Out of their Trees - no. 1

Those who know me know how passionate I am about genealogy. It's one of my claims to fame. I've been on John Holmes's Radio Nottingham programme a few times researching his family tree. Recently I've come to a dead end. But it doesn't stop me researching other people, and, as I mentioned in an earlier entry, I'm researching local ancestries of LGBT people.

The latest to be added is Ellen DeGeneres.The DeGeneres family are, as you might have guessed, French in origin. One of Ellen's first DeGeneres ancestors to be American-born was Henry. Through his wife Nora Dulany (1818-1911), Ellen descends from early colonists, including Henry Lowe (1652-1717) from Derbyshire. Henry Lowe himself descends from the mighty Bess of Hardwick. An interesting link is to Capt. Mainwaring himself, Arthur Lowe - he comes from the same family.

Ellen also descends from the Pierreponts of Holme Pierrepont and Thoresby. One LGBT cousin is Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (nee Pierrepont), who had a teenage affair with Anne Wortley. After Anne's early death Mary's father planned to marry her off to a nobleman called Clotworthy Skeffington (honestly, no kidding, that's his name!). Fortunately Mary had a better idea and eloped with her late girlfriend's brother Edward Wortley Montagu. The couple went to Turkey where Edward was ambassador, and whilst there Mary learnt of inoculation against smallpox. On returning to England she persuaded sceptical doctors to introduce it here.

I'll put more about Lady Mary in the Heritage Trail section. Other LGBT relatives through the Pierreponts include the 2nd Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Lord Arthur Pelham-Clinton MP and actor Rupert Everett.Ellen DeGeneres also descends from the brother of Sir William Neville, Constable of Nottingham Castle from 1381, one half of the city's earliest same-sex marriage (actual Catholic church marriage, that is, not a medieval equivalent of a civil partnership).

To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage click http://www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk

An artistic bent

Recently I designed a logo for the Nottinghamshire Gay and Lesbian Switchboard to appear on leaflets around the universities and colleges. The consensus amongst LGBT youth was that the logo should not contain usual LGBT identifiers - pink triangles and rainbow flags - but instead be "urban and funky". I could probably come up with something urban but thought I was bit long in the tooth to be funky! But these restricting criteria made me jump at the chance.

I think I've come up with a logo that can be used by anyone of any sexuality. What's more, it doesn't matter which way up it goes. I've designed several logos in the past, including that of the NRH. My idea for that (which you can see on the main blog page) was to come up with something connected to Robin Hood that was non-gender-specific. The result was an arrow with rainbow ribbons.

Logos are verywhere these days. They shape the way we visualise our age. Imagine the 60s, 70s or 80s and it will be the visual aspect that often springs to the memory. The LGBT community has been identified with the rainbow flag for 30 years now, and its 6 colours have appeared everywhere. There are a few logos which go against this trend (my own urban logo and that of Nottingham Ball Bois, for example).

As part of NRH we hope to collect visual material as well as photographs and pictures. Perhaps you can help. Do you have any badges, leaflets, etc. that have logos or designs of an LGBT nature that sums up the age in which it was produced? I have a few London Pride t-shirts which I will loan to the project. They sum up my life before moving to Nottingham, when the only time I met more than one other gay man in one place was at London Pride.

We have a large collection of LGBT badges, but you may have one that we haven't.On the subject of logos and designs the project is DESPERATE to get hold of a good, clear, hi-res image of the poster that appeared on the side of the Methodist Central Mission in Nottingham for Nottingham Pride. You couldn't have missed it - it was shocking pink. So far, our photos do not do it justice, and the Methodist church don't seem to have kept the original design. Can you help?

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage click http://www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk/

Blog what?

I though it might be a good idea to let you know what to expect from this blog.

Well, there's news and bits of information from around Nottinghamshire's Rainbow world. There'll also be previews, reviews, and trivia. All of it will be centred around our heritage. Being an avid researcher I'll also bring you exclusive snippets of what I uncover.

So let's start with my newest research topic - an occupant of St. Mary's workhouse (where the Victoria Bus Station, Nottingham, is now) died in 1797. She'd been there for several years, and it wasn't until she died that they discovered she was a man!

Another topic I'm keen on presenting is family history. Rufus Wainwright topped the NRH poll of most popular icon. Perhaps this was helped by his performance at the Wollaton this July. I've found that Rufus has Sherwood ancestry. Briefly, the Fitzrandolph family from Kirkby-in-Ashfield joined Bassetlaw's Mayflower Pilgrims for a new life in America. Rufus is descended from this family - as is Barack Obama! Interestingly, Rufus is also (very distantly) related to his idol and gay icon supreme Judy Garland. More interestingly, he is more closely related (through his French-Canadian grandmother) to Madonna, Celine Dion, Mark Wahlberg, Angelina Jolie, and the Duchess of Cornwall (amongst others).

I'll put Rufus's Notts. ancestry on the website in due time, and those of other famous LGBT people.Very soon a Heritage Trail will appear on the website. The trail will highlight various people, events, subjects and places that are notable in the county's LGBT community. From them you will be able to create your own tour.

That's it for now. Keep your eyes open for the next blog entry.

To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage click www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk