|
|
- Sign overhead - Pope's Head Alley
- Pope's Head Alley looking towards Lombard Street
As cited in Rictor Norton (Ed.),
"The Trial of Peter Vivian," Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. Updated 8 September 2000
and within "Select Trials, for Murders, Robberies, Rapes, Sodomy, Coining, Frauds, And other
Offences, London: Printed for J. Wilford, behind the Chapter-House, in St. Paul's
Church'Yard, 1735, vol. 2, p. 378.", it was in this alley one day in September 1730,
that Peter Vivian's actions caused him to be indicted for a Misdemeanor,
"in assaulting John Brailsford, with an intent to commit the detestable
Sin of Sodomy". Quoting from the testimony of John Brailsford:
John Brailsford: I was going thro' Pope's-Head-Alley in Cornhill, and stopt to
make Water. The Prisoner came up to me, set his foot upon mine, caught hold of
my Privities, and clap'd my hand to his. I presently seized him, and told him, I
would pull his off. Immediately another came to his Rescue, but I clap'd hold of
him too, but not being able to hold them both, the Prisoner got away, and ran into
the Post-Office Yard. He stumbled at the step going in, and so he was taken again,
and he and his Comrade were carried into an Ale-house, but his Comrade jump'd
out of the Window and escaped. The Prisoner desired us to let him go, for he said
he had suffer'd enough in having his Shirt and Ruffles torn.
John Brailsford's colleague, William Prior gave collaborative testimony:
William Prior: I was with the Prosecutor, but he standing up to make Water, I
walked a little before. He call'd me to his Assistance and we took the Prisoner and
his Comrade and carried them to an Ale-house. The Prisoner was very Solicitous to
be let go, crying often, My dear, My dear, First time, First time. And he made
several Offers to kiss the Prosecutor.
The Jury found him Guilty, and he was Sentenced to stand once in the Pillory at the
Royal-Exchange, to suffer one Month's Imprisonment, and to pay a Fine of 5
Marks.
As noted by Rictor Norton, "It is probable that Peter Vivian was a refugee (his actual first name would
have been Pieter) from the purge on homosexuals in Holland in 1730, as he would
have arrived in England not long after 21 July 1730, the date that the States of
Holland issued a Placat, posted in every town, that set off wide-scale persecution.
Sodomy was to be punished by death, and those who offered their homes for its
commission were also to die, and their corpses to be burned to ashes and thrown
into the sea "or exposed as unworthy of burial", that the names of the convicted -
including the fugitives - would be publicly posted. Some 250 men were
summoned before the authorities; 91 faced decrees of exile for not appearing. At
least 60 men were sentenced to death."
|
