James and John: A True Story of Prejudice and Murder

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Carefully observed, rich in detail, imaginative, compassionate and angry. A raw, unexpected portrait of Britains grandeur, wealth, energy, cruelty and hypocrisy in the age of liberalism RORY STEWART From award-winning historian and Sunday Times bestselling author Chris Bryant MP, James and John tells the story of what it meant to be gay in early 19th-century Britain through the lens of a landmark trial. They had nothing to expect from the mercy of the crown; their doom was sealed; no plea could be urged in extenuation of their crime, and they well knew that for them there was no hope in this world. When Charles Dickens wrote these tragic lines he was penning fact, not fiction. He had visited the condemned cells at the infamous prison at Newgate, where seventeen men who had been sentenced to death were awaiting news of their pleas for mercy. Two men were particularly striking: James Pratt and John Smith, who had been convicted of homosexuality. Theirs was an unnatural offence, a crime so unmentionable it was never named. That was why they alone despaired and, as the turnkey told Dickens, why they alone were dead men. The 1830s ushered in great change in Britain. In a few short years the government swept away slavery, rotten boroughs, child labour, bribery and corruption in elections, the ban on trades unions and civil marriage. They also curtailed the bloody code that treated 200 petty crimes as capital offences. Some thought the death penalty itself was wrong. There had not been a hanging at Newgate for two years; hundreds were reprieved. Yet when the King met with his hanging Cabinet, they decided to reprieve all bar James and John. When the two men were led to the gallows, the crowd hissed and shouted. In this masterful work of history, Chris Bryant delves deep into the public archives, scouring poor law records, workhouse registers, prisoner calendars and private correspondence, meticulously recreates the lives of two men whose names are known to history but whose story has been lost, until now.

Reviews

Carefully observed, rich in detail, imaginative, compassionate and angry. A raw, unexpected portrait of Britains grandeur, wealth, energy, cruelty and hypocrisy in the Age of liberalism -- Rory Stewart
This is the best kind of angry history: meticulously researched, vividly written, deeply humane and making an utterly compelling case. It keeps faith with the dead, and in doing so gives us something to celebrate, fervently, in the present -- Ronald Hutton
A heart-breaking account of a grave injustice and the social climate of homophobic prejudice that made it possible -- Peter Tatchell
James and John is a timely reminder of the stories the powerful would rather we forgot -- Shami Chakrabarti, Human Rights Lawyer
Law can be weaponised for the cruelest of purposes - a political lesson we should never forget. Here, Chris Bryant provides a powerful indictment of Britains persecution of gay men, including the use of the death penalty, and the legacy of how such laws live on in many of our former colonies. This is a brilliant telling of a shameful part of our history -- Baroness Helena Kennedy KC

Author Bio

Chris Bryant has been the Member of Parliament for Rhondda since 2001. He was Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and Minister for Europe in the last Labour government, and has been Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. The author of six previous books, he has written regularly for the Guardian and the Independent, and has appeared on every major TV and radio news and current affairs programme. He was the first gay MP to celebrate his civil partnership in the Palace of Westminster. Bryant currently serves as the Chair of the Committees on Standards and Privileges.