| early 1800's: | Lesbian James Miranda Berry earns England's first medical
degree given to a woman (while still in her teens.) She lives as a man
the duration of her life |
1810: | Schoolgirl's mother accuses Marianne Woods and Jane Pirie, mistresses
of a boarding school for girls, of "improper and criminal conduct."
Lillian Hellman uses this as the plot for her "The Children's Hour"
120 years later |
1810: | France decriminalizes homosexual acts between consenting adults |
1811: | Gabriel Frechere reports of a Ketenai Female Berdache, Qunqon, who
assumed the dress of a man, took three wives and was a courier, guide,
prophet, warrior and peace mediator |
1820: | Florence Nightingale is born. Called Lady of the Lamp, Nightingale, served in Turkey during the Crimean war, and upon returning to her native England, reformed military hospital conditions and founded the trained nursing prfession.
Unfortunately, even though Nightingale wrote: I have lived and slept in the same bed with English countesses and Prussian farm women ... no woman has excited passions among women more than I have, she lived by Victorian mores. So, even if she were Lesbian, more than likely she was extremely homophobic and closeted. |
1836: | Last British execution for homosexuality,
although the law remained on the books until 1861 |
1848: | Elizabeth Cady Stanton organizes the first Women's Rights
Convention and publishes a "Declaration of Sentiments and
Resolutions," the forerunner of the modern feminist movement |
1883: | Article about cross-dressing Lucy Ann Lobdell in Alienist and
Neurologist medical journal is first time Lesbian is used to denote woman-
loving-woman as opposed to inhabitant of Isle of Lesbos |
1885: | The Labouchere Amendment, criminalising all same-sex activity,
was introduced in 1885. Althought widely believed, Queen Victoria's refusal to believe lesbianism existed
resulting in lesbianism's omission from the Act is probably false. It is believed those presenting the amendment
removed it (as the House of Lords did nearly 40 years later) fearing criminalizing lesbianism would alert women to its possibility.
The story was useful, however, when her
statue was made the focus of a demonstration in 1977 promoting lesbian visibility on
International Women's Day. thanks to Lesbian/Gay Historical Walk of
Wellington |
1886: | Ma Rainey, openly lesbian Mother of the Blues and writer of Prove It on Me Blues is born |
June 6, 1886: | Annie Hindle and Annie Ryan marry in Grand
Rapids, Michigan. The event took place on the evening of Sunday, June 6, 1886, in
Room 19 of the Barnard House, a hotel in Grand Rapids. It was widely
reported that Rev. E. H. Brooks of the 2nd Baptist officiated but the
marriage record, available from the Kent County Clerk's Office, states Rev. K.
B. Tupper (of the 1st Baptist) performed the ceremony. The witnesses were
Gilbert Sarony, who was a female impersonator but who did not appear to
have worn a dress on this occasion, and Loran D. Osborn, a clerk at the
Grand Rapids National Bank. On this occasion, Annie Hindle wore men's clothing and gave her
name as Charles E. Hindle. She gave her age as 31 (she was probably more
like 39 or 40) and Annie Ryan was 22.
Annie Hindle was not a resident of Grand Rapids even though she got married
there. She was an extremely well known male impersonator in American
variety, most probably the first woman to perform in that style in this
country. She had arrived in the US in 1868 and almost immediately married
the ballad and comic singer Charles Vivian. The marriage did not last
long (proably less than a month if my records are right). She was
reported as having married W. W. Long, a minstrel performer, in 1878 but
as yet I have found no official record of this marriage. She divorced
neither of her husbands as far as I can tell.
Annie Ryan had acted as Hindle's theatrical dresser for a number of years
prior to the marriage. There is evidence that Hindle had been very close
and probably romantically involved with a number of her prior dressers.
No more is known about Ryan at this moment.
This detailed account has been provided by Gillian Rodger who has made the study of Male Impersonators a passion! |
1890's: | Jiu Jin, Chinese revolutionary, also calling herself Qinxiong (which means
"compete with men") wears men's clothes, writes feminist poetry and fights
restraints against women. She is tried for treason and beheaded in 1907
by the Manchu government |
1896: | Two actresses kiss on the American stage. Ushers stand ready with
ice water for those patrons feeling faint |
1897: | Archeological discovery unearths remnants of Sappho's poetry.
The find represents an estimated 1/20 of her total output |
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