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Sir Chris Bryant has been the Labour MP for Rhondda since 2001. He's been Shadow Minister for Creative Industries and Digital since 2023 and served
in government as Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and Under-Secretary of State for Europe and Asia.
He's also been Shadow Culture Secretary and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. He was knighted for services to politics in 2023.
Chris entered into a civil partnership with Jared Cranney in 2010 and it was the first same-sex civil partnership ceremony ever held in the Houses of Parliament. They are now married. | |
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In James and John, Chris Bryant delves deep into the public archives, scouring poor law records, workhouse registers, prisoner calendars
and private correspondence to recreate the lives of two men whose names are known to history - but whose story has been lost, until now.
RORY STEWART | 
Author Sir Chris Bryant MP Photo: Foreign & C'wealth Office OGL v1.0OGL v1.0 via Wikimedia Commons |
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James and John tells the story of two gay men hanged for sodomy and buggery in 1835, the last such executions
in England. James Pratt and John Smith were arrested in the Borough of Southwalk for a crime which at the time was thought of as being unspeakably heinous. Even in the
official records of the Old Bailey where their trial took place, the clerks didn't write out the full words of what it was James and John were tried for. It just
said "b‑g‑‑ry". It was quite common, the newspapers of the time referred to an "unnatural offense" or "the offense with no name".
There was an extraordinary taboo at this time. Previously most men when they met used to kiss one another, just as they do in many countries around the world, but many British men were so obsessed that they might even be thought of as homosexual, they no longer kissed and just shook hands - which is of course what most British men still do today. | |
James and John by Chris Bryant Available now from Amazon |
The 1830's in England was a period of extraordinary moral panic and a significant number of men were hanged. Indeed we were the only place in Europe which had
the death penalty for sexual intercourse between two men.
He wrote at the time: '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.'
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As Chris Bryant states in his book, "You can also argue too that it's the British Colonies, or the former
British Colonies around the world that still have a major hangup about it, unlike the French, the Spanish or the Portuguese. Most countries had never executed anyone
for acts of homosexual sex, some countries stopped doing it centuries before. You do have to ask, why were we still doing this in 1835?"
"We didn't even change the law scrapping the death penalty for sodomy and buggery until 1861. They didn't even mention that they were doing so in the debates in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It just had to disappear from everyone's consciousness. Remember this was time of the great 1830's Reform Act which saw the end of the slave trade, the end of "rotten boroughs" in the House of Commons because they had so few inhabitants left, or the "pocket boroughs", because their MPs were elected by the whim of the patron, they changed the way that factories operated and children were employed. They allowed Catholics and Jews to participate in public life and were rid of the death penalty for loads of other offenses apart from this." | |
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"James and John were sent to Newgate Prison, which at the time sat next to the Central Criminal Court known as The Old Bailey. Newgate was described as "Hell
above ground" because it was so vile and stank so badly.
There were 73 others previously condemned to death in the prison in 1835 and they were all reprieved and given other sentences. It was just these two who were hanged in the yard." | 
The Old Bailey in early 19th century Thomas Rowlandson & Augustus Pugin Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
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"There was massive enthusiasm for public hangings at the time, with thousands of people turning up to watch. There would be people boozing and cheering
and others selling pies outside whilst the pubs and restaurants of the area put out extra tables and chairs so people could watch the events. When the two
men were led to the gallows, the crowd hissed and shouted. It was all pretty grizzly."
So who were James and John and what were they like? Chris Bryant has done extensive research. "James was a married man with children and they were both law abiding individuals who were working as servants and grooms. They had no criminal record and they were discrete - that was the sad part of this. They had paid a landlord for a room and the landlord and his wife had spied on them through the keyhole of the room. The magistrate in the case pointed out, in his plea against the death sentence, that richer men could rent more private rooms and bribe the servants. If they did get nabbed they could obtain bail and then abscond to France or Italy." "Elizabeth, the wife of James, campaigned for him throughout. She managed to get dozens of people to sign a petition to stop the execution, including the landlord and landlady who originally reported them - they were top of the list. She had a letter written in beautiful copper plate, she gained the support of two local doctors and she completely stood by her man. She was a remarkable woman. In almost every case where the wife had pleaded for leniency for her husband it was granted, but not in this case." | |
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"After the sentence was carried out, Elizabeth went to collect her husband's body and made sure he had a proper christian burial at St. Pauls in Deptford."
'A shocking story of prejudice and injustice, told in meticulous detail' KEIR STARMER | 
Newgate Prison in the 1800's Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
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"We have made many advances in the UK since those days, but why I wanted to write this book about James and John is because I believe that our freedoms are never guaranteed
inperpetuity and we have to stand by them, and protect them and fight for them. You only have to look around the world to see that there are many countries where they
still have barbaric laws in this regard, and even in civilised countries like the USA there are people trying their best to roll back the gay rights that have so far been gained."
Chris Bryant concludes, "I found I became quite emotional when I read the audiobook version of James and John. The ferocity of which the Recorder of London, who was also as it happens a Conservative MP recently elected, delivered that death sentence, singling out these two from all the others, and keeping them apart in case they were to contaminate other criminals, was terribly difficult and extremely harsh. This is a very touching and upsetting story. I hope people will find this interesting and rewarding to read about." James and John is published by Bloomsbury Publishing and available now. |
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