James and John: A True Story of Prejudice and Murder

About the Book

*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

Newgate Prison, 1835. James Pratt and John Smith. Both were convicted of homosexuality – ‘an unnatural offence’. Both would be hanged at the gallows. And yet the 1830s was a time of great reform, when capital punishment was in decline. Of the jailed men alongside them, why were James and John alone not spared?

Labour MP and bestselling author 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.

‘An eye-opening portrait of Victorian injustice and hypocrisy' The Times
‘With its courtroom denouement and Dickensian setting, TV commissioners should take note’ New Statesman
‘An intricately detailed portrait of Regency England, roving from Newgate and the Old Bailey to servants’ quarters’ Financial Times

About the Author :
Chris Bryant is an acclaimed historian of Parliament, an expert on parliamentary procedure and a Sunday Times-bestselling author. He has been the MP for the Rhondda since 2001 and is currently Minister of State in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Review :
Bryant uncovers the story of James Pratt and John Smith, the last men in England to be hanged for being gay. The resulting work is an insight into a supposedly enlightened era - of slavery abolitionists and the Great Reform Act. Bryant meticulously stitches together the reality beneath An eye-opening portrait of Victorian injustice and hypocrisy featuring pie sellers at hangings, all-male knocking shops and a whiskered cross-dresser called the Pet of the Petticoats In this riveting book, historian and MP Chris Bryant recounts a momentous historical injustice . . . Deftly illustrates a violently homophobic age Between 1806 and 1835, 404 men were sentenced to death for sodomy in England, of whom 56 were hanged and many more transported. In his meticulously researched James and John, the politician and historian Chris Bryant explores the proceedings against Pratt and Smith, as well at the social attitudes and legal codes in what he dubs "an era of spectacularly cruel and bloodthirsty prejudice" . . . Bryant does an excellent job of tracking down the two men Bryant has rescued Pratt and Smith from the rubbish dump of history . . . Combining [a detailed account of Pratt and Smith’s trial] with a richly detailed portrait of the more squalid and miserable aspects of Georgian London, Bryant has assembled a tragic story that is as shocking as it is pathetic . . . Without any unnecessary melodrama, Bryant evokes the horrors of Newgate Prison and elucidates a judicial process heavily weighted against the defence . . . Bryant never lets outrage get the better of him, and his unaided archival research has been exemplary Bryant's concern is not just to reveal a particular injustice. He sets out to expose the failings of the whole official system. The historical context in which he sets this case is staggering in its depth and scope. Anyone interested in nineteenth-century society and its agencies will find it revealing Bryant's challenge is to reconstruct their world from the outside in. Running in parallel to the story of Pratt and Smith, he paints an intricately detailed portrait of Regency England, roving from Newgate and the Old Bailey to servants' quarters, Deptford's dockyards, a rural village baptism and the splendour of the newly built Brighton Pavilion 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 Bryant's new campaigning book is the product of exhaustive archival searches, many of them made online during lockdowns, and is a serious contribution to social history of the most disturbing kind A vibrant and honourable retelling of early 19th-century gay history. Bryant simply and clearly underscores the essential humanity of James and John – and in so doing emphasises our common dignity in the face of overwhelming and anonymising systems of power and governance This is a shocking story of prejudice and injustice, told in meticulous detail by Chris Bryant. A must-read for all who want to understand the deep roots of homophobia in British history A heart-breaking account of a grave injustice and the social climate of homophobic prejudice that made it possible This is the best kind of angry history: meticulously researched, vividly written, deeply humane and making an utterly compelling case. It keeps faith with the dead, and in doing so gives us something to celebrate, fervently, in the present Law can be weaponised for the cruelest of purposes - a political lesson we should never forget. Here, Chris Bryant provides a powerful indictment of Britain’s persecution of gay men, including the use of the death penalty, and the legacy of how such laws live on in many of our former colonies. This is a brilliant telling of a shameful part of our history James and John is a timely reminder of the stories the powerful would rather we forgot