Via Flickr:
24 year old Henry who was brought to trial over Christmas 1925 for ‘importuning and soliciting men for immoral purposes’ and whose New Year brought with it six months hard labour!
‘Cruising’ streets, parks or urinals was criminalised as the offence of ‘importuning’ through the Vagrancy Act (1898) and the Criminal Law Amendment Act (1912). Could these laws have sealed Henry’s fate?
His fate was sealed in Catherine St. just behind this old Market building, blitzed in WW2 and now part of the redevelopment of Devonport … Echoes from the past brought to life by the Pride in Our Past Project
Comment on this article