“The Cult of the Clitoris” Libel Trial
May. 31st, 2018 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7via https://ift.tt/2L8rGyE
today-in-wwi:
Maud Allan as Salomé in 1906.
May 29 1918, London–Since his election to Parliament, the former airplane manufacturer Noel Pemberton-Billing had turned his attention from air defense and air power to outlandish conspiracy theories. He alleged that the Germans had a “Black Book” of “47,000 highly placed British perverts,” and that they were blackmailing them to “exterminate the manhood of Britain” by luring others into homosexual acts. He accused Margot Asquith, wife of the former PM, of being entangled in the conspiracy as well, resulting in the sharing of state secrets with her supposed lesbian lover. In May 1918, he published another article, “The Cult of the Clitoris;” this included an accusation that the actress Maud Allan, at the time appearing in a production of the Visions of Salomé (loosely based on Oscar Wilde’s Salome), was part of the conspiracy.
Allan sued Pemberton-Billing for libel, and the trial opened on May 29. Pemberton-Billing represented himself. The trial caused a media sensation, in no small part due to Pemberton-Billing’s over-the-top tactics. His mistress alleged on the stand that the presiding judge was in the “Black Book” himself. One of the witnesses on Pemberton-Billing’s behalf was Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, once Oscar Wilde’s lover, who had converted to Roman Catholicism and become a staunch critic of homosexuality. Allan ultimately lost the case, and soon became entangled in charges that her dancing in the production violated British obscenity laws. The case only helped Pemberton-Billing’s political fortunes; he would win re-election at the end of the year.
Today in 1917: UK Labour Leader Visits Russia
Today in 1916: German U-Boat Lays Fateful Mines Near the OrkneysToday in 1915: First German Minelaying Submarine Deployed
(Your picture was not posted)
today-in-wwi:
Maud Allan as Salomé in 1906.
May 29 1918, London–Since his election to Parliament, the former airplane manufacturer Noel Pemberton-Billing had turned his attention from air defense and air power to outlandish conspiracy theories. He alleged that the Germans had a “Black Book” of “47,000 highly placed British perverts,” and that they were blackmailing them to “exterminate the manhood of Britain” by luring others into homosexual acts. He accused Margot Asquith, wife of the former PM, of being entangled in the conspiracy as well, resulting in the sharing of state secrets with her supposed lesbian lover. In May 1918, he published another article, “The Cult of the Clitoris;” this included an accusation that the actress Maud Allan, at the time appearing in a production of the Visions of Salomé (loosely based on Oscar Wilde’s Salome), was part of the conspiracy.
Allan sued Pemberton-Billing for libel, and the trial opened on May 29. Pemberton-Billing represented himself. The trial caused a media sensation, in no small part due to Pemberton-Billing’s over-the-top tactics. His mistress alleged on the stand that the presiding judge was in the “Black Book” himself. One of the witnesses on Pemberton-Billing’s behalf was Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, once Oscar Wilde’s lover, who had converted to Roman Catholicism and become a staunch critic of homosexuality. Allan ultimately lost the case, and soon became entangled in charges that her dancing in the production violated British obscenity laws. The case only helped Pemberton-Billing’s political fortunes; he would win re-election at the end of the year.
Today in 1917: UK Labour Leader Visits Russia
Today in 1916: German U-Boat Lays Fateful Mines Near the OrkneysToday in 1915: First German Minelaying Submarine Deployed
(Your picture was not posted)
