History Research Seminar - Artistic Lives and Country House Secrets

Join us for the next part of our History Research Seminar series.

Hear from Dr Charlie Lynch on his paper which examines what is known of the life of a socially elite gay man who lived in N. Ireland between the 1940s and the 1970s. The queer history of this period has been little explored until recently and is sometimes characterised in terms of enveloping silence.

The lives of some more elite homosexual men in NI before the 1970s have also been the subject of conspiratorial speculation, and this paper seeks to uncover the origins of allegations related to one of these men.

The paper endeavours to analyse what can be reconstructed of his biography, paying particular attention to his social networks, cultural exchanges, and literary and artistic preoccupations. It aims to demonstrate the possibilities as well as the pitfalls of a privileged, yet ultimately vulnerable, queer life lived as an 'open secret.'

About the speaker, Dr Charlie Lynch

Dr Charlie Lynch is currently a research associate in history at Ulster University, Belfast, working on the Queer NI before Liberation project. He is co-author of the Humanist Movement in Modern Britain (2023) a journal article, Moral Panic in the Industrial Town, and is working on a monograph about sexualities and religion in Post-war Scotland.

Come along or watch online

The talk will be delivered in room I003 (I block), Coleraine Campus.

You can also livestream the event online.