James and John: A True Story of Prejudice and Murder

In the 19th century, James Pratt and John Smith were sentenced to death in Britain for homosexuality. Award-winning historian Chris Bryant MP has uncovered their story in his book "James and John," which was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. The book provides a raw, unexpected portrait of Britain's grandeur, wealth, energy, cruelty, and hypocrisy in the age of liberalism. Bryant delves deep into the public archives to recreate the lives of these two men, whose names are known to history but whose story has been lost until now.

Format: Hardback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 15 February 2024
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week

‘Carefully observed, rich in detail, imaginative, compassionate and angry. A raw, unexpected portrait of Britain's grandeur, wealth, energy, cruelty and hypocrisy in the age of liberalism

RORY STEWART

A shocking story of prejudice and injustice, told in meticulous detail

KEIR STARMER

From award-winning historian and Sunday Times bestselling author Chris Bryant MP, James and John tells the story of what it meant to be gay in early 19th-century Britain through the lens of a landmark trial.

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.

When Charles Dickens wrote these tragic lines, he was penning fact, not fiction. He had visited the condemned cells at the infamous prison at Newgate, where seventeen men who had been sentenced to death were awaiting news of their pleas for mercy.

Two men stood out: James Pratt and John Smith, who had been convicted of homosexuality. Theirs was ‘an unnatural offence, a crime so unmentionable it was never named. That was why they alone despaired and, as the turnkey told Dickens, why they alone were ‘dead men.’

The 1830s ushered in great change in Britain. In a few short years, the government swept away slavery, rotten boroughs, child labor, bribery and corruption in elections, the ban on trades unions and civil marriage.

They also curtailed the ‘bloody code that treated 200 petty crimes as capital offences. Some thought the death penalty itself was wrong. There had not been a hanging at Newgate for two years; hundreds were reprieved.

Yet, when the King met with his ‘hanging Cabinet, they decided to reprieve all bar James and John. When the two men were led to the gallows, they were calm and composed, their faces showing no sign of fear or regret.

As they were led to their deaths, the crowd gathered around them, watching in silence as the noose was tightened around their necks. They died with dignity, their spirits unbroken, and their memory will live on as a testament to the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights and equality.

James and John's story is a powerful reminder of the importance of fighting against prejudice and injustice, and of the need to remember the struggles of those who came before us in the pursuit of a more just and equitable world.

Weight: 578g
Dimension: 163 x 243 x 35 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781526644978