Henry Cyril Paget, 5th Marquis of Anglesey, seated by a tree.

Previous title, replaced August 2022: Henry Cyril Paget, 5th Marquis of Anglesey, seated in drag by a tree. Photograph, 1905.

[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 1905.

1 photographic postcard ; 13.7 x 8.6 cm

Bears number: 121 (written in black ink, verso) Inscribed message in brown ink addressed to Miss May Watson and various postage stamps on the verso. Boys will be... (written and crossed through in black ink, verso) I hope you have not already got it (written in black ink, bottom recto)

The following description was provided by James Gardiner: "Real photo postcard, postally used from Bangor, 1905 of Henry Cyril Paget 5th Marquess of Anglesey (1875-1905), dubbed [by] the writer H. Mongomery Hyde [as] 'The most notorious homosexual of this period'. In fact, there is no proof that he had ever had sexual relations with anyone of either sex; he was divorced by his wife for non-consummation of the marriage, but there were no sexual scandals involving anyone else. As all his private papers were destroyed by his heirs, it is now unlikely that his actual sexual orientation will ever be ascertained. What we can be sure of is that he squandered his entire enormous family fortune (in 1898 he inherited an income of £110,00 per annum, equivalent to over £11 miliion in 2014) on clothes, furs and jewels in a very short period of time. Amateur theatricals were his great passion. He turned the ballroom of the family home Plas Newyyd into a theatre, where he performed a wide variety of roles, both in and out of drag. [This] item shows him reclining in a garden, possibly at Plas Newydd, wearing an astonishing array of jewellery including a high crown-like tiara and pearl choker."

This work is untitled: the title has been supplied by the cataloguer.

Wellcome Collection 2045338i