Bootle

[Crimson King]

Aug 26, 2024 17:32:34 GMT finsobruce said:

Aug 26, 2024 14:11:00 GMT Merseymike said:

The article was 'A Gay MP' written by George Morton. I have read it,but I can't find it....

I can't find it either but I have found this from 1842 , a mock obituary of Thomas Slingsby Duncombe MP (Hertford 1826-32, Finsbury 1834-61) and known, among other things,  as "the parliamentary dandy".

"Here lies Tom D,

 A Gay MP

 Who live in 'hope and trust'

 The men whose parts 

 he took ,drove carts

 himself, now turn'd to dust"

Duncombe didn't actually die until 1861, but the writer had taken it upon himself to write a lot of obituaries for contemporary politicians. This was in a newspaper I've never come across before called "The Argus, or Broad Sheet of the Empire".

must be a very early use of gay in that sense

[finsobruce]

Aug 26, 2024 17:48:19 GMT Crimson King said:

Aug 26, 2024 17:32:34 GMT finsobruce said:

I can't find it either but I have found this from 1842 , a mock obituary of Thomas Slingsby Duncombe MP (Hertford 1826-32, Finsbury 1834-61) and known, among other things,  as "the parliamentary dandy".

"Here lies Tom D,

 A Gay MP

 Who live in 'hope and trust'

 The men whose parts 

 he took ,drove carts

 himself, now turn'd to dust"

Duncombe didn't actually die until 1861, but the writer had taken it upon himself to write a lot of obituaries for contemporary politicians. This was in a newspaper I've never come across before called "The Argus, or Broad Sheet of the Empire".

must be a very early use of gay in that sense

I don't think it is in that sense, but coincidental because of his sartorial elegance. The History of Parliament describes him as having : " A voracious appetite for women of dubious reputation".

[Crimson King]

Ah, perhaps I was misled by the reference to taking mens parts, which on reflection says more about me than anything else, I presume it means he took the part of working men in the sense of working on their behalf. I think I was in a Driberg style “rough trade” sort of area, a century too early

[finsobruce]

Aug 26, 2024 18:37:48 GMT Crimson King said:

Ah, perhaps I was misled by the reference to taking mens parts, which on reflection says more about me than anything else, I presume it means he took the part of working men in the sense of working on their behalf. I think I was in a Driberg style “rough trade” sort of area, a century too early

This was exactly it. He was a radical MP in the radical liberal sense, being involved with Chartism and religious emancipation, although from a High Tory Yorkshire background.