BONUS: Hear a chapter of Anthony's new book, Queer Georgians

Summary

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After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

BONUS: Hear a Chapter of Anthony's New Book, Queer Georgians

Release Date: September 5, 2025
Host: Maddy Pelling
Guest/Co-Host/Author: Anthony Delaney

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Brief Overview

This special bonus episode of "After Dark" features an exclusive reading of Chapter 10 from Anthony Delaney’s newly released book, Queer Georgians (published in North America as Queer Enlightenments). The episode dives into the hidden, complex, and often-overlooked histories of queer individuals in the Georgian era, focusing this time on the remarkable story of George Wilson and Elizabeth Cummins. Anthony and Maddy discuss the impetus behind the book, challenges of uncovering queer histories, and the crucial importance of spotlighting both the joys and tragedies in the LGBTQ+ past.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to the Bonus Content (03:00–04:00)

• Maddy Pelling announces the episode contains bonus material—a first for the podcast:

  "Now, today we've got some bonus content for you. We will be back with our usual programming though, from Monday." (02:57)

• Anthony Delaney reflects on publishing his book and offers thanks for support:

  "We have gone into bonus land because you may have seen, if you follow me on social media, that my book...is out now. I actually feel sick." (03:16)

2. About Queer Georgians and Its Purpose (04:00–06:15)

• The featured chapter (Chapter 10) tells the story of George Wilson—a person assigned female at birth, who lived as a man and married a woman (Elizabeth Cummins)—and their journey as early 19th-century emigrants.
• Anthony explicitly connects these histories with contemporary trans issues:

  "In this moment when our trans brothers and sisters are really under scrutiny...these people have existed for centuries." (04:26)

• Rebukes modern claims that trans identities are a 21st-century phenomenon:

  "There is a certain tech billionaire who has called transness and gender identity a woke mind virus ... these people who are archivally provable...show that is absolutely not the case." (04:29)

• The book aims to widen common perceptions, showing not only queer oppression but also joy, love, domesticity, and community:

  "...there were joys and there was love and there was frivolity and there was campness and there was color and there was fun and laughter and all these things..." (05:48)

• Anthony describes his motivation as a scholar, seeking to highlight overlooked or erased aspects of queer life.

3. The Research Process—Gaps and Surprises (06:15–08:00)

• Maddy and Anthony discuss the challenge of finding queer histories in archives, with many stories hidden or overlooked:

  "Sometimes they're hidden in plain sight and people just haven't looked at them, haven't bothered to acknowledge them." (06:48)

• Anthony’s personal experience as a queer scholar enabled new insights:

  "Maybe it was just a case that I was the first queer person who looked at these things...I looked at some of those details differently than somebody else." (06:59)

• On the frequency and normality of queer lives in the Georgian era, and how many such relationships and stories have been erased.

4. Favorite Discoveries and Complexity of Historical Identities (08:00–09:36)

• Anthony highlights the story of the Chevalier d’Éon—a complex figure often simplistically labeled as a "triumphant trans history," when their story involved espionage, gendered blackmail, and shifting self-presentations:

  "The Chevalier's gender expression is far more complex than that. And it all ties back to the French Crown, an espionage ring and blackmail, basically. And it's so much more complex and messy." (08:05)

• Mentions Mary Jones in Chapter 11 as another inspirational but complex case.

5. Book Release, Tour, and Community Support (09:36–12:04)

• Book availability: out now in the UK/Ireland/Europe as Queer Georgians (from Sept 4), and in North America as Queer Enlightenments (from Oct 7).
• Upcoming book tour:

  "I have book tour dates in the UK for 2025. In Ireland, I'm doing a very special kind of music concert tour...that'll be in 2026 and hopefully some North American dates in 2026 as well." (11:18)

• A call to listeners to support the show and authors by buying the book, and expressions of gratitude from Anthony for the After Dark audience.

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Chapter 10: "A Not so Singular Case"—George Wilson and Elizabeth Cummins

Reading begins at 12:54

Main Narrative and Historical Insights

The Journey of George and Elizabeth

• Newlyweds in Glasgow, 1821, setting off for a new life in North America.
• Vivid description of perilous steerage travel across the Atlantic, hardships faced by emigrants, and economic/labor contexts on both sides of the ocean (12:54–19:29).

George’s Secret and the "Female Husband" Phenomenon

• George reveals during the voyage that he "had not always been a man," exemplifying "female husband" cases—individuals assigned female at birth who lived as men and married women, reported in 18th- and 19th-century media (19:29–22:00).

  "Historian Jen Mannion has identified George Wilson...as the first designated female husband found living in the United States." (19:53)

Emigration as Queer Self-Determination

• Notes that, amid economic and personal reasons, some migrated to America explicitly to live more freely as queer or gender-nonconforming people due to legal loopholes.

  "Some migrants went to America because their queerness compelled them to." (22:00–23:20)

Life in North America

• George and Elizabeth's efforts to build a life in Canada, and later, New Jersey and New York, working in factories, living among immigrant working classes, and integrating into community life, often under harsh conditions (23:20–27:00).

Exposure and Legal Jeopardy

• George's gender is discovered after a night of drunkenness leads to his arrest under vagrancy laws.
• Police suspicions about George's identity, efforts to protect his wife by fabricating stories, and the eventual confrontation in front of the authorities.

  "George soon felt that his former self was too precarious a thing to hide...He confessed that his real name was Jane Walker." (31:00)

Media Intrusion and Marriage Certificate Mystery

• The press takes a prurient interest; doubts about the authenticity of George and Elizabeth’s marriage arise due to inconsistencies in documentation.
• Author’s archival detective work concludes their marriage was, in fact, legal:

  "There they were in black and White, on 6 April 1821. Not the second George Wilson married Elizabeth Cummins they had been married. They had fooled the system." (39:15)

Trial, Aftermath, and Unresolved Ending

• George is convicted under vagrancy laws—not specifically for gender nonconformity but for drunkenness and then for the identity deception.
• Elizabeth maintains composure through the ordeal.
• The record then ends; what happened to them remains unknown, prompting reflection on the historical record:

  "We are bound to the information that has survived, regardless of where their lives took them next. And despite contemporary claims to the contrary, it should be noted that there is nothing singular about the case of George Wilson." (43:30)

A Hopeful Note

• Anthony's closing meditation:

  "Though we can never know for sure unless new evidence comes to light, it is my hope that their sudden archival departure denotes their happy return to that sought after obscurity, a return to the mundanity of their lives before George had had a little bit too much to drink that August night in 1836. That's my hope for them. And what's history without a little hope?" (47:50)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the significance of trans and queer history:

  "These people...show that that is absolutely not the case. Just factually, that is not the case." (04:26)

• On historical erasure and joy in queer history:

  "...there were joys and there was love and there was frivolity and there was campness and there was color and there was fun and laughter and all these things..." (05:48)

• On researching queer archives:

  "Maybe it was just a case that I was the first queer person who looked at these things. So I looked at some of those details differently than somebody else." (06:59)

• On the complexity of historical gender identities (the Chevalier d’Éon):

  "The Chevalier's gender expression is far more complex than that. And it all ties back to the French Crown, an espionage ring and blackmail, basically..." (08:05)

• On George and Elizabeth's place in history:

  "There is nothing singular about the case of George Wilson. There were George Wilsons across America and the world..." (43:30)

• Final meditation on history and hope:

  "That's my hope for them. And what's history without a little hope?" (47:50)

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Important Timestamps

• 03:00–06:15 – Introduction to bonus content & book's purpose
• 06:15–08:00 – Queer history in the archives & author’s research approach
• 08:00–09:36 – Favorite discoveries and the complexity of the Chevalier d’Éon
• 12:54–47:50 – Full reading of Chapter 10: George Wilson and Elizabeth Cummins’s story
• 37:00–40:00 – Media scrutiny, marriage certificate controversy, and archival detective work
• 47:50 – Philosophical reflection on history, hope, and queer erasure

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Summary

This episode stands out for its poignant blend of archival detective work, personal storytelling, and advocacy for recognizing the richness and messiness of queer histories. Through the microhistory of George Wilson and Elizabeth Cummins—a working-class couple whose lives highlight themes of love, migration, risk, visibility, and erasure—Anthony Delaney’s Queer Georgians underscores the enduring existence and diversity of queer experience throughout modern history.

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For those wishing to experience more from Anthony Delaney, check out Queer Georgians (UK/EU) or Queer Enlightenments (North America), and keep an eye on Anthony’s social media for upcoming events.

Transcript

[Maddy Pelling]

Hello everyone, it's us, your hosts, Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney.

[Anthony Delaney]

But before we begin the show, we want to ask for a few seconds.

[Maddy Pelling]

Of your time if you're enjoying After Dark. And we love you if you are, we would love you just a little bit more if you could vote for us in the Listener's Choice category at the British Podcast Awards.

[Anthony Delaney]

So go to the Show Notes now, click the link and just then search for After Dark.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

Fill in your name and your email.

[Anthony Delaney]

And don't forget to confirm they will send you an email you need to confirm.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

The whole process probably takes about 30 seconds.

[Maddy Pelling]

If you've already voted, we are so, so grateful. If you haven't stop what you are doing right now. Vote for us before you enjoy this show.

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[Maddy Pelling]

Hello, everyone. Now, today we've got some bonus content for you. We will be back with our usual programming though, from Monday.

[Anthony Delaney]

We've never done this in After Dark before, have we?

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

What a time to be alive. But we have gone into bonus land because you may have seen, if you follow me on social media, that my.

[Anthony Delaney]

Book Queer A Hidden History of Lovers.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

Lawbreakers and Homemakers is out now. I actually feel sick.

[Maddy Pelling]

So.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

So as a special treat, we have a chapter exclusive for After Dark listeners. And thank you so much to the History Hut and After Dark team because they've been so supportive about this launch. But we just wanted to let you.

[Anthony Delaney]

Hear a little bit of Queer Georgians.

[Maddy Pelling]

Okay, before we actually hear the chapter, and I literally cannot wait. I'm like actually buzzing with excitement, please can you just tell us a little bit about what this chapter's about? And also, and this is something we've been chatting about for about two years, but for the listeners, tell me why you wanted to write this book in particular.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

Okay, we'll start with the chapter and then I'll come to the next bit of the question. So this is chapter 10 that you're about to hear. So we're actually coming towards the end.

[Anthony Delaney]

Of the book here.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

And it tells the story of George Wilson and his wife, Elizabeth Cummins. And George is a person who was born to another name and gender, someone we would potentially identify today as trans. And this is, I think, in this moment in time when our trans brothers and sisters are really under scrutiny and really under legal duress and violent legal duress, it's important to highlight that these.

[Anthony Delaney]

People have existed for centuries.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

There is a certain tech billionaire who has called transness and gender identity a woke mind virus. And that's something that is a 21st century invention. Well, these people, these people who are archivally provable as they are in this chapter and as they are in this book, show that that is absolutely not the case. Just factually, that is not the case. So I just wanted to highlight that history in this particular excerpt. But also it's an Adventure story. There are ships, there are drunken revels, there are trials, you know, prison.

[Anthony Delaney]

And we are left, as you'll hear.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

With this kind of cliffhanger of sometimes.

[Anthony Delaney]

History doesn't give us all the answers.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

So you're left to kind of imagine what life might have been like. But I won't give too much away.

[Anthony Delaney]

In terms of the.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

Well, you know, I did my PhD as well, you know, Maddie, because we've known each other since then, but he.

[Maddy Pelling]

Never stops going on about it. We've all got PhDs here, pal.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

And when I did my PhD, it was about queer domesticity. And that was the gateway into this. So this, the book is Queer Georgians, or if you're listening in North America, queer enlightenments. I just wanted to broaden the spectrum a little bit. So we look at love, the law, how same sex attraction or gender non conformity interacted with the law, and homes, how same sex attracted people, made homes together. And I think not many people know that. So I'm trying to concentrate on some.

[Anthony Delaney]

Of the joys in queer history.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

We know an awful lot about tragedies.

[Anthony Delaney]

And they're in the book, too.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

But there were joys and there was love and there was frivolity and there was campness and there was color and there was fun and laughter and all these things. And I really wanted to bring that to the forefront in queer histories and let people know that queer histories are not a 20th century invention. We have had queer histories for as long as we've had people. So I'm hoping to roll it back a little bit.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah, I remember you saying to me quite early on in the book writing process that you wanted to include those histories of joy and positivity, as well as acknowledging, obviously all the horror and the tragedy and the oppression and all the frustration and anger that we feel looking at those now. But tell me, in terms of writing the book, how was it spending time with these histories, uncovering them, and doing bloody hard work in the archives? Because one thing we all know about queer histories is they are sometimes very difficult to read in the archives. Sometimes they're hidden in plain sight and people just haven't looked at them, haven't bothered to acknowledge them. But often there are gaps. What was it like? Was it frustrating doing that, uncovering this history and then putting those into your own words?

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

You know what it was? It was surprising that some of the things that I came across were so blatantly obvious. I was like, why has this been ignored?

[Anthony Delaney]

Why is it possible?

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

Yeah, that was the most Surprising thing.

[Anthony Delaney]

So it wasn't that difficult.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

It was like, well, it's here. I'm literally reading it. And that's when I went to Alex, my editor. I said to him, you know, it's one of those things that if you know, you know. So, like, I know what a queer life looks like because I live one. And so when I see it in the archive, I knew what I was looking at. So maybe it was just a case that I was the first queer person who looked at these things. So I looked at some of those details differently than somebody else. I think maybe my own lived experience helps to inform what I found in the archive. And so, yeah, there are gaps and there are frustrating gaps, but you can find that in any history. But for me, I was like, there.

[Anthony Delaney]

Is so much here.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

How come this hasn't been looked at before? And how come these people haven't been explored before? So that was the surprise. And what a nice surprise.

[Maddy Pelling]

I suppose one thing that strikes me about this book is just how normal and widespread these same sex relationships were. All these amazing queer lives that have been forgotten largely and written out of history until this book. And you've uncovered amazing things that people didn't previously know as well as returning to very famous cases of queer histories. What is your favourite discovery from this book?

[Anthony Delaney]

Oh, I think what I am most.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

Pleased with, what I hope like, is.

[Anthony Delaney]

A bit of a service maybe, is.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

The Chevalier Dion, who, if you Google the Chevalier Dion now, you will be told that it's a triumphant trans history and the archive doesn't support that. I thought I was about to write another trans history. There are trans histories in this book which are amazing and celebratory and that's what I thought I was writing when it came to the Chevalier. But actually the Chevalier's gender expression is far more complex than that. And it all ties back to the French Crown, an espionage ring and blackmail, basically. And it's so much more complex and messy. And it means that the Chevalier had to turn around and explain to the spymaster at the time and his French spymaster saying, I know why these rumors have started about me and it's because I'm still a virgin. I'm not attracted to either men or women, and that's seen as not very manly. And so now the French Crown wants to impose female dress on me to discredit me, because he was the Chevalier, was trying to discredit the French Crown through selling letters between the Crown and himself. So it is not the history that I thought, but hopefully I don't know, it's difficult because she also, the chevalier also leans into that lie later in her life when she needs to financially, and she uses the lie that people created about her. But if I'm maybe able to restore a bit of that identity. And then of course, there's My final chapter 11 is Mary Jones. And she's just the most inspirational woman that she's incredible.

[Anthony Delaney]

But we'll talk about her another day.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

But there's a lot of inspiration in this particular chapter too.

[Maddy Pelling]

Before we hear chapter 10, can you tell people who've whetted their appetite listening to this where they can buy the book? And if there's gonna be a book.

[Anthony Delaney]

Tour, Can I just say it's so weird doing this because it feels like.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

I'm a guest on the podcast and it's just like this is odd being talking about this, but there's.

[Maddy Pelling]

But it's so exciting because I think, you know, this is an important thing to remember that we don't just do this podcast. We also both write books. And, you know, if listener, you have enj enjoyed After Dark in the two years that we've been doing it and we hope to do it for many more years. If you enjoy it and maybe if you're not a subscriber to History yet and you enjoy it for free, please do buy our books. You know, it's a lovely way of supporting the work that we do. And this is such an important and exciting book that Anthony's written. It's really, really significant and lovely and joyful and you absolutely should go and do that. So where can they.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

Well, they can do if they're listening in the UK or Ireland or Europe. The book is out on the 4th.

[Anthony Delaney]

Of September, so it's out now.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

You can buy it in any of the bookshop retailer places, whatever they're officially.

[Maddy Pelling]

Called one of those bookshop retailer places.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

Or online wherever you like. If you're listening in North America, then the book comes out and it's called Queer Enlightenments, just to avoid any confusion with the state of Georgia. And that comes out on the 7th of October. Again, it's also available through online retailers. So it's out in the world or it's starting its journey in the world now, which is very, very exciting. And it's also vomit inducing.

[Maddy Pelling]

So it's terrifying. Yeah, you're putting something of yourself and your passion out into the. If people want to come and see yourself and your passion in person.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yes, my address is.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yes. Anthony's home address. No, but you are doing tour dates, right?

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

So I have book tour dates in the UK for 2025. In Ireland, I'm doing a very special kind of music concert tour of queer Georgians which I can't divulge too much of, but that'll be in 2026 and hopefully some North American dates in 2026 as well. So there's lots going on. But for now, for 2025, my book tour details are all on my social media page. Anthony delaneyhistory and come and see me get the book signed. I've had lovely chats already, so this has been one of the highlights. That's where you get out and talk to people and you guys. Listeners of After Dark have been the people who've been turning up. Like you guys have been amazing.

[Maddy Pelling]

You guys are loyal.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

So yeah, it's been really special. So I'll see you on the road, hopefully. I don't know why I'm so nervous.

[Anthony Delaney]

To introduce this, but but this is chapter 10, a not so Singular Case. And you're about to meet George Wilson and his wife Elizabeth, who are setting.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

Out on an adventure that will utterly change their lives. And part of this adventure will mean that we encounter them in a way.

[Anthony Delaney]

That they had hoped never to be encountered.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

But in meeting them as we do, we learn so much about lives that some people have doubted ever existed at all.

[Anthony Delaney]

Chapter 10A not so Singular Case Hope, swelling on perpetual waves, carried George Wilson and his 17 year old wife Elizabeth towards their new life. Beneath his excitement, however, George was ill at ease. The cause of his unrest was a secret, for sometimes it is our lot in life to keep secrets. But Wilson was resolved. He would not remain burdened. He would tell Elizabeth the truth. So as the pair approached North America, Wilson gathered every ounce of his courage. George Wilson and Elizabeth Cummins had been married only a few days previously, on Friday 6th April 1821, in the Barony Parish of Glasgow, Scotland. George attended alone, but Elizabeth's family had turned out in force to bless their union. Indeed, the newlyweds had been introduced by Elizabeth's father, James Cummins, who was superintendent at the Glasgow factory where George worked. Almost 80,000 Glaswegians, out of a population of 150,000 were employed in the city's cotton industry, which boomed thanks to an ever growing Atlantic trade. Most of these employees were women and children. Factory hours were long and the working environment treacherous, with the loss of appendages, limbs and lives far from uncommon. Of course, if factory conditions were tough, it was nothing compared to the conditions in which enslaved people toiled to procure the raw cotton wool across the Atlantic. This was then imported by Scottish merchants and eventually spun in Scottish factories, just like the one James Cummins oversaw. When Cummins had learned that Wilson had no family of his own, he must have taken pity on the young man and seen fit to introduce him to his wife Margaret and their many children. They enjoyed dinners together and played cards on several occasions. Whether Cummins had ever intended Wilson to become his son in law is unclear. But once Elizabeth Cummins met George Wilson, sparks led to flutters and vows were soon exchanged. The newlyweds would soon leave Glasgow bound for a new life. They knew that they would never see Scotland again. But the promise and opportunity of North America had proved too alluring. The Wilsons will have undertaken their voyage on a packet ship. Whilst steamships were not unheard of, the wind powered packet still dominated Atlantic travel in the early 19th century. The packets were so named because they transported letters and packages throughout the British Empire. But they might transport other goods, including paying passengers too. As a result, packet ships had the innovative distinction of operating under a regulated and advertised departure schedule, though they were designed with sturdiness and the threat of an Atlantic storm in mind, rather than speed. We do not know exactly which packet ship Elizabeth and George made their voyage of Hope on, as records for that year are incomplete. But it is thought that they left Glasgow within a couple of days of being married, and likely set sail from a Scottish port two or three days after that. It is possible, therefore, that they made their way south to Dumfries, where on 12 April 1821, six days after the Wilsons had married, the Thompson packet was scheduled to set sail for Pictou, Canada, with Captain Luckup at the helm. On board were 80 passengers whose names are now lost to time. We know that the journey took 30 days and was recorded as having reached its final destination around 12 May. Whether or not Elizabeth and George had boarded the Thompsons specifically, their journey across the Atlantic would have been much the same on any scheduled departure from Britain. On board their packet, George and Elizabeth would have travelled steerage, the cheapest option available. A ticket for steerage passage cost about five pounds or 460 pounds today. But despite being a lucrative commodity, the number of steerage tickets assigned to each ship was strictly limited. To regulate potential excess custom house men tallied the overall measurement of each boat and designated passenger numbers accordingly. Provisions for the journey would then be inspected to ensure that they were sufficiently plentiful and of decent enough quality to Last, the projected length of the voyage. Elizabeth and George will also have been inspected for lice or other signs of contagious disease before departure, as an outbreak at sea could lead to catastrophic outcomes for passengers and crew alike. Despite these seemingly civilised precautions, which in any case were not always observed, contemporary accounts of transatlantic steerage travel tells us that a month aboard a packet ship was akin to living in a floating hell. To access steerage, the Wilsons would have climbed down a ladder through the hatchway, often the only source of light for their quarters. If the sea was particularly high and waves sprayed violently across the deck, the hatchway and the steerage passengers beneath would be contained and kept dry by placing a lid over it. During such times, which were not rare in the tempestuous North Atlantic, steerage was plunged into utter darkness. Thus confined In a space 18ft square and 7ft high, passengers blinked back the blackness and held on for dear life. Steerage passengers typically slept in bunk beds. One account tells us that passengers crept night and morning in and out of their berths like ants about their business. Around them, from the ceiling, hung the stuff of life. Hats and hams, bonnets, onions and frying pans, boots and red herrings. Everything swayed with the interminable, nauseating metronome of the sea. Boxes and other containers were nailed to the floor to secure them in place.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

These were filled with valuables, but also.

[Anthony Delaney]

Acted as chairs and tables, as well as cupboards. A crossing was not a silent affair either. Outside, the sea hammered and rolled, thundering at our wooden walls for admittance. The creaking of the ship's wood might have gone unnoticed at first, given the fear and excitement that ensued once the packet initially set sail.

[Maddy Pelling]

But.

[Anthony Delaney]

But as the voyage went on, each creak, groan, squeak and yawn from the timber world around them bored deeper into the brain. Children wept, pots and kettles clanked, and the crew above caused a ruckus with their hallooing at the forecastle every few hours, George and Elizabeth kept a daily diet of rice pudding, as it easily withstood the length of the journey. This they would have boiled on deck when the weather was good enough. Otherwise, the Wilsons and their like had to content themselves with crunching hard biscuits in the dark depths of steerage. However, no sooner did clouds clear off and the sun break through than all troubles were forgotten on board the trusty packet. In those golden moments, George and Elizabeth were permitted to explore the deck. They may have taken walks together round the jolly boat, looking at the cow or sheep or pigs or poultry. The packets transported, they may have read or simply looked up into the great blue skies overhead. That is not to say that steerage passengers had free rein on deck. George and Elizabeth's movements will have been curtailed by chalk lines that designated areas for the exclusive use of first and second class passengers. It was whilst aboard their packet ship, maybe on one of those pleasant sunny days, that George Wilson offered the story of his old life up to his new wife and to the sea, so that he might be free of it and begin again. That day, surrounded by the vast Atlantic Ocean, he told Elizabeth that he had not always been a man. Historian Jen Mannion has identified George Wilson, given his marital status and gender performance, as the first designated female husband found living in the United States. Female husbands, as we saw in the last chapter, might include many variants of gender non conforming people, but the vast majority that made international headlines were people assigned female who transed gender lived as men and married women. As Mannion details, the term was common in print media during the 18th and 19th centuries on both sides of the Atlantic. And indeed contemporary newspaper reports would eventually come to refer to Wilson as a female husband too. As we shall see. We do not know how Elizabeth reacted to Georgia's news. We only know that when the Wilsons finally reached Canada, they disembarked and continued on together. The Wilsons were but two of the many millions of people who emigrated to North America from Northern and Western Europe across the next century. From 1820 to approximately 1957, 13 million people traveled to the United States alone. For example, the vast majority of them came from Ireland and Great Britain for various and often overlapping reasons, including desperate necessity, economic opportunity and the perceived religious and political tolerance available at the end of their voyage. But in the context of this audiobook, it is clear that they also travelled for another overlooked reason. Some migrants went to America because their queerness compelled them to. We've already seen how William Courtney, 9th Earl of Devon, absconded to New York in 1811 when his same sex attraction drew unwanted legal attention back in England. Here too, bridging the queer class divide, George Wilson ventured west in search of an identity he felt he might not fully realize in Scotland. This is no coincidence. In the 17th century, the American colonies inherited a version of English law regarding the regulation of sodomy, namely the buggery act of 1533. However, following independence, 19th century American legalese had effectively tongue tied itself into silence on the matter. Sodomy was illegal, make no mistake. But it was also seen as an act of not fit to be named Amongst Christians, if you could not name it, you could not prosecute it. This perceived legal loophole also extended to other ideas relating to gender nonconformity more broadly, which in turn marginalized sexuality beyond the jurisdiction of criminal enforcement. For a moment in time in America, sodomy law regulated itself into extinction. This was that time, and this is why George Wilson, Kitty Courtney and others deliberately made their way to the United States in moments of potential cris. Were they on board the Thompson, the Wilsons would have arrived at Pictou, a picturesque port town in nova Scotia, on 12 May 1821. The region had been given its settler name, meaning New Scotland, by the Scottish explorer Sir William Alexander, who was awarded the land by King James VI of Scotland and first of England in 1621, with little regard for the naming, customs and homesteads of the indigenous Mi' Kmaq peoples who had inhabited and cultivated the land for countless generations previously. Many Scots settled there, and George and Elizabeth would have been comforted by the lilt and rhotic Rs of the familiar accent as soon as they disembarked. Although we know they arrived in Nova Scotia, it is difficult to track the Wilsons whereabouts for the next several years. Various later accounts would claim that they settled in New Limerick, Canada, or New Harmony, Indiana. We do know that during this time Elizabeth's father James joined them and the industrious trio set up home together under the same roof in Nova Scotia. It isn't until 1827 that the Wilsons re emerge in the archive, this time in Paterson, New Jersey. James and George found themselves back in the cotton factories, working at the Clark and Robinson cotton mill. Soon, however, the pair would lose their jobs and the three of them would make for New York, where they settled at 47 Forsyth Street. Forsyth was one of a set of streets on the Lower east side named for heroes from various American military and naval conquests. These also included Christie, Eldridge and Ludlow. I can't imagine though that George, Elizabeth and James spent much time thinking of this legacy when they settled there in the 1820s. If they knew about it at all, it was the promise of work that had drawn them there. George found employment at Joseph Barron's factory at 171 Water Street, a half hour walk from Forsyth. Whilst the genteel classes could afford a comfortable life far from the noise and dirt of industry, the labouring classes lived close to where they worked for ease of access. Baron was a furrier, so George would have been employed in the making of fur goods. That was, however, until a Fire broke out one December night in 1835 at 173 Water street and decimated the surrounding businesses, including Baron's fir factory. We cannot say with certainty what the immediate impact of the fire was for George, but it appears that Baron got himself and his employees back on their feet again quickly, because by the summer of the following year, George was still employed by him. Back on Forsyth, modest but decent accommodation had been raised by speculative builders to accommodate a growing number of journeymen and factory labourers. But whilst the Wilsons may have found relatively good accommodation there, conditions were still far from ideal. Behind the street lay a maze of alleyways crowded with industrial workshops. The two to four story, mostly wooden houses that lined the street were still multi occupancy. The area near the Bowery nearby stank of dead flesh from slaughterhouses and tanning yards. Whilst more and more stinking bodies crammed into the streets around them on a weekly basis, pigs roamed free, defecating and copulating hither and thither. Meanwhile, modern conveniences such as coal stoves, gas lights, ice boxes and other improvements were reserved for the classes above the Wilsons. Instead, after the workday was done, Forsyth was illuminated by candlelight and community women hollered from windows to one another, passing information and gossip above the din of the street below. Local residents called on their neighbors unannounced and looked after their friends children, or rather assigned their own children to look after their friends children. In the streets with the pigs, the women sewed and laundered and cooked and fought and did what they could to get by, sometimes supplementing their husband's income with work of their own. They survived because the alternative was unthinkable. The men like George, when not working, liquored whiskey was provided by employers to factory men in order to spur them on through the often hopeless monotony of their daily grind. And a refreshing beer might be offered in the summer months to cool the rising heat. The cost for their employers was less than a cup of tea or coffee, so it was a worthwhile expense. Outside of work, George will have enjoyed the brotherhood of his New York co workers at one of the thousands of taverns or saloons that had been approved by the city alongside others that had not. Here men drank whilst exchanging stories of their domestic frustrations and learnt about the availability of new work opportunities. George was very much welcomed into this manly fold. His contemporaries saw no reason not to include him in their homosocial bonding. We know that he partook in this everyday act of male bonding because it was liquoring that eventually brought him to the attention of the authorities. One summer night in 1836, the corner of Pearl street and Chatham. One Friday night, likely the fifth, but records difference. August 1836. The night air was warm and frivolity was high. A local policeman kept his beat. Buildings on this block had been destroyed in a revolutionary skirmish on 20 September 1776. However, by the first decades of the 19th century, the scorched remains of Pearl street had risen phoenix like from the rubble and the street was now lined with sturdy, bright brick faced federal style homes and businesses. Pearl and Chatham was a busy and popular intersection and business owners and residents slept somewhat more soundly, knowing that their neighborhood was worth protecting. At an unrecorded hour, as he approached the corner of Pearl and Chatham, our policeman happened across what he thought was a drunken sailor slumped on the ground. George Wilson had liquored particularly hard that night, and the pavement must have seemed the most restful spot on which to gather his strength for the walk home. He was only a couple of streets over from Water street where he worked, so he had likely been out with the boys from work. As the constable approached George, he had no idea that the sailor he'd stumbled across was about to make headline news. Right across America, vagrancy laws in New York sought to rid the city of individuals who were found inexplicitly loitering or out of place, just as George had been that night. These laws were purposefully vague. In attempting to enforce them, authorities sought to avoid social disturbances and reinforce class hierarchies as and when they saw fit. Public drunkenness was a fine example of an offence that could get you arrested under this legislation in New York in 1836. Interestingly, these same vagrancy laws were often applied to individuals suspected of gender or sexual nonconformity. But in George Wilson's case, it was his drunkenness and not his gender that inspired our policeman to scoop him up and escort him to the nearest police office, as it was termed that night. There the sailor could sober up and if this was his first offence, would be on his way soon enough. By the time George arrived at the police office, he had realized the potential extent of his troubles. In a desperate attempt to avoid questioning that might expose his former identity and to avoid implicating Elizabeth, he had decided to lie. Initially, he told the processing magistrate, Mr. Lowndes, that his name was James Walker, and said that he was Irish, not Scottish. Walker claimed that he was 30 years old, though it was observed that care and trouble have left the furrows of more advanced age. Across his face, Walker also gave his address as Tillery Street, Brooklyn. Another misdirection. Despite his obfuscation, the arresting officer and Lowndes suspected all was not as it seemed with prisoner Walker's backstory. One report claimed the magistrate had become suspicious because of the softness of the prisoner's voice, leading the authorities to believe that Walker might not be the man he claimed. Whatever the case might have been, they soon suspected that they had caught a female in man's attire, although she was sunburnt and appeared somewhat masculine. Faced with their continued probing, George soon felt that his former self was too precarious a thing to hide. To throw Lowndes and the other arresting officer off the scent, Walker admitted that he had indeed been lying. He confessed that his real name was Jane Walker. This was another invention, but George quickly concocted an elaborate backstory for Jane in the hope that she might elicit pity from the magistrate and ensure a speedy release. Jane's story was one of the disappointed love she had been on a promise from a young man back in Ireland. This young man had apparently left Ireland's shores, like so many did, and arrived in Quebec. Eventually, after about two years, he sent Jane the money he had promised so that she could join him there. This she did diligently, George revealed. But when she got to Quebec, her old flame was nowhere to be found. Jane, wishing to maintain her dignity and defend herself in this new land, set upon assuming the garb of a man in order to survive. This she had accomplished by working on the docks in the hope of one day stumbling across her lost love amongst the other labourers there. It was quite the romantic yarn, heroic even. Despite this, Lowndes could hardly just release Jane Walker now. She had lied before. Was she lying again? Lowndes therefore summoned either a female prisoner or a surgeon, depending on your source, in order to carry out an inspection that would attempt to establish the facts behind Walker's latest confession. It was swiftly concluded that Jane Walker was a woman. Lowndes gave Walker a firm talking to about the evils of throwing aside her feminine dress and placed her back in the cell overnight. And that might have been that Jane Walker might otherwise have spent the night in the cells and, having been directed to re adopt female attire, been released. Jane Walker might have become nothing more than a lovelorn footnote in the annals of American immigration. But all chance of that vanished when, on the next morning, Saturday 6th August, Mrs. Elizabeth Wilson approached Mr. Lowndes, Magistrate in search of her missing, presumed drunk husband. Mr. George Wilson. Mr. Lowndes was by all accounts slightly baffled by the appearance of this decently dressed Scottish immigrant. He had not detained any man called George Wilson the previous night, he said. But having spoken with Elizabeth a little longer, it dawned on Lowndes that the prisoner Elizabeth wished to see was none other than Jane Walker. If Lowndes had understood correctly, Elizabeth had been legally married to his Jane for over 15 years. On receiving this information, the magistrate ordered the prisoner to be brought up for a second examination. George is recorded as having been quite confused when confronted with his wife in the magistrate's office. One can imagine the wave of anxiety that overtook him momentarily. And in the frustrated anguish when Elizabeth looked at him in vexation and rage on hearing her husband's sex was discovered, refused to speak to him and went away. Lowndes then informed his prisoner that Elizabeth had furnished him with additional details concerning the prisoner's real name and and their marriage. George, sensing there was nowhere left to.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

Hide, now told the magistrate that he.

[Anthony Delaney]

Was not Irish but had been born to Scottish parents at number 20 Atherton Street, Liverpool. George stated that the name he had been given at birth was George Moore Wilson and that George is a name commonly given to females in England. George elaborated that in consequence of being ill treated by her friends after George's mother had remarried she ran away from them, put on boys clothes and made her way to Scotland. Wilson had spun so many tales that Lowndes asked for proof that this version of his life contained some truth. And so a marriage certificate was produced. This the prisoner already had secreted about his person if contemporary newspaper reports are to be believed. According to these reports the document read Glasgow 2nd of April 1821. Certificate that George Wilson, cotton spinner of Brighton and Elizabeth Cummins residing There have been three several sabbaths lawfully proclaimed in the barony church in order to marriage and no objection has been offered.

[Author of Queer Georgians (likely Anthony Delaney)]

The above parties were lawfully married by.

[Anthony Delaney]

Me, John Marfontaine, minister. When the story inevitably leaked, as all good stories do, eventually hacks were suspicious of this certificate. Wilson has told two stories, they observed. It would not be at all surprising if this marvelous marriage should turn out to be a sham affair got up within a few days past. The details of the certificate quoted in the Pennsylvanian remain curious. The first question has to be why did a laborer carry confirmation of his marriage on him? Had George and Elizabeth agreed on this as a strategy should George's identity ever be questioned? But the details of the document are sketchy too. For instance, Wilson and Cummins are thought to have married on 6 April 1821, not the second, as stated here. Brighton should read Bridgeton, formerly a quoad sacra parish and part of the larger parish of Barony in the suburbs of Glasgow. That was a far cry from Brighton in the southeast corner of England. And here's the other thing. There is no record of a Minister John Marfontaine, administering to his Glaswegian flock at this time or any time in the national records of Scotland. And so even I began to worry about the authenticity of their marriage. George Wilson had understandably lied to Magistrate Lowndes to protect his gender identity and his family. But in lying, he had muddied the archival waters. Where had this certificate come from? Who had issued it? Perhaps he and Elizabeth Cummins had not married at all, as people suspected. For some reason, the prospect that they had not married irked me. The Wilsons owed me nothing, obviously, but I needed to know if they had duped the heteroregulated system, surreptitiously inserting themselves within it. So much we know about George and Elizabeth comes from disparaging third party accounts that I'd felt their marriage certificate was the one piece of archival evidence which actually reflected them on their own terms, simple and all as it was. So for their marriage certificate to suddenly emerge as bogus felt like we were losing the one concrete piece of evidence in their archive. The reality was, though, that this document, as it appeared in the Pennsylvanian, could not be trusted as proof of their marriage. I would have to dig a little deeper. If George and Elizabeth had legally married, there would be one readily available document lying in a Scottish archive waiting to confirm it. An entry in the barony parish papers from 1821. And so I return to the archive once more. Initial searches threw up nothing. Plenty of Wilsons, but no George Wilson. And not a trace of an Elizabeth Cummins at all. I persevered, training my eyes on the spider like writings scribbled across each of the pages. Finally, I came to 2 April 1821, the date when they had supposedly married, according to the Pennsylvanian. I checked each entry for that day and can confirm there was no Wilson Cummins wedding. Maybe it was not altogether surprising, I told myself as I disappointedly continued examining the entries for the next day, the next. Maybe it was too much to hope that they had truly succeeded in infiltrating the system. It was then I found them. There they were in black and White, on 6 April 1821. Not the second George Wilson married Elizabeth Cummins they had been married. They had fooled the system. Their entry in the old parish registers, 662 ref. 16023 of Barony is straightforward and to the point, but it corrects some of the misinformation that has been passed down to us over these last 200 odd years. The reported date of their marriage was out by four days, and in place of the elusive John Marfontaine, they had instead been Married by John MacFarlane. The entry in full reads, george Wilson, Cotton Spinner Bridgeton and Elizabeth Cummin, residing there, married 6th of April by the Reverend John MacFarlane. It still didn't explain the inconsistencies of the marriage certificate printed in the Pennsylvanian. But their marriage really had been legally formalized in April 1821, as Magistrate Lowndes attempted to get to grips with the interweaving elements of Wilson's stories. George sat calmly, perpetually taking snuff, attired in striped pantaloons, a plaid stock and a grey roundabout, the life he and Elizabeth had worked so hard to build together over the last 15 years had come tumbling down about him in less than 15 hours. Wilson worked the snuff between his fingers before sharply inhaling it. He rubbed the residue across his teeth and into his gums. What more could he do? The Pennsylvanian tells us that when it came to George Wilson's trial, Justice Hobson caused considerable merriment during the proceedings when he asked how many children they had since their marriage. Despite these jibes, Elizabeth Cummins, who had been summoned to attend, is recorded as having treated the affair with the greatest nonchalance. If these proceedings fazed her, she would not show it. Ultimately, George was found guilty under the Vagrancy act, which covered both his drunkenness and his gender misdirection, and was again remanded. It is not known for how long he was held, though such sentences tended to be mercifully short for first time offenders. If he was released, or if he ever saw Elizabeth again. That's it. That's all we know. It is here that we must abruptly take our leave of the tenacious George Wilson and the resourceful Elizabeth Cummins as they slip out of the primary source material. That is how it sometimes goes with history. We are bound to the information that has survived, regardless of where their lives took them next. And despite contemporary claims to the contrary, it should be noted that there is nothing singular about the case of George Wilson. There were George Wilsons across America and the world, each working in his factory, labouring at his dock, taking himself a wife just as our George had done. The only difference is that our George Wilson had come to the attention of the authorities and as a result made it into the headlines, though in truth not even his discovery marks him out as unique as the later queer histories of Charles Hamilton, similarly tried under English vagrancy laws and John Smith, a New York tinsmith who also fell prey to New York's vagrancy laws, demonstrate. But there's a frustration in this ending nonetheless, is there not? This history feels somewhat unresolved, as if the Wilsons ought to have provided us, for some unknown petulant reason, with a happy ending. It was whilst thinking on this that I suddenly realized that maybe that was exactly what they had left us with. Remember, George and Elizabeth had never wanted to make headlines. They never wanted to endure the media scrutiny that followed George's arrest. They had wanted to avoid the jibes, the debate, and the deeply personal and intimate intrusion that followed. They had simply wanted to get on with their invisible everyday lives, to work, earn money, and exist in the world on their own terms. Though we can never know for sure unless new evidence comes to light, it is my hope that their sudden archival departure denotes their happy return to that sought after obscur, a return to the mundanity of their lives before George had had a little bit too much to drink that August night in 1836. That's my hope for them. And what's history without a little hope?

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