Two Ladies of Llangollen who ran away together in the 18th century.
Click on the portraits and names below to read their full stories.
|
Ackland, Mary Kathleen Macrory- [pseud. Valentine Ackland] (1906–1969), poet
|
|
Ashton, Mark Christian (1960–1987), communist and gay activist
|
|
Blaney, Norah (1893–1983), pianist and revue artist, and Farrar, Gwendoline [Gwen] (1897–1944), cellist and revue artist
|
|
Britten, (Edward) Benjamin, Baron Britten (1913–1976)
|
|
Brooks [née Goddard], (Beatrice) Romaine Mary (1874–1970), painter and lesbian icon
|
|
Carpenter, Edward (1844–1929), campaigner for homosexual equality and socialist writer
|
|
Carstairs, Joe [formerly Marion Barbara] (1900–1993), heiress and motor-boat racing driver
|
|
Chapman, Graham (1941–1989), comedian and writer
|
|
Cooper, Emmanuel (1938–2012), potter, writer on craft and the arts, and advocate of gay rights
|
|
Ellis [née Lees], Edith Mary Oldham (1861–1916), writer, lecturer, and socialist
|
|
Fashanu, Justinus Soni [Justin] (1961–1998), first openly gay footballer
|
|
Forster [née Mackenzie], Jacqueline Moir [Jackie] (1926–1998), journalist and campaigner for homosexual rights
|
|
Horsfall, Allan (1927–2012), gay rights campaigner
|
|
Jarman, (Michael) Derek Elworthy (1942–1994), film-maker, painter, and campaigner for homosexual rights
|
|
The Ladies of Llangollen: Butler, Lady (Charlotte) Eleanor (1739–1829) and Ponsonby, Sarah (1755–1831)
|
|
Lister, Anne (1791–1840), diarist and traveller
|
|
McIntosh, Mary Susan (1936–2013), sociologist, feminist, and campaigner for gay rights
|
|
Mercury, Freddie [formerly Faroukh Bulsara] (1946–1991), singer and song-writer
|
|
Oliver, Kathlyn (1884–1953), feminist, founder of a trade union for domestic servants, and proponent of the right to love other women
|
|
Turing, Alan Mathison (1912–1954), mathematician and computer scientist
|
|
West, Victoria Mary [Vita] Sackville- (1892–1962), writer and gardener
|
|
Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills (1854–1900), writer
|
|
Wright, Anthony Edgar Gartside [pseud. Antony Grey] (1927–2010), gay rights campaigner
|
