Homosexuality, Class and the Church in Nineteenth Century England:

Abstract

This article seeks to reconstruct and contrast two episodes in the nineteenth century Church. Both involved churchmen, Bishop Percy Jocelyn and Dean Charles Vaughan, in homosexual incidents. The second episode, that of Dean Vaughan, has been reconstructed for the first time using the Broadlands Manuscripts of Lord Palmerston. The most interesting aspect of these events is the response of the "establishment" to homosexuality. There seems little doubt that attitudes of the "establishment" were determined largely by class. The "establishment" would not officially condone homosexual behavior, but in both cases (to varying degrees) it seems to have acted toward these men with la