Me & You Magazine Issue 9

MARY EVANS PICTURE LIBRARY

Issue 9, Spring 2013

Published by the Mary Evans Picture Library 59 Tranquil Vale, London SE3 0BS T: 020 8318 0034 www.maryevans.com E: pictures@maryevans.com

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Everyone’s Doing the Tango

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Casualties of War

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Picturing the Great War

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Coronation Tales

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Life’s a Drag

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Convivial Captions

Nameplate image ClassicStock/Mary Evans

"W

HY

WORRY

ABOUT

HOME

RULE…WHEN YOU CAN LEARN

TANGO? EVERYBODY'S THE TANGO, LEARNING THE TANGO, TALKING THE TANGO OR WATCHING THE TANGO. NEVER, PERHAPS, HAS A DANCE BECOME OF SUCH UNIVERSAL INTEREST SO QUICKLY..." Thus opined The Sketch in November 1913, reflecting upon the incredible international popularity of the 'tango tea' dance craze of 1913. Here, on its 100th anniversary, Mary Evans throws a spotlight on the phenomenal, if brief, reign of the tango tea.

DOING THE

The craze for the Argentine tango in its latest incarnation began in Paris in 1912 as the thé dansant, so named from the practice of taking tea as a refresher between dances. The tango tea was rapturously embraced by Parisians of all classes, causing the caricaturist Sem to re-christen the capital 'Tangoville', and it wasn't long before the trend had swept across Europe, over the channel, and beyond.

It's diff icult to over emphasize how enormously popular the tango tea had

become by 1913. The prodigious coverage on all aspects of the craze in the illustrated magazines in our archive reveals a world in the throes of tangomania. Whether it was tango teas held at fashionable hotels, the latest steps explained or mocked, reviews of tango 'exhibitions' at the theatre or novelties such as tango dancing on roller skates, the tango was everywhere.

Manufacturers embraced any opportunity, however tenuous, to ally their products to any aspect of the lucrative tango craze. Tango-legend has it that one enterprising dressmaker found himself with a glut of orange fabric, and taking advantage of the tango craze, re-named the colour "tango" after the dance, making it an instant hit with the tango crowd. Adverts in the press plugged tango lessons, gramophone records and sheet music and even tango boot polish.

However, the tango craze brought much

The tango in action, c.1913 (image 10529120) Jazz Age Club Collection/Mary Evans

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Mrs Roberts and Mr Easton embrace the latest dance craze on rollers skates at the Holland Park Hall Rink.

The Sketch, 31st December 1913 (image 10694118)

more to the world than just a great merchandising opportunity: it also brought liberation. The new 'tango' corsets that offered increased flexibility, and tango skirts and even trousers that left feet clear for dancing, were designed to give women the freedom of movement required for dancing the tango properly. The physical liberation offered by the tango dress was a stark contrast to the constriction of the fashionable 'hobble' skirt, a big trend of 1910. Though women's liberation would take more drastic forms in 1913 (in the same year, imprisoned suffragettes went on hunger strike, and Emily Davison threw herself under the king's horse at Epsom Derby), the subtle changes wrought by the

Whether it was tango teas held at fashionable hotels, the latest steps explained, reviews of tango 'exhibitions' at the theatre, or novelties such as tango dancing on roller skates, the tango was everywhere.

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

tango echo those elsewhere in society at that time.

Advertisement for Corset Gaine's tango corset. The Bystander, 10th December 1913 (image 10224715)

As 1914 progressed, the passionate fervour for all-things-tango had begun to cool.

Even before the First World War had begun, the dazzling magnesium flash of the tango tea had, almost as suddenly as it had burst onto the scene in Paris, burnt out. By 1915, the Illustrated London News observed that floors of stately homes, not long ago used for dancing the tango, had The spread of the tango: arrest of a militant suffragette, surprised to find herself in the embrace of a tango-ing policeman. Punch, 26th November 1913 (image 10693665) Mary Evans Picture Library

Whilst tango corsets may be a thing of the past, some aspects of the hugely popular tango craze still resonate one hundred years on. The chance to cash in on a craze with unashamed promotion of related (or more often, tenuously related) merchandise, is something we are no stranger to in 2013, as the dust settles on the 2012 Olympics and Diamond Jubilee celebrations. It's easy to look back indulgently at the tango tea as an intense and short-lived craze of yesteryear, but it does pose the question: could a dance craze so virulent ever affect us 21st century dwellers so completely, as the tango craze did the people of Britain, and beyond, in 1913? If the global K-pop sensation Psy and his "Gangnam style" dance routine (one billion You Tube hits, and counting) are any indication to go by, we are not as immune to such crazes as we may like to think…

Lucinda Moore 2013

Mary Evans Picture Library

Everyone may have been talking about the tango, but it wasn't all praise. Effectively banned by Kaiser Wilhelm II in Germany, and boycotted by some religious groups, the tango's enemies saw not liberation, but moral degeneration. Unlike the more traditional dances of the period, the tango hold was an intimate embrace, which was perceived by some to have a corrupting influence. For an "unnamed peeress", who wrote to The Times in disgust in May 1913, the dance was full of "scandalous travesties", and deemed completely inappropriate for a well brought up young lady. The Illustrated London News cheerfully combined extracts of this letter with a retrospective on the polka, a new dance which was also greeted with disgust in London in 1844, but went on to be widely adopted, and by 1913 was regarded as thoroughly tame. Proponents of the dance claimed that when the tango was danced properly, it could cause no offence whatsoever.

become convalescent wards, and society girls' dresses substituted for the sober dress of the Red Cross nurse. Though the reign of the tango tea was over, it would take more than rival dance crazes or the rumblings of total war to entirely suppress the enduring vitality of the Argentine tango, which was to survive, albeit in a different incarnation, to dance another day.

Tango-bath at the Lido in Venice, Fabiano in Fantasio 15th October 1913 (image 107104)

We are now representing photographer Jeanette Jones, whose photographs of ballroom dancing, including the tango, have a timeless appeal.

Tip: to view all of Jeanette’s work on our website, type %JJO into the search box.

Tango in New York, c.2000.

Photograph by Jeanette Jones (image 10679686) Š Jeanette Jones/Mary Evans Picture Library

REVEALING THE ARCHIVE

CASUALTIES OF WAR

W

ar sells papers; a fact confirmed by the number of magazines we hold in the library from the First World War era. As the centenary of the Great War draws nearer and we redouble our efforts to comb the archive for new and unique material on the subject, rather than retreating into the past, the people who lived and died through the conflict become ever more real. The so-called 'lost generation' is no sentimental myth but a painfully acute reality. We find it writ large in magazines such as The Tatler and The Sketch, where, despite the continued reporting on society gossip and theatrical news, the war dominated, and the loss of human life, recorded in the weekly rolls of honour, overshadowed each and every issue.

In such class-conscious times, the casualties featured were almost exclusively officers - those who came from a privileged background, and were usually commissioned into the armed services. Portraits of

numerous dukes, earls and heirs appear with alarming regularity, but so too do those who came from the political, theatrical, artistic or sporting worlds. The Tatler seemed genuinely shocked to have to report the death of Raymond Asquith, the Prime Minister's promising eldest son in 1916 ('One had hardly quite realized yet somehow that he was a soldier - he hardly quite realized it himself,' wrote Eve, the magazine's gossip columnist) and it clearly took seriously the erosion of the peerage picturing, for example, Lord Desborough photographed with his sole, remaining son, after his two elder sons had been killed in action. In sporting circles, The Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News each week featured 'The Sportsmen's Roll of Honour,' listing many talented men in rowing, cricket, rugby, polo and athletics, who may have achieved more had they survived. It is from this world, and the stage, that we have chosen three unique individuals who sadly lost their lives in the Great War.

CAPTAIN LESLIE CHEAPE 'THE

MOST

PLAYER IN HOW

EFFECTIVE

ENGLAND,' WAS THE TIMES,

REPORTING ON A MATCH

ROEHAMPTON, CAPTAIN LESLIE ST. CLAIR CHEAPE (1882-1916), POLO PLAYER AND ENGLAND TEAM MEMBER IN 1914.

The polo world was girding its loins for its annual transatlantic showdown: the Westchester Cup, played between England and America. For some years, the Americans had dominated, much to the embarrassment of the English, and in 1914, there remained a question mark over the England team's ability. Cheape, who had been born into a prominent Worcestershire hunting family, showed an athletic aptitude for ball games as a school boy together with skilful horsemanship. Later, as an off icer in the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders in India, he began to play polo before being selected to play for England in 1911. Though not originally chosen for the 1914 challenge, Leslie put on an impressive display against the selected England team members at a practice match leading The Tatler to print a photograph of him astride his polo pony on 20th May calling him, 'a star performer who we hope is going to America with our team.' Cheape did indeed set sail for New York in June 1914. On his AT

DESCRIBED

Library of Congress/Mary Evans

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Leslie St Clair Cheape playing polo in 1911 (image 10698635)

arrival, he was greeted with the tragic news that one of his sisters had died in the Empress of Ireland disaster on the St. Lawrence River. And to add to his handicap, he was hit square in the face by the ball during practice, breaking his nose. Nevertheless, Leslie was determined to take part and England triumphed with a historic victory against the American 'Big Four' - beating them 8 ½ goals to 3 in the f irst game and 4 goals to 2 ž in the second, 'thereby

Captain Leslie St Clair Cheape, photograph

by Madame Yevonde in The Sketch, 5th January 1916 (image 10652077)

vindicating,' wrote The Tatler, 'the prestige of British polo.' On board RMS Olympic on his way home to England, Leslie wrote to his sister, Maudie, saying, 'Can still hardly believe that Cup is on board, seems too good to be true.'

©Yevonde Portrait Archive/ILN/Mary Evans

Just over a month later, war broke out. On 23rd April 1916, Leslie was killed leading a squadron of the Worcestershire Yeomanry in Egypt. He was 31.

But his skill and contribution as a polo player was not forgotten. In 1921, The Times, while reporting on the polo season, wrote, 'The gap that had to be f illed this season was a big one.

Leslie Cheape at his best was a player of that class which appears only once at least in a generation.' Almost a hundred years on, Leslie Cheape remains the gold standard by which polo players are judged.

CAPTAIN ANTHONY WILDING COMBINING MATINEE IDOL LOOKS, ATHLETICISM AND A CHARMING MANNER, NEW ZEALAND-BORN ANTHONY FREDERICK WILDING (1883-1915) WAS THE EPITOME OF AN ALL-ROUND SPORTING HERO. A Cambridge Blue of exceptional ability, the appearance of the 6 ' 2" Adonis on court at the Wimbledon Championships led to congestion in the streets around and reportedly caused ladies to faint. He won the men's title in 1910, 1911, 1912 and 1913 before being beaten by his doubles partner, the Australian Norman Brookes in 1914. Wilding's skill did not perhaps match that of some of his contemporaries - always modest, he regarded Brookes as the superior player - but his f itness and admirable physique, honed with a relentless training regime, helped him win matches. And like many sportsmen of his day, he spread his talents widely, showing an equally keen interest in cars and motorcycles. He undertook numerous tours on the latter through the UK and Europe, winning a gold medal in 1908 in the reliability trials for John O'Groats to Land's End. His ability with motors and his gentlemanly conduct was recalled by the actor Gerald du Maurier in a biography of Wilding by the Telegraph's tennis correspondent, A. Wallis Myers:

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

"Anthony Wilding was one of the most attractive men it has been my good fortune to meet. He was so healthy, clean-minded; it braced one to talk with him…My wife and I were motoring down to Bushey one night after the theatre in a taxi, which broke down in a lonely part. A private motor pulled up; among its occupants was…Anthony Wilding."

Wilding without hesitation repaired the damage to the taxi and then spent a further hour with the driver to ensure the car was roadworthy for the return journey. He was also generous with his advice to amateur players, and was befriended by Prime Minister Arthur Balfour who he also coached.

Anthony Frederick Wilding who coached Suzanne Lenglen among others. Photograph in the Illustrated London News, 4th July 1914 (image 10215466)

It was no surprise that Wilding rushed back from the United States where he had been playing in a Davis Cup tournament in order to join up in September 1914. He was f irst attached to the Royal Marines but then, soon afterwards, joined the Headquarters Intelligence Corps where his knowledge of Continental roads proved valuable. Later, he was attached to a new squadron of armoured cars under the command of the Duke of Westminster where he invented a trailer with a 3-pounder gun on it to run behind a light armoured car. It was

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© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

this trailer that he took with him to the front line on 8th May 1915, and where, the following day, after ten hours in action took the decision to rest in a nearby dug-out. At 4:45pm, a heavy shell exploded on the roof of the dug-out, killing Wilding instantly.

He was buried by fellow off icers in an orchard near Neuve Chapelle. The Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News wrote poignantly of Wilding's life - and death, 'Just now it is the deeds in the Greatest Game of all that count. Nobody who knew the man expected aught else of Tony Wilding. He belongs to the numbers of those Sons of Empire who will not be soon forgotten.'

Anthony Wilding photographed as a Lieutenant during World War One, taken in the Place Vendôme, Paris, behind the wheel of his car (he was an expert motorist). The Tatler, 20th January 1915 (image 10640239)

CAPTAIN BASIL HALLAM BASIL HALLAM (1889-1916) MADE HIS STAGE DEBUT AS SIR HERBERT TREE IN 1908. His big theatrical break came in 1914 when he starred in the revue, 'The Passing Show,' which ran for nearly 400 performances at the Palace Theatre alongside American actress Elsie Janis (to whom he became engaged). The character he played, 'Gilbert the Filbert, Colonel of the Nuts,' personif ied the much-lampooned 'k'nut,' a term used for a dandyish, gentleman swell, and a humorous antithesis of the dutiful British soldier. The role established him as one of the leading comic actors of his day, attracted a legion of adoring female fans, and his duet with Janis, "You're here and I'm here," soon became a popular tune with troops when war broke out a few months later.

A SHAKESPEAREAN ACTOR UNDER

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

It is ironic that the character Hallam portrayed on stage could not have been further from his real life persona. Hindered by an old condition which made his hips and ankles acutely painful and necessitated the wearing of a metal plate on his leg, he was unable to join an infantry unit and was instead attached to the Kite Balloon Section of the Royal Flying Corps. Admitting that almost every time he went up in his observation balloon he 'experienced all the horrors of seasickness,' and hampered by his injuries, his doctor advised a period of rest. But his sense of duty and selflessness prevented him doing so. "I must go back to the boys, whether I am well or not," he declared.

Basil Hallam at the time he was leaving the theatre to ‘take up a khaki part in the great drama over the water.’ Photograph by Hugh Cecil in The Tatler, 16th June 1915 (image 10699715)

On 20th August 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, Hallam's balloon was being hauled down near Couin, when it broke free of its tethers and began to drift towards enemy lines.

During his attempt to escape, Hallam's parachute failed and slipping from the harness, he fell thousands of feet to his death. Raymond Asquith, who himself would be killed in France just a few weeks later, wrote to Lady Diana Manners describing Hallam's awful end, "…killed before my very eyes by falling 6000 feet or so from an escaped balloon. He came to earth in a village ½ a mile from where I stood…shockingly foreshortened, but recognisable by his cigarette case."

His death was widely mourned. At the unveiling of a memorial plaque to fallen soldiers from the theatrical profession at the Old Vic, Major-General Ashmore paid tribute to Basil Hallam, who had served under him at the Somme, describing how it was his practice after his day's work to go down in the pouring rain to sing to the men and cheer them up. A year later, an In Memorium notice in The Times read, "In proud and loving memory of dear Basil, who gave his life for his country - the dearest friend, the kindest man."

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Luci Gosling 2013

the

Great War

A First World War blog from the archives of Mary Evans The lives of Basil Hallam, Leslie Cheape and Anthony Wilding are just three examples of the First World War stories we uncover on a daily basis here at the library. As our remit to scan material from the vast array of Great War magazines in our archive continues apace and adds to the already substantial collection of photographs, cartoons, fine art images, illustrations, posters, and postcards on the subject, we wanted to find several ways to convey the impressive breadth and depth of this rich resource to our clients.

Our website WWI timeline offers a traditional, chronological way to search images, while we will continue to highlight new and existing collections such as the outstanding Robert Hunt Library and Mike Sheil's Fields of Battle photography on our Collections web page. We will also report on image sets and new contributors relating to the war in our general and specialised newsletters. Look out too for more articles in forthcoming issues of ME & You magazine.

Publications with complete or nearcomplete runs covering the First World War available at Mary Evans include: The Illustrated London News, The Graphic, The Sphere, The Illustrated War News, The War ted, L’Illustration, stra Illu .

The Tatler & The Sketch

However, with an almost inexhaustible supply of fascinating pictures we still felt there was something more we could do to share the unique resource we hold here at Mary Evans. And so the Mary Evans WWI blog was born - a regular visual diary of our First World War archives; a fascinating peek into both iconic and unusual aspects of the conflict from home front to the fighting fronts. We plan to unearth the unusual, the quirky, the forgotten, the tragic, the funny, the moving and the heroic and to tell the stories of some long-since-forgotten individuals who played a significant part in 'the Greater Game.'

You can follow our blog - Picturing the Great War - at blog.maryevans.com and sign up for regular updates sent to your inbox. Our aim is for this to become a valuable and engaging resource for picture researchers and WWI enthusiasts alike and it will be contributed to by the knowledgeable Mary Evans team including staff member Luci Gosling. Luci is the author of several books, including 'Brushes & Bayonets,' (Osprey, 2008), an authoritative survey of First World War cartoons from the Illustrated London News archive, and is currently working on a new title, 'Great War Britain' for The History Press due for publication in June 2014.

We welcome your comments on the blog and urge you to recommend it to anyone with an interest in the history of the Great War and its visual legacy.

Join up now!

ixty years ago this June, coronation fever gripped the nation. The coronation of 1953 heralded a decade of hope and new beginnings, embodied in the 28-year-old Queen Elizabeth II who was crowned in Westminster Abbey on 2nd June. But the coronation also has a history spanning more than a thousand years, from the f irst crowning of a king (Charlemagne in 800AD) to the televised ceremony of 1953 which allowed a worldwide audience to experience this ancient and mystical ritual for the f irst time. We've picked two aspects of the coronation - one historic and one relatively recent (if 60 years ago can be described so), and offer some fascinating facts about royal coronations through the years.

S

Crownation' by wits of the day. Such frugality could not be achieved without cutting a number of ceremonial corners, and one of the most costly aspects of the coronation - the 'after-show' banquet at Westminster Hall - was abandoned.

All images this page Mary Evans Picture Library

Top: William IV in his coronation robes, 1837 (image 10011257) Above: The King's Champion entering Westminster Hall at the banquet following the coronation of George V in 1911. Ritz-Carlton Coronation Souvenir, 1911 (image 10650340)

he coronation of King William IV in 1831 was, by all accounts, a paltry affair. Coming at a time of deep economic depression, the King, who was a man of simple pleasures, would have happily done without a coronation altogether and the low budget event that took place was dubbed the 'Penny Coronation' or 'Half

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Along with the banquet went another ageold ritual, that of the King's Champion.

Described in Debrett's Dictionary of the Coronation as the 'most perfect relic of feudalism,' the part of the King's Champion was f illed by the Dymoke family of the manor of Scriveley in Lincolnshire. Since the 13th century, they had claimed the right to one of the sovereign's horses as well as its saddle, bridle and the gold cup from which the king drank. In return, the King's Champion would offer the monarch protection, riding into Westminster Hall in full armour to the sound of a trumpet fanfare to throw down the gauntlet and challenge any man who dared dispute the monarch's claim to the throne. By the time of George IV's coronation in 1821, the role had become merely symbolic.

Undoubtedly the pageantry and romance of the King's Champion might have appealed to the theatrical tastes of George IV. But, like so many aspects of the coronation day ritual, it also anchored and aff irmed the ancient order of things - a tangible and picturesque reminder of the centuries-old foundations underpinning the modern constitutional monarchy.

The Dymokes' role in the coronation was reprised in 1953, in recognition of the family's long record of service. Instead of suits of armour and pounding hooves, Captain J. L. Marmion Dymoke attended the Queen in the full dress uniform of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment bearing one of the royal standards.

obody was surprised when Sir Norman Hartnell, already an established couturier to royalty and designer of the Queen's wedding dress in 1947, was tasked with designing the gown for the 1953 coronation, but nevertheless, speculation over its design was at fever pitch. Out of the nine separate designs submitted by Hartnell, the one chosen was an elaborately embroidered work of art, incorporating the floral emblems of England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Dominions in an allegorical feast of silk thread, seed pearls and crystals. Security was of the utmost importance. Press tried to rent space in the mews opposite Hartnell's workrooms and use long-focus cameras, so at f irst the girls working on the dress were not told the signif icance of their project. They were placed in a room by themselves and the dress was covered in tissue to avoid spying. The precautions were worthwhile and the Queen declared the gown, "Glorious!" when it was f inally unveiled. Not only did Hartnell design the Queen's coronation dress but he also made the gowns for the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and the six maids-of-honour.

Hartnell continued to design for the Queen until shortly before his death in 1979 and she wore outf its from the House of Hartnell into the 1980s.

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Hardy Amies London/Mary Evans

Luci Gosling 2013 Mary Evans Picture Library

Top: The Coronation Chair at Westminster Abbey, c.1840 (image 10000032) Above: Design by Norman Hartnell for the Queen’s coronation dress (image 10583090)

Did you know‌?

All monarchs since William I have been crowned at Westminster Abbey except for Edward V (one of the Princes in the Tower) and Edward VIII (who abdicated before his coronation).

The orb and sceptre were stolen in an audacious heist by the infamous Colonel Blood in 1671.

He was pursued and arrested shortly afterwards and, miraculously, pardoned by King Charles II. At Queen Victoria's coronation, the Archbishop of Canterbury pushed the coronation ring onto the Queen's finger with such force she cried out in pain and had to soak her hands in cold water afterwards in order to remove it. After the ceremony, Victoria went home to give her beloved pet spaniel, Flush, a bath.

King Edward VII's coronation had to be postponed at short notice when the King contracted appendicitis.

The Imperial State Crown includes the Black Prince's Ruby (legend has it that King Henry V wore it at the Battle of Agincourt), pearls that were once Elizabeth I's earrings, and the Star of India, the second largest diamond from the famous Cullinan, cut and mounted in 1909.

Colonel Blood attempting to steal the Crown Jewels in 1671 (image 10653171)

There were so many candles illuminating the Abbey at the coronation of King George IV that molten wax rained down, ruining many ladies' gowns.

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Life’s a drag!

MOST

HUMAN SOCIETIES HAVE DISTINGUISHED

BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN BY THE TYPE OR STYLE

and where this has been the case, cross-dressing wearing garments associated with the opposite gender - has opened its wardrobe alongside. Throughout history, people have cross-dressed for a wide variety of reasons: sexual, practical, for disguise, subversion or identity. The reasons have often differed between men and women.

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

OF CLOTHING DEEMED APPROPRIATE,

During the Rebecca Riots in the mid-19th century, the act of cross-dressing became part of social protest, turning the perception of 'natural order' upside down. Economic conditions in the late 1830s and early 1840s had led to extreme poverty for agricultural communities in South Wales who began to view the increase in tithes, tolls and poor rates exacted at this time as an oppression that must be thrown off. Many roads in Wales were impassable without payment of often extortionate tolls demanded by trusts, and it was these toll-gates that became the target of the protesters. Dressing in women's clothing, the men called themselves Rebecca and her Daughters (supposedly after a verse in Genesis about 'possessing the gate of those which hate them'), and attacked turnpikes and tollhouses on the road. The clothing lent disguise but also highlighted the symbolic nature of their resistance.

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A much more visible example of transvestism in the 18th century was Charles Geneviève Louis Auguste André Timothée d'Eon de Beaumont, known as the Chevalier d'Eon. D'Eon was a high-ranking French soldier and diplomat who in 1763 had a key role in negotiations to end the Seven Years' War between France and Britain. He also used his position to spy for King Louis XV, but the secrets he harboured, including those relating to a covert plan for the invasion of Britain, enabled him to turn rogue when he became disillusioned with his treatment by the French authorities. His dangerous position kept the Chevalier in exile in Britain, where rumours that he was in fact a woman had been circulating since 1770. When the king died in 1774, his successor Louis XVI granted d'Eon return to France with the odd condition, possibly at d'Eon's behest, that he would from henceforth wear female dress.

Returning to London in 1786 d'Eon lived out

Hannah Snell, female soldier (image 10080501)

The Chevalier d’Eon, half in female clothing, half in male.

Engraving in the London Magazine, September 1777 (image 10029907)

Louis XVI granted d’Eon return to France with the odd condition that he would from henceforth wear female dress. the rest of his life as a woman, giving fencing displays, and becoming the f irst openly transvestite man in British history.

The Chevalier's higher social position may have enabled him to be accepted as an eccentric in ways not open to men from lower classes where such dress would have been seen as deviant. As the 18th century progressed, cross-dressing men began to be associated with homosexual subcultures, a judgement greeted in the Victorian era with an excitement bordering on hysteria. One of the

Mary Evans Picture Library

Equally disruptive to ideas about traditional gender roles were the numerous tales of cross-dressing women in the 18th and 19th centuries who successfully managed careers in the military, upsetting the notion of women as the 'weaker sex'. Hannah Snell was born in Worcester in 1723, and married James Summs.

When he deserted her, she borrowed male clothes and began her search, later learning that he'd been executed for murder. At Portsmouth she joined the Marines and Rebecca rioters, Illustrated London News, sailed f irst to Lisbon 11th November 1843 and then to India where (image 10639154) she was wounded in

battle in 1749, somehow managing to treat her leg and groin injuries without being discovered. When she returned to London the following year, she revealed her disguise and sold her story. Remarkably, her military service was off icially recognised and she was granted a pension by the Royal Hospital Chelsea. She died in 1792, one of several female adventurers of this period who found dressing as a man offered them opportunities they would not otherwise have had.

Mary Evans Picture Library

Adventures in cross-dressing

Mary Evans Picture Library

most notorious cases, the subject of a recent book by Neil McKenna, 'Fanny and Stella', was that of Frederick William Park and Ernest Boulton, arrested in April 1870 after an evening at the Strand Theatre in London in full drag where they'd been witnessed behaving in a lascivious manner. Their arrest and remand hearings at Bow Street Magistrates' Court, not to mention the trial itself in May 1871 for 'conspiring and inciting persons to commit an unnatural offence, while unlawfully disguising themselves as women thereby corrupting public morals' caused wide public interest with much reporting on the scandalous revelations. It became apparent that Boulton and Park's case fed into growing concern over the increased visibility of masculine women and effeminate men, and represented something worryingly 'other' for Victorian society that if allowed to flourish would irreversibly contaminate the nation's superiority. The Illustrated London News of 21st May 1870, reported that articles found at their lodgings included: "about sixteen dresses, thirteen petticoats, one crinoline, about ten bodices, seven chignons, stays, powder, stockings, rouge, wadding, &c." Even when not in female dress, the make-up worn by Park and Boulton, who called themselves Fanny and Stella, and the cut of their male attire, made many question their gender. Were they women in men's clothing or men in women's clothing? "There is not the slightest doubt," the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine

opined, "that England is hastening towards the border that divides the sexes."

One prominent name engulfed in the scandal was that of Lord Arthur Pelham-Clinton, MP and son of the Duke of Newcastle, who had for a time lived with Boulton, the latter styling himself Stella, Lady Clinton. Lord Arthur died on 18th June 1870, the day of his subpoena for trial, but whether from the given cause of scarlet fever or from suicide, remains obscure. Despite the grave situation the defendants initially found themselves in, the prosecution case collapsed and Boulton and Park were acquitted.

Ernest Boulton and Frederick William Park, also known as Stella and Fanny, arrested and put in a police van on 10th April 1870. The Day’s Doings, 20th May 1871 (image 10000882)

An interesting cross-dressing footnote was reported in the ILN a few months later in November 1871, with the investigation of a curious case of swindling: "a young woman named Mary Jane Furneaux [misprinted as Kenneaux] had obtained money from several persons by representing that she was Lord Arthur Clinton in disguise. She described the manner in which he (or she) escaped burial ‌ and was now obliged to keep her name secret until the expiration of a certain period of time, in order to get free of punishment."

From disguise to liberation, identity to entertainment, cross-dressing has been a persistent draw for those looking for a means of escape from the life in which they f ind themselves.

Jessica Talmage 2013

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s n o i t p a C Convivial

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All images Imagno/Mary Evans

Issue 8 The Sketch competition answers Image A: Edith Evans; Image B: Margaret Lockwood; Image C: Vivien Leigh; Image D: Peggy Ashcroft; Image E: Gladys Cooper; Image F: Flora Robson.

Congratulations to our winner Siaron James from Cwmni Da.

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4 Here at Mary Evans, we have our fair share of serious, heavyweight images, the sort to brook no nonsense and take no prisoners; images that would not look out of place in the most sober historical tome.

These four, however, are not they. Falling into what we might call the lighter category, these images are just a handful of our many unusual and humorous offerings. Our prize-winning competition this month invites you to ‘bring the funny’ by writing a caption for any or all of these images. There’s no limit to the number of entries, and all captions will be judged anonymously by a panel of serious people at the Mary Evans Picture Library, with the funniest caption winning £100 of Amazon vouchers. The decision of the panel is final. Send your entries to me&you@maryevans.com by 16th May 2013. The winner will be notified by 23rd May. We would be happy to receive your comments about ME & You. Please email us at me&you@maryevans.com.