People
Learn about some of the more well known LGBTQ+ people and notable allies from or connected with Cumbria here. Each of the biographies gives links to find out more information.
If you know of any other significant queer people or allies connected with Cumbria, please Get in Touch.
Neil Ashton
(1969–)
Actor
Born and raised in Kendal
Born Neil Smith, Neil is known for his appearances in queer shows like It’s a Sin and Cucumber, and more recently as Davey MacDonagh in Brassic. He has spoken about the difficulties of growing up gay in Kendal in the ’80s and ’90s.
Image from IMDB.com
Thomas Baty / Irene Clyde
(1869–1954)
Lawyer, political writer and author.
Born in Stanwix, Carlisle.
One of the founders of the genderqueer magazine Urania and author of gender-critical works Beatrice the Sixteenth and Eve’s Sour Apples under the name Irene Clyde.
Early 20th Century | Wikipedia | LGBT+ Language and Archives 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Lynne Janine Braithwaite
(1934–2008)
RAF Officer, author, police advisor
Born in Near Sawrey
Lynne had a 40 year long career in the RAF before pioneering trans inclusive training in the Lancashire Constabulary and WRVS.
Richard ‘Dickie’ Buckle
(1916–2001)
Ballet critic, writer and designer
Born at Warcop
Dickie wrote about his early experiences as a gay man in his autobiography The Most Upsetting Woman (1981).
20th Century: War | Wikipedia | National Portrait Gallery
Image from the Dicky Buckle Fund
Eliza Marian ‘Elsie’ Butler
(1885–1959)
Academic, linguist
Born in Bardsea, raised at Infield House, Barrow
Professor of German at Manchester and Cambridge. Lived and travelled widely with fellow academic and partner Isaline Blew Horner from 1926 to her death.
20th Century: War | Newnham | Professional Papers | Wikipedia
Beatrix Campbell
(1947–)
Writer and activist
Born and raised in Carlisle
A Marxist and feminist, among Beatrix’s works is Wigan Pier Revisited about the poverty created by Thatcher’s government. She came out at the age of 23 and received an OBE for services to equal opportunities in 2009.
Maureen Colquhoun
(1928–2021)
MP, economist and writer
Lived in Ambleside 1992–2020
Maureen was Britain’s first openly lesbian MP (1974–1979), who lost her seat in parliament due to her queerness and her unapologetic defence of women’s rights. She moved to Ambleside in 1992 with her partner, Babs Todd, and later became a member of the Lake District National Park Authority.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(1772–1834)
Poet
Lived in Keswick
Famous for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, Coleridge was close friends with William Wordsworth and moved to Keswick in 1800 to be closer to him. He may have had a repressed homoerotic bond with Wordsworth.
Edward II
(1284–1327)
King of England 1307–1327
Declared king in Carlisle
Famous for his troublesome relationship with Piers Gaveston, which some have taken to be romantic. His misrule and poor handling of the War of Scottish Independence significantly impacted Cumbria, which was raided in 1316 and 1322.
Frederick William Faber
(1814–1863)
Hymnwriter, poet, cleric and theologian.
Educated in Kirkby Stephen
A member of the Oxford Movement, and closely connected with one of its leaders, John Newman, who was a repressed homosexual. Faber’s poems and hymns expressed a mix of “homosexual sentiment and religiosity”.
Edmund Brisco ‘E.B’ Ford
(1901–1988)
Ecological geneticist
Born in Dalton-in-Furness, raised in Papcastle.
Made contributions to our understanding of natural selection. Contributed to the Wolfenden Report via the Biology Institute.
20th Century: The Law | Wikipedia | RCP Museum | Queer Oxford
Hadrian
(76–138)
Roman emperor 117–138
Began Hadrian’s Wall
He may have come to Cumbria in his visit of 122. Deified his young lover Antinous following his death on the Nile.
Charlie Hunnam
(1980–)
Actor
Moved to Melmerby in his teens
Not known to be LGBTQ+, but rose to fame for his part in Channel 4’s Queer as Folk which showed the life of gay men in Manchester.
H Montgomery Hyde
(1907–1898)
Ulster MP and writer
Went to Sedbergh School
Hyde lost his seat in parliament due to his support for decriminalising sodomy in the 1960s. Not known to be LGBTQ+ himself, he wrote books and biographies on LGBTQ+ subjects.
James VI & I
(1566–1625)
King of Scotland from 1567 & England from 1603
Stayed in Carlisle and Kendal 1617. Brought lasting peace to the border.
Believed to have had male lovers. His mother, Mary Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in Carlisle Castle.
Robert Percy Kelly / Roberta Penelope Kelly
(1918–1993)
Artist
Born in Workington, lived at Great Broughton, Allonby and Levens
Working as a map maker during the war, then a postmaster, before becoming a full-time artist, Percy was a member of the Lakes Artists known for painting the landscapes of their native West Cumbria. They began cross-dressing in 1965 and in 1985 they changed their name to Roberta Penelope Kelly, but returned to their birth name in 1992.
Late 20th Century: Gender | Wikipedia | Cumbrian Lives | Percy Kelly | Guardian
Kris Kirk
(1950–1993)
Journalist, activist and author
Born in Carlisle
The first openly gay music journalist in the UK, Kris wrote for Gay News, Gay Times and Melody Maker during the 1980s. In 1988 he moved to Wales with his boyfriend, Ed Heath, with whom he wrote Men in Frocks about crossdressing in Britain. He was the subject of the 1986 documentary A Boy Called Mary. In 1992 he wrote honestly about living with AIDS, which made him blind and took his life the following year.
Late 20th Century | LGBT Archives | Independent | A Boy Called Mary BFI
Clifford Last
(1918–1991)
Sculptor
From Barrow
The son of Nella Last, who mentions him frequently in her wartime and post-war diaries, including the loss of his ‘friend’ George in 1942. After the war he became a sculptor, living in London and then Australia.
20th Century: War | Wikipedia | Interview | Mathew Jones
Image © Mark Strizic
Eliza Lynn Linton
(1822–1898)
Novelist, essayist and anti-suffragist
Born in Keswick, lived at Brantwood
A trailblazing journalist, whose work took on an anti-feminist slant in later years. Her writing includes queer themes and she adopts a male persona in her autobiography The Autobiography of Christopher Kirkland (1885).
19th Century: Gender | Wikipedia | LGBT+ Language and Archives 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Cumbria County History Trust | Biography
Charlotte Cecilia Pitcairn ‘Cecil’ Leitch
(1891–1977)
Amateur golfer and writer
Born and raised at Silloth
Winner of 12 UK titles and author of 3 books on golf. Preferred to be known as Cecil. Vanity Fair said that
In truth she plays the game of golf much as the best men players do, and if she were disguised in the matter of apparel … it would take a very keen and discerning critic to realize … that it was a member of the fair sex who was playing the shot.
Huw Lemmey
(1986–)
Writer and critic
From Barrow
Author of Bad Gays and host of the synonymous podcast.
Sarah Madgin aka Sal Madge
(1831–1899)
Mine worker and local celebrity
Born in Penrith, lived in Whitehaven
Known locally for wearing men’s clothes, smoking a pipe and excelling in sports, Sal was a beloved figure of Whitehaven during the 19th century. She worked at the Whitehaven mines for almost her entire life.
Dora Marsden
(1882–1960)
Suffragette, editor and philosopher
Lived at Seldom Seen, Glenridding 1919–1935
Beginning as a member of the Women’s Social and Political Union, Marsden left to found the radical feminist magazine The Freewoman and later The New Freewoman. She is known to have had close relationships with other women at this time. She later moved to Glenridding with her mother.
Sybil Mounsey-Heysham
(1875–1949)
Member of a family seated a Castletown, near Carlisle
Described by a friend as
a clever, original, gentle, manly, astonishing and altogether delightful thing called Ba, who charms equally, sportsmen, child, and critical woman — to which sex she officially belongs! This is, however, only a fact she care to emphasize on rare occasions.
Frederic W.H. Myers
(1843–1901)
Poet, classicist, founder of Society of Psychical research
Born in Keswick
In his youth, Myers was involved romantically with John Addington Symonds, an early writer and proponent of gay male love, among other notable men. He later married and is said to have been wholly straight. He is best remembered for his work on telepathy and the survival of the soul after death.
Wikipedia | PSI Encyclopedia | ATP | Youtube
Sir Derek Pattinson
(1930–2006)
Secretary-general of CofE General Synod
Born and raised in Barrow, educated at Whitehaven
Best remembered as the secretary-general of the General Synod of the Church of England from 1972 to 1990, in which year he was knighted, before becoming a priest. Derek met the gay activist Barnaby Miln in 1986 and the two men later lived together.
Herbert Charles ‘Jerome’ Pollitt
(1871–1942)
Female impersonator and art collector
Born and raised in Kendal, educated at Heversham
Renowned as the character Diane de Rougy at the Cambridge Footlights. Lover of Aleister Crowley. Closely connected with the aesthetic and decadent movements: friend of Aubrey Beardsley, Oscar Wilde, JM Whistler. Inspiration for EF Benson’s novel The Babe, B.A. (1897).
19th Century: Gender | Wikipedia | The Babe, B.A. | Crowley Biography
Sarah Ponsonby
(1755–1831)
Diarist, one of the ‘Ladies of Llangollen’
Descended from a Cumberland family
Sarah was born to an Irish family descended from the Cumberland gentry family of Ponsonby. Her great-great grandfather, Col. John Ponsonby (1608–1678) was born near Whitehaven before moving to Ireland. She and her partner Eleanor Butler lived together in Wales.
Roger Senhouse
(1899–1970)
Publisher and translator
Born of an important Maryport family.
Connected to Bloomsbury writer Lytton Strachey and Michael Llewellyn Davis, who provided inspiration for the Peter Pan stories.
Early 20th Century | Wikipedia | The Guardian | National Portrait Gallery
Image from NPG
Hannah Snell
(1723–1792)
Soldier, marine, publican, entertainer
Stationed at Carlisle c.1747
Enlisted to the army under the alias James Gray and was stationed at Carlisle Castle in 1747. Here she had an intimate friendship with a local woman. She later went on to join the Marines.
Georgia Stanway
(1999–)
International footballer
From Barrow
England and Bayern Munich midfielder, Georgia was part of the 2022 and 2025 UEFA Women’s Euro winning teams. She is in a relationship with German surfer Camilla Kemp.
David Starkey
(1945–)
Historian, radio and TV presenter
From Kendal
A controversial figure, long known for his acerbic tone, he was familiar as a presenter of TV history documentaries and for appearances on Question Time. In the 2020s he has expressed a number of racist views in public. David lived with his partner James Brown from 1994 till his death in 2015.
Barbara ‘Babs’ Todd
(1933–2020)
Actor, activist, publisher, writer
Lived in Ambleside 1992–2020
Usually best remembered as the life partner of former MP Maureen Colquhoun, Babs was a pioneering lesbian in her own right. In 1971 she helped found the organisation Sappho and its eponymous magazine with her then partner Jackie Forster. She met Maureen in 1975. After moving to Ambleside in 1992, Babs wrote about and portrayed previous Ambleside resident Harriet Martineau. She and Maureen died a year apart and are buried together in Ambleside church.
Mary Wakefield
(1853–1910)
Composer, singer, festival organiser and writer
Born in Kendal, raised in Sedgwick House
Best remembered as the founder of the Mary Wakefield Westmorland Festival, still held in Kendal, Mary was a keen musician and pioneer of folk festivals. Mary never married and is known to have lived with and had close friendships with women including the writer Vernon Lee, who was known to have had relationships with other women.
Early 20th Century | Wikipedia | LGBT+ Language and Archives 1 | 2 | 3
Hugh Walpole
(1884–1941)
Novelist, reporter and art collector
Holidayed in the Lakes as a child, moved to Keswick in 1924
Closely connected with the Bloomsbury Group. Lived at Brackenburn overlooking Derwentwater, where he met his lifelong companion Harold Cheevers — a policeman with a wife and children.
William Wordsworth
(1770–1850)
Poet
Born in Cockermouth, lived in Grasmere
Perhaps the best known of the Romantic Lakes Poets and one of Cumbria’s most famous sons. He was married and wrote about his attraction to women, but his relationship to fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge has been read as possibly homoerotic in modern times.
William II
(c.1057–1100)
King of England 1087–1100
Conquered northern Cumbria in 1092, began Carlisle Castle
Questions about William’s sexuality have been raised since the 12th century.