Edward Wilson (?1672 – 1694) kept man, murdered

Edward Wilson from Leicestershire served under his uncle in Flanders during the Nine-years war against France, 1688-97. However he was dismissed and sent home to London with 10 guineas (about £2,300 in modern money). This was soon spent. However by 1693 Wilson was living with the equipage and garb of nobility, had redeemed his father’s estate and gave portions to his sister – all this without any visible means of income. It was estimated that he was living at a rate of £4,000 per annum (over three quarters of £1 million in modern money). There was much speculation in the coffee-houses and in clubs as to the source of his income. Had he stolen diamonds, was he passing information to the French, had he discovered the philosopher’s stone, or sold his soul to the devil? Was he a kept man? 

There was only one lady who was said to have enough resources, the intrigante Mistress Elizabeth Villiers (1657-1733) then 36 and the favourite of the then King, William of Orange. It was later said that Wilson and Villiers had been lovers and she was curious to know of a rival. In any case it irked her that she was being mentioned. She engaged one John Law, a card sharper down from Edinburgh to spy on Wilson. He quickly ascertained that most evenings at around 10, Wilson would dismiss his servants and take a sedan chair to a house near Hyde Park Corner. He did not return until 5am. On a later evening Law realised that the house went through to the next street, and a hour after Wilson's arrival a lady left by chair from the back door and proceeded to a nobleman’s house. Some hours later she emerged and the journey was reversed. After some days of watching this, Law contrived to have the lady arrested and taken to a sponging house on charges of an outstanding debt. There he was able to confirm that the lady was Wilson, and was impressed by her gait and demeanour which were consistent with her appearance. Wilson offered money and Law changed sides. It was arranged that Law should burst into the nobleman’s house and discover Wilson with the naked daughter of the French steward. This was reported back to Mistress Villiers.

It so happened that both Wilson’s sister and Law’s mistress, a Mrs Lawrence, lodged at the same abode in St Giles in the Fields. After a spat between the two, Wilson removed his sister elsewhere. Law took the attitude that aspersions had thereby been cast upon the residence, and letters concerning matters of honour were exchanged. On the 9^th April 1694, Wilson was drinking with a friend, Captain Wightman at the Fountain Inn in the Strand, when Law arrived and words were exchanged. Law then left. Wilson and Wightman took a carriage to Bloomsbury Square, where they encountered Law again. Law and Wilson drew swords, and after only one pass, Law punctured Wilson fatally to the depth of two inches in the upper part of the stomach. Law remained and was immediately arrested. Wightman went immediately to Wilson’s house, but reported that there were no papers, except for a suggested cure for toothache.

While their encounter did not have the formality of a duel (formal challenge, seconds, a surgeon in attendance etc), it is described so in many accounts. Duelling was illegal, but survivors of duels were almost never arraigned. Law was found guilty of murder on 20^th April, sentenced to death. This was then commuted to a fine, but Wilson’s brother lodged an “appeal of murder”, a private prosecution following an acquittal for murder, and Law continued to be imprisoned. On the 6^th January 1695 with the help of bribes and drugs to subdue the guards, law escaped to a waiting coach, which took him to a waiting ship and thence to Flanders.

Prior to this period, much of what banking there was had been done by goldsmiths.  John Law (1671-1729) was the son of a Scottish goldsmith and was thus acquainted with the practices and the theory.  He was also good at numbers and odds and at remembering which cards had already been played, and thus was able to win at the game of faro.  After his prison escape he wandered around Europe, living by his wits and his abilities as a card sharper.  He also became an advocate for central banking and paper currency. He published a text entitled Money and Trade Considered: with a Proposal for Supplying the Nation with Money, 1705. Law was in Scotland and participated in the debates leading to the Act of Union with England, 1707. However with the passing of that act he had to leave as he was an escaped felon in England. His propositions of creating a national bank in Scotland were ultimately rejected. In France he was mentored by the Duke of Orleans. The wars of Louis XIV had left the country completely wasted, both economically and financially. The resultant shortage of precious metals led to a shortage of coins in circulation, which in turn limited the production of new coins. After Louis XIV died, and Orleans became regent, Law proposed that the economy be stimulated by replacing gold with paper credit and a centralised bank.  He was the architect of the Mississippi Company which became the Mississippi Bubble in 1720, and the bubble in turn was aggravated by an outbreak of plague in the Marseilles region. People quickly returned to gold and silver currency and there was no further monetary reform until after the Revolution. Law's properties were confiscated. He had been granted a British pardon in 1719, and returned to London in 1723. He died in poverty in Venice in 1729 age 57.

The nobleman lover of Edward Wilson is taken by most writers to be Charles Spencer (1675-1722). He became the heir to the Earldom of Sunderland when his elder brother died in 1688. After the death of Edward Wilson, he became Member of Parliament for Tiverton in 1695 and married the heiress Arabella Cavendish. She gave him one daughter and died in 1698 age 24. He married a second heiress, Anne Churchill in 1700. They had six children and she died in 1716 age 33. Spencer married a third heiress, Judith Tichborne in 1717. They had three children who all died very young. Spencer became the Third Earl in 1702, and he served in several major political offices. In 1718 he became First Lord of the Treasury (in effect Prime Minister). This was at the same time as John Law held the corresponding position in France. The British South Sea Bubble was also in 1720, and Spencer resigned over it in 1721. He died a year later. Love-Letters Between a Certain Late Nobleman and the Famous Mr. Wilson: Discovering the True History of the Rise and Surprising Grandeur of that Celebrated Beau which almost identified him as Edward Wilson’s lover was published a year after that.

Netta Murray Goldsmith points out that neither Spencer nor Villiers was that rich that they could provide for Wilson’s spending. Spencer was still dependent on an allowance from his father. She makes a good case that William of Orange was also Wilson’s lover. Two other attractive young men were raised by William III to wealth and titles: William Bentinck and Arnold van Keppel. All three were regarded as part of a sodomical circle at court.

The suspicious removal of all Wilson's papers, and the arranged escape of Law from prison suggest a conspiracy.  Law would seem to have been a hitman, but who ordered Wilson's death and why?  Had he become over-demanding, or an embarrassment? Had he suggested that he would spill secrets?   

Some historians suggest that the 1723 published Love Letters were among the documents removed from Wilson's house when he was killed.  This detail, like most of the details here is advocated by some and dismissed by others. 

• Unknown Lady’s Pocquet of Letters, 1708
• Love-Letters Between a Certain Late Nobleman and the Famous Mr. Wilson: Discovering the True History of the Rise and Surprising Grandeur of that Celebrated Beau. A Moore, 1723.
• Adolphe Thiers translated by Frank S Fiske. The Mississippi Bubble: A memoir of John Law. W A Townsend & Company, 1859: 29-33. 
• H Montgomery Hyde. John Law: the history of an honest adventurer. W H Allen, 1948, 1969: 24-33.
• Rictor Norton. Mother Clap’s Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830. GMP, 1992: 35-43.
• Antoin E Murphy. John Law: Economic Theorist and Policy-Maker. Clarenden Press, 1997: 20-34.
• Netta Murray Goldsmith. The Secret: Edward Wilson And The Government Conspiracy. Kindle, 2012.
• Antoin Murphy. “Two Bubbles and a Plague”. Center for the Study of Economic Liberty, Online.

James How (1714–1780) publican

In December 1732 Mr James How took unto marriage one Mary Snapes. Together they had a small nest-egg of £30 (£6,000 in today’s money). They found a small pub in Epping, northwest of London, which was to let, and they took it. James was involved in an altercation with a young gentleman that resulted in a lameness of his hand. This was of such a nature that he entered an action against the gentleman and obtained damages of £500 (over £100,000). James and Mary were then able to seek a better situation, and took a public house in Limehouse. They lived there many years, in good credit and esteem. They then bought the White Horse pub on Poplar High Street, which they also ran successfully.

Manion p45

A woman by the name of Bentley, resident not far away, had known James when they were both young. In 1750 she asked for £10 (£2,000) that James’ sex not be discovered (this at a time when £20 a year was a good wage). James complied, and the matter was settled for many years.

James served in most parish offices and more than once was a jury foreman, although some regarded him as somewhat effeminate. 

In 1765, at Christmas time, Mrs Bentley sent a repeated demand for £10, and a fortnight after that she sent again. 

Around this time Mrs How took ill, and went to a friend in the country. James was not able to join her before she died, and she told their secret to the friend. The “friend” visited James in his grief and "insisted not only on their share of the whole effects, but more”. 

Mrs Bentley escalated her demands and recruited two men, John Charles and William Barwick, who pretended to be a constable (Bow Street Runner) sent by Justice John Fielding (the brother of Henry Fielding the novelist). A neighbour, Mr Williams, a pawn broker was passing and was informed of the situation. He urged How to go to the local Justice. While he stepped out to change his shirt, the two men forcibly took How to the house of Mrs Bentley, where after threats How gave a draft for £100 on Mr Williams payable at a later date, and they released him. 

How and Williams applied to the local bench for advice, and when Bentley and Barwick came for the payment there was a real constable waiting and they were taken to the bench of Justices sitting at the Angel in Whitechapel. How, now being outed, had reverted to female dress, and now gave the name of Mary East. Under examination, Bentley denied sending for the £100, and Barwick declared that he would never have gone if she had not sent him. They were committed unto the Clerkenwell Bridewell until the next session. Charles disappeared and was never heard of again. Bentley and Barwick served four years in prison and Barrick also stood in the pillory three times.

It was noted “The alteration of her dress from that of a man to that of a woman appeared so great, that together with her awkward behavior in her new assumed habit, it caused great diversion”, for of course he was 33 years unused to it.

Either How gave it out, or the newspapers added the story that both Mary East and Mary Snapes had been abandoned by men in their youth. In East’s case the man had been arrested for being a highwayman and transported to the American colonies. They gave up on men, and tossed a coin to decide which of them would act as the man in their relationship. Mrs How’s name, Mary Snapes, was not given in any of the accounts.

How/East sold the White Horse and retired to another part where he was not famous. He lived till 1780. When he signed a will in 1779 it was as Mary East.

• “The FEMALE HUSBAND; or a circumstantial Account of the extraordinary Affair which lately happened at POPLAR; with many interesting Particulars, not mentioned in the publick Papers.” London Chronicle, 7-9 August 1766. Reprinted: Rictor Norton (ed) as "Mary East, the Female Husband", Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. 6 December 2003. Online.
• “Mary East, The Female Husband”. The Odd Fellow, 2 May 1840.
• “A Curious Married Couple: Thirty-four years of pretended matrimony”. Fincher’s Trade Review, July 25, 1863. Reprinted in Jonathan Katz. Gay American History: Lesbians And Gay Men In The U.S.A. A Discus Book.1978:343-4.
• “A Fortified Public House: Strange Story of Mary East, the ‘Man-Woman’ who Lived There”. Illustrated Police Budget, 13 May 1899.
• “The Romance of the White Horse”. Tower Hamlets Independent and East End Local Advertiser, 27 January 1900.
• Bram Stoker. “Mary East” in Famous Imposters.  Sturgis & Walton, 1910: 241-8. 
• Rictor Norton. Mother Clap’s Molly House: The gay Subculture in England 1700-1830. GMP, 1992: 237.
• “Mary East (aka James How) and Mrs How of the White Horse, Poplar”. East End Women’s Museum, 23 June 2017. Online. 
• Jen Manion. “The Pillar of the Community” in Female Husbands: A Trans History. Cambridge University Press, 2020: 44-67.

Isle of Dogs Life

-------------------

The story of the transported lover and the coin toss may be true or untrue. It was a telling that went well with the newspapers in that it downplayed the idea that How was gender deviant. However given the 33 years that he maintained the role and that he was regarded as an outstanding citizen implies that he had an affinity for being male.

I was not able to ascertain from the various accounts just when in 1766 Mrs How, Mary Snapes, did die.  Was it before the trial of Bentley and Barwick in August?  It is not at all explained how friends or family of Mrs How could claim half the property.  Under the various coverture laws that lasted into the 19th century, wives had no property rights apart from their husband.   

Almost all accounts spell their surname as 'How'.  Manion, without discussing why she dissents, spells it "Howe".

Some of the immediate accounts in 1765 used How’s well-earned masculine pronouns for the period pre-1766. However after his death in 1780, almost all used she/her only, put ‘wife’ in quotation marks and some even referred to him as ‘Mrs Mary East’ as if he had been married to a Mr East!!. The very recent book by Manion opts for the hopefully-temporary fashion of using they/them which of course is not How’s choice of pronouns, and is confusing.

 “They were in the business of keeping public houses, which they did to great success by evidence of their ability to upgrade their situation numerous times over the years before settling in at the White Horse Tavern for roughly two decades.” (p46) Does ‘they’ mean James alone or Mr & Mrs How together?

When the two thugs sent by Bentley accost How, is ‘they’ the two thugs or How himself? “to impersonate officers of the court who roughed Howe up physically and suggested they would be executed for their crimes” (p46).

This and that

When I go to Amazon.books and type in 'transgender' the top item shown is this year's most hyped transphobic screed: A Shrier's Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.

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On page 100 of Kay Brown's new book, named after her blog as On the Science of Changing Sex, she mentions that "Meyer at Hopkins" labelled a group of transkids as 'Eonists'.  She then adds, in brackets: "Ironically, he used the term 'Eonist' which was named after a famous historically significant cross-dresser, who by his history, is easily recognizably autogynephilic".   

Now this is not a surprising claim from Brown who after all declared Christine Jorgensen to be autogynephilic.

Some of the problems in applying a 21st-century concept like 'autogynephilia' to the 18th century:

1. A lack of early-transitioners to compare to.   Quite likely there were many early-transitioners in India and South-East Asia - although this remains undocumented.   In Christian Europe where sex and gender expression had been so repressed, it is almost impossible to name any at all.  
2. The major development of gay/trans expression at that period was the molly houses.  There is no mention that d'Eon was ever seen at one.  However given his high diplomatic rank, he would be very constrained in what he might do.
3. Nor is there any evidence of female lovers.   It is true that the more sensational elaborations of d'Eon's life added such titillations as the claim that d'Eon was the father of George IV, but the more reliable books reject such claims.
4. Vern Bullough makes the claim – that surprisingly has been ignored in the debate about social construction - that “there is no evidence in Western culture of what might be called a heterosexual transvestite consciousness before the twentieth century”, and probably not before Magnus Hirschfield modified the term 'transvestite' in 1910.   Those such as Brown who conflate heterosexual transvestity and autogynephilia are notable in not having even discussed this.
5. Brown seems to regard autogynephilia as sort of an essentialism, that is a resultant from DNA modified by epigenetics.  If so why are there not loads of such persons in the 18th century?  Is modern pollution the required epigenetic? The best known transvestites in 18th century London are George Selwyn, who loved to attend public executions in drag, and Horace Walpole who dressed as an old woman for masquerade balls. Neither ever married and historians discuss whether Walpole was gay.   So how do they fit into the 21st century social construction of  HSTS/AGP?

"his history" .   Brown denies female pronouns to Charlotte d'Eon, as does Gary Kates, her otherwise best biographer, and remarkably so does Patrick Califia.

D'Eon's name was of course taken by the English Princian group, the Beaumont Society.   Personally I could never see her as one of their members.

The word 'chevalier' was used by Susanna Valenti for her Chevalier D’Eon Resort and by Virginia Prince for Chevalier Publications.   I always found it odd that they stuck with the male form of the word, and insist on using the transient title over 200 years later.   The female form is 'chevalière'.      D'Eon is hardly the only chevaler/chevalière.  So are Marie-Pierre Pruvot (Bambi) and Amanda Lear.  Why is it that those who always say Chevalier d'Eon do not say Chevalière Pruvot and Chevalière Lear?  Here is the Wikipedia list of Chevaliers (which does not include Charlotte d'Eon).   And of course the EN.Wikipedia entry is for "Chevalier D'Eon" not "Charlotte d'Eon de Beamont".  The FR.Wikipedia entry is for "Charles d'Éon de Beaumont" - yet another Wikpedia entry for a trans person under the pre-transition name.

----------

My site is being subjected to a strange inflation.   Not the most recent posting, but the first link in the most recent posting gets an extra 6,000 or so visits per day.   Hence at the moment Jan Morris part 3 is so effected because I linked to it in 2020's obituaries.   This did not happen to any of the other links in the same posting.

Blogspot's statistics tell me that the source is the site World of TG which does mention the obituaries but not Jan Morris.   This should change as soon as I post this.  Will George Selwyn now be surged?  

Administrators at World of TG: why are you doing this?  It really messes up my statistics.

+++ added a day later.   I was quite right.   George Selwyn has surged to the very top!!

------

Funny things that cis academics do.   In the new book Others of My Kind: Transatlantic Transgender History , 2020, there is chapter by Annette Timm of the University of Calgary.  

On p147 we find "These primitive forms of hormonal treatment struck Benjamin as a new panacea for aging, and he became the most well-known American exponent of the benefits of getting 'Steinached,' eventually performing as many as 500 of these operations." 57

What is in endnote 57   ?: 

'57. Anonymous, “Harry Benjamin: Part 2 Rejuvenation,” A Gender Variance Who’s Who (blog) 5 Oct 2012, accessed 26 June 2019, https://zagria.blogspot.com/2012/10/harry-benjamin-part-2-rejuvenation_5.html. Even though the author of this blog remains anonymous, I have found the information it provides extremely helpful and impeccably researched.  This is one of the few pieces of information I was not able to  find elsewhere.'

a) The 500 count is not my research at all. It is found in Ethel Person's The Sexual Century.  Person was the only writer to do a biography of Harry Benjamin based on interviews with the subject.  It is an essential source for anybody writing about Benjamin, and is not in Timm's bibliography.

b) Timm otherwise ignores what I have to say.   For example, why no mention of Carla von Crist who actually was transatlantic - appearing in both New York and Berlin? Nor does she use my detailed close reading of Benjamin's The Transgender Phenomenon.

c) So in what way is it "extremely helpful"?

d) Anonymous?!!   This encyclopedia (much much more than a blog) has an author name.

e) The book is by 4 authors.  If any of them are trans they are keeping it quiet, and therefore we assume that they are all cis.  Despite that they title the book: Others of My Kind.

f) Like, I think, most trans persons I live semi-stealth.  Some know my past, most do not, and I do not insist on telling them.  Therefore I use a pen name - as do many cis persons for all kinds of reasons.  While Timm is making a career writing about us, she does not seem to understand such everyday aspects of being trans.   

2020 Obituaries, trans & others

Ricky Renee (1929 – 2017) Jewel Box Revue performer from Indiana, moved to London and then Germany, voted one of Top Ten Artists, cameo in Cabaret, 1972. DE.WIKIPEDIA

Gloria Greaves (1932 – 2015) Transitioned 1964. Sex worker sent to women’s prison for a crime that only a man can commit.

 Jan Morris (1926 – 2020) journalist and travel writer. Author of one of the first trans autobiographies.

Little Richard/Richard Wayne Penniman (1932 – 2020) colourful androgynous rock singer who started out as a drag queen, and continued to blur the gender expression boundaries.

 

Richard Green (1936 - 2019) Academic and administrator who worked at Johns Hopkins, ULCA and Charing Cross gender identity clinics, and who did help many trans persons, but whose reputation is seriously sullied by participation in the Sissy Boy Project, his defence of Blanchardians and lack of defence of Russell Reid.

Genesis P Orridge (1950 – 2020) musician and magickian. Played with Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV – over 200 albums. Died of chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia.

David Carter (1953 – 2020) gay historian, author of best book on Stonewall, in which he removed Sylvia Rivera from that history without even a footnote. Died of a heart attack.

Aimee Stephens (1960 – 2020) Funeral director fired for being trans. Her case led to US Supreme Court ruling that 1964 Civil Rights Act protects gay, lesbian and trans from discrimination. Died from complications related to kidney failure.

Lorena Borjas (1961 – 2020) Latinx in Queens, NY. Helped other trans women contend with human trafficking, health issues and possible deportation. COVID casualty.

M Sangeetha (1961 – 2020) a revered elder in the trans community in Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu had hired a young man R Rajesh to work in her restaurant, Covai Trans Kitchen. He killed her when she intended to call the police after a sexual assault.

Monica Roberts (1962 - 2020) Blogger, as TransGriot since 2006, after illness.

Kimberly Fial (1965 – 2020) volunteer at Baptist homeless shelter, San Jose, California, when a knifeman rushed in, killed two, injured three. 

Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslien (1978 – 2020), Massachusetts, founder of the Miss Trans America Beauty Pageant, murdered by her husband.

Mickerlange François (? – 2020) a policeman in Haiti in a conflict over a woman.

Gul Panra (? – 2020) activist in Islamabad. Shot dead while returning home from a wedding performance by man who also wounded her companion, and raped a cis woman. The miscreant arrested four days later based on forensic evidence.

Valentina Ferrety (? – 2020) activist, coordinator of the first Pride March in the city of Salamanca and organizer of correction of data on the birth certificates. Coordinator of the Mexican Network of Trans Women of the State of Guanajuato. Murdered.

Madona Kiparoidze (? – 2020) set herself on fire at the Tbilisi City Hall Thursday evening protesting Georgia’s negligence towards the transgender community in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maya Haddad (1997- 2020) Israeli model and activist, who had disowned by her family after coming out at age 15. She represented Israel in the Miss Trans International Beauty Pageant, 2019. She died byt her own hand.

Jiratchaya Kampoon (1998 – 2020) paid 35,000 baht for silicone gel-filled breast implants at an unlicensed clinic and died on the operating table. Lampang, Thailand.

Murder Count

Murders in the 12 months up to the Transgender Day of Remembrance. Transrespect.

There were 350 recorded deaths this last year – plus many more nor reported, especially in countries were transgender is not recognized. This is slight increase on the 331 reported in 2019.

As usual the most murders were recorded in Brazil (152), Mexico (57), the United States (28), and Colombia (21).

Books on Gender Variance in 2020

$£¥ €=Excessively overpriced books. 

• $£¥ € Natalie Boero & Katherine Mason. The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Body and Embodiment. Oxford University Press, 2020.
• $£¥ € Stevie N Berberick. Reframing Sex: Unlearning the Gender Binary with Trans Masculine YouTube Vloggers. Lexington Books, 2020.
• $£¥ € Linda W Brakel. The Trans Phenomenon and the Nature of Self: Moore's Paradox? More Paradoxes! De Gruyter, 2021.
• $£¥ € Courtenay W Daum. The Politics of Right Sex: Transgressive Bodies, Governmentality, and the Limits of Trans Rights. State University of New York Press, 2020.
• $£¥ € Michele Dow. Transgender Educators: Understanding Marginalization through an Intersectional Lens. Lexington Books, 2020.
• $£¥ € Elijah Adiv Edelman. Trans Vitalities: Mapping Ethnographies of Trans Social and Political Coalitions. Routledge, 2020.
• $£¥ € Douglas C Haldeman. Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts: Evidence, Effects, and Ethic Harrington Park Press, 2020.
• Ksenija Joksimovic. Activist Identity Development of Transgender Social Justice Activists and Educators. Sense Pub, 2020.
• $£¥ € Marianne J Legato (ed). The Plasticity of Sex: The Molecular Biology and Clinical Features of Genomic Sex, Gender Identity and Sexual Behavior. Academic Press, 2020.
• Christoph-Maria Liegener. Die Transgenderisierungen der Menschheit. Books on Demand, 2020.
• $£¥ € Wendy Martino & Wendy Cumming-Potvin (eds). Investigating Transgender and Gender Expansive Education Research, Policy and Practice. Routledge, 2020.
• Josef Müller. Der Transgender Report - Trans lives matter: Echte Erfahrungsberichte. 2020.
• Siobhan B Somerville (ed). The Cambridge Companion to Queer Studies. Cambridge University Press, 2020.
• $£¥ € Douglas A Vakoch (ed). Transecology: Transgender Perspectives on Environment and Nature. Routledge, 2020.
• Benny Vincent. Gender Undefined: Delineation Theory & the Consequences of Constructs. Kindle, 2020.
• Laurel Westbrook. Unlivable Lives: Violence and Identity in Transgender Activism. University of California Press, 2020.

Jargon & Language

• Dennis Baron. What's Your Pronoun?: Beyond He and She. Liveright, 2020.
• Shelley R Roth. A Field Guide to Gender-Neutral Language: For Business, Families & Allies. Springboard Publishing, 2020.

Religious

• Christina Beardsley & Chris Dowd. Trans Affirming Churches: How to Celebrate Gender-Variant People and Their Loved Ones. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2020.
• Daniel Shank Cruz. Queering Mennonite Literature: Archives, Activism, and the Search for Community. Penn State University Press, 2010.
• $£¥ € Dane Figueroa Edidi. The Black Trans Prayer Book. Lulu, 2020.
• Austen Hartke. TransFormadxs: La Biblia y las Vidas de lxs Cristianxs Transgénero. Juanuno1 Ediciones, 2020.
• $£¥ € Dirk H de Jong.  Conservative Christianity, Gender Identity, and Religious Liberty: A Primer and a Proposal. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
• Kent Philpott & Katie Philpott. In the Wrong Body?: Transgender Issues from a Biblical Perspective. Kindle, 2020.
• Kent Philpott. The Third Sex? Homosexual and Transgender Issues from a Biblical Perspective. Earthen Vessel, 2020.
• Arabella Stevenson. Transgender People in the Christian Family. Lulu, 2020.
• Mark Yarhouse & Julia Sadusky. Emerging Gender Identities: Understanding the Diverse Experiences of Today’s Youth. Brazos Press, 2020.
• $£¥ € Pamela Ayo Yetunde. Buddhist-Christian Dialogue, U.S. Law, and Womanist Theology for Transgender Spiritual Care. Palgrave, 2020.

Legal & Activism

• Peter Goodrich. Schreber's Law: Jurisprudence and Judgment in Transition. Edinburgh University Press, 2020.
• $£¥ € Joanna Jamel. Transphobic Hate Crime. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
• Melissa R Michelson. Transforming Prejudice: Identity, Fear, and Transgender Rights. Oxford University Press, 2020.
• J Michael Ryan. Trans Lives in a Globalizing World: Rights, Identities and Politics. Routledge, 2020.
• Alex Stitt. ACT for Gender Identity: The Comprehensive Guide. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2020.

Autism

• Noah Adam & Bridget Liang. Trans and Autistic: Stories from Life at the Intersection. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2020.
• Maxfield Sparrow. Spectrums: Autistic Transgender People in Their Own Words. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2020.

Health, Medical and Social Work

• $£¥ € Dana Bevan. Transgender Health and Medicine: History, Practice, Research, and the Future. Praeger, 2019.
• $£¥ € Lauren Bonati & Jard Jagdeo (eds). Transgender Dermatology,An Issue of Dermatologic Clinics. Elsevier Canada, 2020.
• $£¥ € Adriana Cordova, Alessandro Innocenti, Francesca Toia & Massimaliano Tripoli (ed). Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery of the Male Breast. Springer, 2020.
• Heidi Dalzell & Kayti Protos. A Clinician's Guide to Gender Identity and Body Image: Practical Support for Working with Transgender and Gender-Expansive Clients. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2020.
• $£¥ € Rusi Jaspal. Trans Women and HIV: Social Psychological Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
• Shanna K Kattari, M Killian Kinney, Leonardo Kattari & N Eugene Walls (eds). Social Work and Health Care Practice with Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals and Communities: Voices for Equity, Inclusion, and Resilience. Routledge, 2020.
• $£¥ € Alexandra CH Nowakowski. J e Sumerau & Nik M Lampe. Transformations in Queer, Trans, and Intersex Health and Aging. Lexington Books, 2020.
• Christina Richards & James Barrett. Trans and Non-binary Gender Healthcare for Psychiatrists, Psychologists, and Other Health Professionals. RC Pstch Publications, 2020.
• $£¥ € Esther D Rothblum. The Oxford Handbook of Sexual and Gender Minority Mental Health. Oxford University Press, 2020.
• Matthew D Skinta. Contextual Behavior Therapy for Sexual and Gender Minority Clients: A Practical Guide to Treatment. Routledge, 2020.

Arts

• $£¥ € Conrad Alexandrowicz. Acting Queer: Gender Dissidence and the Subversion of Realism. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
• Kelly Drake. Art Therapy with Transgender and Gender-Expansive Children and Teenagers. Jessica Kingsley, 2020.
• Laurie Greene. Drag Queens and Beauty Queens: Contesting Femininity in the World's Playground. Rutgers University Press, 2020.
• Jake Hall. The Art of Drag. Nobrow, 2020.
• Dan Jones. 50 Drag Queens Who Changed the World: A Celebration of the Most Influential Drag Artists of All Time. Hardie Grant, 2020.

Photography

• Peter Bussian. Trans New York: Photos and Stories of Transgender New Yorkers. Apollo Publishers, 2020.
• Allie Crewe. You Brought Your Own Light. BJP, 2019.
• Delphine Diallo. Lived Experience: Reflections on LGBTQ Life. The New Press, 2020.
• Jake Naughton & Jacob Kushner. This Is How The Heart Beats: LGBTQ East Africa. The New Press, 2020.
• iO Tillet Wright. Self Evident Truths: 10,000 Portraits of Queer America. Prestel, 2020.

Sports

• Robyn Ryle. Throw Like a Girl, Cheer Like a Boy: The Evolution of Gender, Identity, and Race in Sports. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2020.

Guidebooks

• Kay Brown. On The Science of Changing Sex: A Layman’s Guide to Transsexuality and Transgenderism. 2020
• Kay Brown. Rainbow's End: A Parent's Guide To Understanding Transsexual Children And Teens. 2020
• Sage Buch. Finding Self: A Transgender Person's Guide to Physical Transition (For Transmasculine and Nonbinary People) [Guide + Workbook]. 2020
• $£¥ € Jen Gilbert & Julia Sinclair-Palm (eds). Trans Youth in Education. Routledge, 2020.
• Tavi Hawn. Cultural Awareness in Therapy with Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Adults and Older People: A Practical Guide. Jessica Kingsley Publsihers, 2020.
• Hil Malatino. Trans Care. University of Minnesota Press, 2020.
• D M Maynard. The Reflective Workbook for Parents and Families of Transgender and Non-Binary Children: Your Transition as Your Child Transitions. Jessica Kingsley, 2020.
• Matthew Mills & Gillie Stoneham. Voice and Communication Therapy with Trans and Non-Binary People: Sharing the Clinical Space. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2020.
• Martine M Song. How To Feminize Your Body: A helpful guide for Crossdressers. 2020.

Trans Children

• Lyndsay Brown. What Would Love Do?: Parenting a child through the first year of gender transition. Ginninderra Press, 2020,
• Kelly Darke & Shannon Scott-Miller. Art Therapy with Transgender and Gender-Expansive Children and Teenagers. Jessica Kingsley, 2020.
• Michelle Forcier. Pediatric Gender Identity: Gender-affirming Care for Transgender & Gender Diverse Youth. Springer, 2020.
• Paria Hassouri. Found in Transition: A Mother's Evolution during Her Child's Gender Change. New World Library, 2020.
• Melinda Mangin. Transgender Students in Elementary School: Creating an Affirming and Inclusive School Culture. Harvard Education Press, 2020.
• Elizabeth Rahilly. Trans-Affirmative Parenting: Raising Kids Across the Gender Spectrum. New York University Press, 2020.
• $£¥ € Ryan J Watson & Jaimie F Veale (eds). Today's Transgender Youth: Health, Well-being, and Opportunities for Resilience. Routledge, 2020.

Couples & Family

• Andrea Bennett. Like a Boy but Not a Boy: Navigating Life, Mental Health, and Parenthood Outside the Gender. Arsenal Pulp Press, 2020.
• Heather Bryant. My Trans Parent: A User Guide for When Your Parent Transitions. Jessica Kingsley, 2020.
• C A Gibbs. The Picture Wall: One Woman's Story of Being (His) (Her) Their Mother. Ingenium Books, 2020.
• Jo Ivester. Once a Girl, Always a Boy: A Family Memoir of a Transgender Journey. She Writes Press, 2020.
• Selenis Leyva & Marizol Leyva. My Sister: How One Sibling's Transition Changed Us Both. Bold Type Books, 2020.
• Selenis Leyva & Marizal Leyva. Mi hermana: Cómo la transición de una hermana nos cambió a ambas. Bold Type Books, 2020.
• Adam M Messinger & Xavier L Guadalupe-Diaz. Transgender Intimate Partner Violence: A Comprehensive Introduction. New York University Press, 2020.
• Roxanne Moore. Out of the Blue: A Mother's Memoir of Our Family's Transgender Experience. Page Publishing, 2020.
• Jodie Patterson. The Bold World: A Memoir of Family and Transformation. Ballantine Books, 2020.

Non-Binary

• Leah Devun. The Shape of Sex: Nonbinary Gender from Genesis to the Renaissance. Columbia University Press, 2020.
• $£¥ € Motmans Joz, Timo Ole Nieder & Walter Pierre Bouman (eds). Non-binary and Genderqueer Genders. Routledge, 2020.
• Laurence Philomene. Puberty: Exploring Hormone Replacement Therapy in a Non-Binary Trans Person. Yoffy Press, 2021.
• Jespa Jacob Smith. Non-Binary Lives: An Anthology of Intersecting Identities. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010.
• Charlotte Chucky Tate, Ella Ben Hagai & Faye J Crosby. Undoing the Gender Binary. Cambridge University Press, 2020.
• Ben Vincent. Non-Binary Genders: Navigating Communities, Identities, and Healthcare. Policy Press, 2020.
• Alok Vaid-Menon. Beyond the Gender Binary. Penguin, 2020.

Intersex

• Jay Kyle Petersen & Christina M Laukaitis. A Comprehensive Guide to Intersex. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2020.
• Hida Viloria & Maria Nieto. The Spectrum of Sex: The Science of Male, Female, and Intersex. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2020.

Heterosexuality

• Jane Ward. The Tragedy of Heterosexuality. NYU Press, 2020.

AutoBiography

• TJ Barganski. She, He and Finding Me. AlyBlue Media, 2020.
• Alex Bertie. Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2020.
• Jackson Bird. Sorted: Growing Up, Coming Out, and Finding My Place. Tiller Press, 2020.
• Cooper Lee Bombardier. Pass with care: Memoirs. Dottis Press, 2020.
• Jennifer Boylan. Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs. Celadon Books, 2020.
• Carl. Becoming a Man: The Story of a Transition. Simon & Schuster, 2020.
• Gabrielle Claiborne with Linda Tatro Herzer. Embrace Your Truth: A Journey of Authenticity. Transformation Journeys Worldwide.
• Dylan Cotter. Transgender Sex, Love & Dating Disasters in Hollywood, A Memoir. 2020.
• Dylan Cotter. Transgender Antihero. Indy Pub, 2020.
• Glenn Deefholts. Gender Fluid: A Way of Being. Kindle, 2020.
• Linus Giese. Ich bin Linus: Wie ich der Mann wurde, der ich schon immer war. Rowohlt Taschenbuch, 2020.
• Gemma Hickey. Almost Feral: The only limits are the ones we self-impose. Breakwater, 2019.
• Charlie Kiss. A New Man: Lesbian. Protest. Mania. Trans Man. Troubador Publishing, 2020. 
• Bobbi D Lancaster, edited by Kally Reynolds. The Doctor Is in: The compelling (and true) story of a McMaster Medical School graduate.
• Sandy Lee. Ich, Sandy: Erfahrungen mit der Transidentität - Eine Autobiografie. Engelsdorfer Verlag, 2020.
• Kristy McClellan with Teresa Martin. Better Late than Never: Transitioning Late in Life: A Transgender Autobiography. 2020.
• Claudia Sabine Meier. Oh Mann, Frau Meier: Alles andere als eine transnormale Geschichte. 
• Arielle Rippgather. Hässliche Modetranse. Kindel, 2020.
• Amiyah Scott. Memoirs of a Mermaid: The Evolution of Amiyah Scott. Kindle, 2019.
• Gabriel Sving. En flicka växer upp till man. Books on Demand, 2020.
• Meredith Talusan. Fairest: A memoir. Viking, 2020.
• Betsy Warland. Oscar of Between: A Memoir of Identity and Ideas. Dagger Editions, 2020.
• Amber Rose Washington. Hiding from Myself: My Complicated Rebirth Into Womanhood and My Own Skin.

Biography

• Anne Balay. Semi Queer: Inside the World of Gay, Trans, and Black Truck Drivers. University of North Carolina Press, 2020.
• Brian Bradley. Outrageous Misfits: Female Impersonator Craig Russell and His Wife, Lori Russell Eadie. Dundern, 2020.
• Ed Caesar. The Moth and the Mountain: A True Story of Love, War, and Everest. Simon & Shuster, 2020. About Maurice Wilson.
• $£¥ € Lili Elbe & Pamela L Caughie (ed) & Sabine Mayer (ed). Man into Woman: A Comparative Scholarly Edition. Bloombury Academic, 2020.
• Rachel Mesch. Before Trans: Three Gender Stories from Nineteenth-Century France. Stanford University Press, 2020.
• $£¥ € Heather Panter. Transgender Cops: The Intersection of Gender and Sexuality Expectations in Police Cultures. Routledge, 2020.
• $£¥ € Baker A Rogers. Trans Men in the South: Becoming Men. Lexington Books, 2020.
• Troy R Saxby. Pauli Murray: A Personal and Political Life. University of North Carolina, 2020.
• Amanda Sewell. Wendy Carlos: A Biography. Oxford University Press, 2020.

Changeback

• Jeffrey McCall. For Such a Time: From Transgender to Son of God. 2018.

Race and Gender

• $£¥ € Andrea P Herrera, D Nicole Farris & D’Lane R Compton (eds). Gender, Sexuality and Race in the Digital Age. Springer, 2020.

Trans/GLBT history

• Samantha Allen. Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States. Back Bay Books, 2010.
• Alex Bakker, Rainer Herrn, Michael Thomas Taylor & Annette F Timm. Others of My Kind: Transatlantic Transgender Histories. University of Calgary Press, 2020.
• Carlos A Ball. The Queering of Corporate America: How Big Business Went from LGBTQ Adversary to Ally. Beacon Press, 2020.
• Roland Betancourt. Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press, 2020.
• William Burton. Out in Central Pennsylvania: The History of an LGBTQ Community. Penn State University Press, 2020.
• £¥ € Bianca Camminga. Transgender Refugees and the Imagined South Africa: Bodies Over Borders and Borders Over Bodies. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
• Eric Cervini. The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America. Farrar, Staus and Giroux, 2020.
• Alexander K Davis. Bathroom Battlegrounds: How Public Restrooms Shape the Gender Order. University of California Press, 2020.
• Lisa Selin Davis. Tomboy: The Surprising History and Future of Girls Who Dare to Be Different. Hachette, 2020.
• Jen Jack Gieseking. A Queer New York. NYU Press, 2020.
• Jen Manion. Female Husbands: A Trans History. Cambridge University Press, 2020.
• Barry Reay. Trans America: A Counter-History. Polity, 2020.
• Horacio N Roque-Ramirez. Queer Latino San Francisco: An Oral History, 1960s-1990s. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
• Robert C Steele. Banned from California: -Jim Foshee- Persecution, Redemption, Liberation … and the Gay Civil Rights Movement. Wentworth-Schwartz Publishing Company, 2020.
• $£¥ € Allison Surtees & Jennifer Dyer (eds). Exploring Gender Diversity in the Ancient World. Edinburgh University Press, 2020.

Cultures and minorities.

• Joseph Randolph Bowers. Mi’kmaq Puoinaq Two Spirit Medicine: Sexuality and Gender Variance, Spirituality and Culture. Ability Therapy Specialists Pty Ltd, 2020.
• $£¥ € Siobhan Brooks. Everyday Violence against Black and Latinx LGBT Communities. Lexington Books, 2020.
• Linda Heidenreich. Nepantla Squared: Transgender Mestiz@ Histories in Times of Global Shift. University of Nebraska Press, 2020.
• Tutun Mukherjee & Niladri R Chatterjee (eds). Androgyny & Female Impersonation in India: Nari Bhav. Niyogi Books, 2017.

Poetry

• Andrea Abi-Karam & Kay Gabriel (eds). We Want It All. An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics. Nightboat Books, 2020.
• Michelle Berthiaume. Trans-Sensual Poetry: A Journey of Self Identity. Kindle, 2020.
• Kayleb Rae Candrilli. All the Gay Saints. Saturnalia Books, 2020.
• Robin Gow. Our Lady of Perpetual Degeneracy. Tulsun Books, 2020.
• Taylor Johnson. Inheritance. Alice James Books, 2020.

Written by a trans person

• Genesis P-Orridge. Sacred Intent: Conversations with Carl Abrahamsson 1986-2019. Trapart Books, 2020.
• Raewyn W Connell. Gender: In World Perspective. Polity, 2020.

Fiction

• April Alexander. Queer Jesus. Love for all, Inc, 2020.
• Seaby Brown. Raven's Rook (All The Stars Are Suns Book 2). 2020
• Emerson Whitney. Heaven. McSweeneys Books, 2020.

Transphobic

• Heather Brunskell-Evans. Transgender Body Politics. Spinefex, 2020.
• Walt Heyer. Articles of Impeachment against Sex Change Surgery.
• Scott Howard. The Transgender-Industrial Complex. Antelope Hill, 2020.
• Birgit Kelle. Gendergaga: Wie eine absurde Ideologie unseren Alltag erobern will. FinanzBuch Verlag, 2020.
• Birgit Kelle. Noch Normal? Das lässt sich gendern!: Gender-Politik ist das Problem, nicht die Lösung. FinanzBuch Verlag, 2020.
• Michele Moore & Heather Brunskell-Evans (eds). Transgender Children and Young People: Born in Your Own Body. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018.
• Michele Moore & Heather Brunskell-Evans (eds). Inventing Transgender Children and Young People. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019.
• ++Douglas Murray.  The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity.  Bloomsbury, 2019. 
• Katie Roche. 2+2=5: How the Transgender Craze is Redefining Reality. 2020.
• Abigail Shrier. Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.
  Regnery Publishing, 2020.

Announced for 2021

• Jensen Anderson. Life As A Transgender: She, No He!: A Transgender-gay Memoir Book 1. Kindel, 2021.
• Callum Angus. A Natural History of Transition. Metonymy Press, 2021.
• Krys Malcolm Belc. The Natural Mother of the Child: A Memoir of Nonbinary Parenthood. 2021.
• Freiya Benson. The Anxiety Book for Trans People: How to Conquer Your Dysphoria, Worry Less and Find Joy. Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
• Precious Brady-Davis. I Have Always Been Me: A Memoir. Topple Books, 2021.
• Jillian Celentano. Transitioning Later in Life: A Personal Guide. Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
• Howard Chiang. Transtopia in the Sinophone Pacific. Columbia University Press, 2021.
• Lore m dickey. Case Studies in Clinical Practice with Trans and Gender Non-Binary Clients: A Handbook for Working with Children, Adolescents, and Adults. Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
• $£¥ € Rachel Friedman (ed). Beyond Binaries: Trans Identities in Contemporary Culture. Lexington Books, 2021.
• Francisco J Galarte. Brown Trans Figurations: Rethinking Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Chicanx/Latinx Studies. University of Texas Press, 2021.
• Finlay Games. Top To Bottom: A Memoir and Personal Guide Through Phalloplasty. Jessica Findley, 2021.
• Tara Gereaux. Saltus. Nightwood Editions, 2021.
• $£¥ € Abbie Goldberg & Genny Beemyn (eds). The Sage Encyclopedia of Trans Studies. Sage, 2021.
• $£¥ € Peter Goodrich & Katrin Trustedt (eds). Laws of Transgression: The Return of Judge Schreber. University of Toronto Press, 2021.
• Bruce Owens Grimm, Tiff Ferentini & Miguel M Morales (eds). Fat and Queer: An Anthology of Queer and Trans Bodies and Lives. Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
• Karen Jaime. The Queer Nuyorican: Racialized Sexualities and Aesthetics in Loisaida. New York University Press, 2021.
• Sarah Mei Herman. Solace: Portraits of Queer Youth in Modern China. The New Press, 2021.
• Leyla Jagiella. Among the Eunuchs: A Muslim Transgender Journey. Oxford University Press. 2021.
• Jennie Kermode. Growing Older as a Trans and/or Non-Binary Person: A Support Guide. Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
• Gerald Mallon. Strategies for Child Welfare Professionals Working with Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth. Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
• $£¥ € Daniel Marshall. Queer Youth Histories. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
• Steve McCurry. Belonging: Portraits from LGBTQ Thailand. The New Press, 2921.
• $£¥ € Dmitriy Nikolavsky & Stephen Blakely. Urological Care for the Transgender Patient: A Comprehensive Guide. Springer, 2020.
• Genesis P-Orridge. Non-binary: A memoir. Abrams press, 2021.
• Philippa Punchard. Gender Pioneers: A Celebration of Transgender, Non-Binary and Intersex Icons. Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
• Yenn Purkis & Wenn B Lawson. The Autistic Trans Guide to Life. Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
• Aaron Raz link & Hilda Raz. What Becomes You. University of Nebraska Press, 2021.
• $£¥ € Christina Richards. Trans and Sexuality: An existentially-informed enquiry with implications for counselling psychology. Routledge, 2021.
• $£¥ € Emily Rose. Translating Transgender Identity: (Re)Writing Undecidable Texts and Bodies. Routledge, 2021.
• Vaibhav Saria. Hijras, Lovers, Brothers: Surviving Sex and Poverty in Rural India. Fordham University Press, 2021.
• Stef M Shuster. Trans Medicine: The Emergence and Practice of Treating Gender. New York University Press, 2021.
• Debra Soh. The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths about Sex and Identity in Our Society. Threshold Editions, 2021. (Blanchard-Levay oriented)
• Preston M Sprinkle. Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has to Say. David C Cook, 2021.
• Eric A Stanley. Atmospheres of Violence: Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable. Duke University Press, 2021.
• Sabrina Symington. Coming Out, Again: Transition Stories. Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
• Paula Stone Williams. As a Woman: What I Learned about Power, Sex, and Patriarchy after I Transitioned. Atria Booke, 2021.
• Nevo Zisin. The Pronoun Lowdown: Demystifying and Celebrating Gender Diversity. Smith Street Books, 2021.
• Angela Zottola. Transgender Identities in the Press: A Corpus-based Discourse Analysis. Bloomsbury Academic, 2021.

Announced for 2022

• $£¥ € Lopamudra Sengupta. Human Rights of the Third Gender in India: Beyond the Binary. Routledge India, 2022.

The court judgement against puberty blockers for under 16s

 

More on Maurice Wilson

In 2008 I wrote about Maurice Wilson, who in 1934 decided to climb Mt Everest/Chomolungma.   With no flying experience and no climbing experience he bought a plane and flew to India, and then set to climb the mountain. He died on the mountain and mountaineering forums are still debating whether he died on the way up or on the way down.   

There were and are persistent rumours that he was trans.  If so he was the first known European trans person to climb Mount Everest, nineteen years before Jan Morris. 

His first biographer

• Dennis Roberts. I'll climb Mount Everest alone; the story of Maurice Wilson. R. Hale 1957.
  

did not discuss whether he was trans.

The Wikipedia entry has not a single word on the topic.

There is a new biography, just out. 

• Ed Caesar.  The Moth and the Mountain: A true Story of Love, War, and Everest.  Avid Reader Press, 2020.

Caesar does discuss the issue on p172-4.  

"There have long been rumours in the climbing community and beyond that Maurice Wilson was a private transvestite, that he carried with him items of women’s clothing to Everest, and that he wrote a secret, second diary, detailing many kinds of niche sexual predilections. You want to know what to do with such stories. His tale is remarkable however he was clad."

Wilson took an unusual choice of book up the mountain with him,  Hans Licht’s Sexual Life in Ancient Greece,  published 1931.

His great-nephew took a secret about Wilson to the grave - but he insisted that "He weren't queer".  So if not gay, then what?

Caesar concludes: "The evidence is not conclusive, and in any case you are not trying Wilson for a crime. But you think of how happy he was, dressed as someone else, and you wonder whether his whole story—the broken relationships, the spiritual mania, the purging fasts, the demented mission to Everest—was born out of an unsettled sense of his true self."  

Here is a summary of the new book - that is without mentioning transvestite rumours.