Blackmail letters
Found objects
Blackmail letters, 1927-1954
Mounted stamped envelopes
75cm x 56.5cm
Museum no. I.061
A collection of stamped envelopes, displaying an assortment of early to mid-20th-century dates, said to have contained blackmail letters. The envelopes are each addressed to professional men, ranging from a bank manager and a doctor to military men, including a major and colonel. The prefixes suggest why the recipients might be targets.
Homosexuality was a criminal offence in England and Wales until 1967 when the Government partially legalised it. Still, from 1885 until this date gay relations between men were classed as "gross indecency", carrying a heavy punishment.
It was as late as the 1950s that Enigma code breaker, Alan Turing, was arrested under this law and subjected to chemical castration. Turing lost not only his libido but also his job. The Government denied him security clearance, considering gay men a high-security risk because they were vulnerable to blackmail.
The law was ambiguous and men could be convicted on hearsay alone. For that reason, it became commonly known as the Blackmailers Charter. The police believe that around 90% of all blackmail cases were due to the vagueness of this law.
Consequently, criminal gangs exploited suspected gay professional men, who stood the most to lose with enough money to pay their extorters.
The 1961 film, Victim, portrays the subject movingly. Dirk Bogarde plays married barrister, Melville Farr, haunted by unconsummated gay desires. The BFI Southbank re-released the film as part of its Gross Indecency season in 2017.
