Montague Glover
Montague Charles Glover (5 May 1898 – 1983) was a British freelance architect and private photographer. He is most notable for his depiction of homosexual life in London during the early to mid-20th century through photographs taken for his private enjoyment. These surviving photographs are of 'rough trade', working class men and members of the military.[1]
Life[edit]
Early years[edit]
Born in Leamington Spa, he had four older sisters, the youngest of whom was 10 years his senior.[citation needed] He joined the Army in the Artists Rifles Regiment in 1916 and was promoted to Second Lieutenant in the Territorial Force in 1917. He was awarded the Military Cross for Bravery in 1918.[2]
Later life and death[edit]
Glover is notable for his depictions of his partnership with his lover, Ralph Edward Hall (5 December 1913 – 1987), a very rarely documented example of a gay long-term relationship prior to the legalization of homosexuality in Britain in the 1960s. Ralph Edward Hall was born 5 December 1913 in Bermondsey in the East End of London. The two met around 1930 and Glover employed him as his manservant, providing a not uncommon, in those days, social cover for two people of the same gender living together. The relationship lasted for more than 50 years, surviving the Second World War during which Hall served in the Royal Air Force.[3]
Their later years were spent at Glover's country house, 'Little Windovers', in the village of Balsall Common, near Coventry, where Glover's eldest sister, Ellen, had lived with them until her death in 1954 aged 72.[citation needed] Glover himself died aged 85 in 1983, leaving Ralph Hall as his sole heir.[citation needed] Hall died four years later after suffering a gradual decline in health.[citation needed]
In his later years Glover was described by friends in Balsall Common as "charming, if somewhat reserved", and Ralph as an "outgoing, cheerful man"[4]
'Little Windovers' and Glover's possessions were put up for auction in 1988 by Hall's next of kin. One lot was a cardboard box that contained much of Glover's collection of negatives (photographs he had taken after his time serving in the trenches in the First World War). Also included was correspondence with his many lovers, including letters from Hall written during his service in the Second World War.[citation needed] Much of the collection was in 1992 published in a book with text by James Gardiner, A Class Apart - The Private Pictures of Montague Glover (ISBN 1852427280), and is a perfect and marvellous insight into the hidden world of gay British society in the early 20th century.[5]
Themes[edit]
"Rough trade"[edit]
Most of Glover's photographs were of men who would be described as 'rough trade'; they were his ‘working class’ male sexual partners of the period, many of them members of the armed forces.
References[edit]
- ^ Norton, Rictor. "The Gay Love Letters of Ralph Hall to Montague Glover". Retrieved 26 June 2018.
- ^ James Gardiner (1992). A Class Apart - The Private Pictures of Montague Glover. London ; New York : Serpent's Tail. p. 9.
- ^ Bourne, Stephen (30 June 2017). Fighting Proud: The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served in Two World Wars. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78673-215-6.
- ^ James Gardiner (1992). A Class Apart - The Private Pictures of Montague Glover. London ; New York : Serpent's Tail. p. 136.
- ^ James Gardiner; Montague Charles Glover (1992). A Class Apart: The Private Pictures of Montague Glover. Serpent's Tail. ISBN 978-1-85242-250-9.
External links[edit]
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