History
There have always been queer people in Cumbria, but for most of history they have been hidden — both within their own lifetimes and within the historic record. Social attitudes throughout the centuries and a general lack of information about peoples’ private lives has left little trace of queerness visible for much of history. This is true throughout Britain, but especially so in rural and socially conservative areas like Cumbria.
Even so, there is a surprising amount of queer history to be discovered here.
The sections below explore the history of queerness in the county. They look at the lives and experiences of LGBTQ+ people who have helped shape or been shaped by Cumbria throughout history and offer insight into the way queer people might have impacted this corner of England.
Our research is still ongoing and changes may be made to the site. If you know of anything that we’ve missed, please Get in Touch.
Sources
There are a few types of information we can use to discover queerness in Cumbria’s past, each with their strengths and weaknesses:
- Biographical details of individuals usually provide the best evidence, but are rare even in the modern period and often restricted to people from specific segments of society
- Social attitudes can tell us what it might have been like for queer people in a given time and place, although these are often very difficult to determine and views have always varied across society
- Records of persecution can provide names and other details of individuals, but are limited in Cumbria and are written from a particular perspective
- The presence of institutions associated with certain behaviours can also provide some potential evidence of queerness, but rarely provide specific cases
Because much of history has been written by and about (cis) men, it is inevitable that men come to dominate the story of queerness in Cumbria, at least until the modern era. Efforts have been made to uncover a variety of stories and lives, but more work needs to be done in some areas.