This month, the Library has two displays in honour of LGBTQIA+ history month. Our trial of the Month for February covers the Trials of Oscar Wilde, and our large display case looks at the 1871 trial of Boulton and Park, now more commonly referred to by their chosen names Fanny and Stella.
Boulton was a 22-year-old bank clerk, and Park a 23-year-old law student. They both also worked in the theatre, playing exclusively female roles.
For Boulton and Park, presenting as female was more than a job – they signed and addressed letters to each other and friends as ‘Fanny’ and ‘Stella’ rather than their given names. They had unknowingly been under police surveillance for the previous year for regularly presenting as female in public.
The Arrest
On 28 April 1870, Stella Boulton and Fanny Park were arrested upon leaving the Strand Theatre with a friend named Hugh Mundell, who would later become a witness for the prosecution. On the night of their arrest, as they often did on-and-off-stage, both Boulton and Park were wearing dresses and wigs.
At their initial hearing the morning after their arrest, Boulton and Park remained in their dresses of the previous night, much to the excitement of the press and the gathered crowds. Although they presented as male during all subsequent court appearances, the crowds and media attention remained.
Those indicted alongside Boulton and Park included: Lord Arthur Clinton, Louis Charles Hurt, William Sommerville, Martin Luther Cumming, John Safford Fiske and C.F. Thomas. 
Of these, only Hurt and Fiske surrendered to trial alongside Boulton and Park.
Lord Arthur Clinton, an aristocrat and Liberal MP, was living with Boulton, and the pair referred to each other as husband and wife. He is reported to have died from scarlet fever in June 1870, the day after his court summons. There has been much speculation as to whether he actually died by suicide, or secretly fled the UK.
The Trial
The final six-day trial did not take place until the following May, 1871. Evidence given was primarily garments, photographs of the pair in female attire, and letters to and from the defendants, using the names Fanny and Stella. There was also a medical examination of both, though this was unreported in the papers.
The case for the defence leant heavily on the pair’s theatrical performances and youth, positioning their public female presentations as “a lark”. There was also no tangible evidence of the felony – buggery – and so all parties were acquitted of the crime.
The jury discussed the case for about one hour. As the not guilty verdict was read, the crowd let out a burst of cheering and applause.
Impact of the trial: Labouchere Amendment
It is widely understood that the inability to convict Boulton & Park of any felony contributed directly to the passing of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 – “the Labouchere Amendment.”
This made the vague charge of “any act of gross indecency” between two men, whether “in public or private”, a felony, and punishable by up to two years imprisonment. Where “buggery” could be proven, the punishment remained penal servitude for life.
The broadness of “gross indecency” is how both Oscar Wilde and Alan Turing were later convicted.
Find out more by visiting our Library display!