Thomas Cannon (1720–?)Gladfelder, Hal ''Fanny Hill in Bombay: The Making and Unmaking of John Cleland'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012, p. 46 of

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

author of the 18th century. He wrote what may be the earliest published defence of homosexuality in English, ''Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplify'd'' (1749)Gladfelder, Hal ''In Search of Lost Texts:Thomas Cannon’s Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplify’d'' Eighteenth-Century Life, Volume 31, Number 1, Winter 2007,pp. 22-38 and may also have collaborated with John Cleland, author of '' Fanny Hill''.Gladfelder, Hal ''Fanny Hill in Bombay: The Making and Unmaking of John Cleland'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012

Life

A son of Robert Cannon, Dean of Lincoln, Cannon had a serious falling out with Cleland which indirectly led to his prosecution.Orells, Daniel ''Classical Culture and Modern Masculinity'', Oxford University Press, 2011, p2-3 In 1748, Cleland was sent to prison for failing to pay debts to Cannon and another man. It was while in prison that Cleland published ''Fanny Hill''. Just before the second volume appeared, Cannon lodged a legal complaint against Cleland, claiming that he was now sending anonymous letters containing abusive and slanderous accusations. Cleland accused Cannon of attempted murder, and of being homosexual. A few weeks after Cleland's accusations, Cannon arranged the printing of ''Ancient & Modern Pederasty''. Despite its illegal subject matter, the pamphlet might never have come to the attention of the authorities had it not been for the embittered Cleland who, after being released from prison for debt, was re-arrested in 1749 for obscenity due to ''Fanny Hill''. Cleland vindictively wrote to the

Duke of Newcastle Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne was a title that was created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first grant of the title was made in 1665 to William Cavendish, 1st Marquess of Newcastle u ...

's law clerk drawing his attention to Cannon's pamphlet. This prompted a letter from Newcastle to the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

, requesting the prosecution of Cannon. Cannon and his printer were arrested but released on bail of £400 each. Cannon fled abroad for three years. The printer was sent to trial, found guilty, and fined, imprisoned for a month, and also subjected to the public torture of the

pillory The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the stocks ...

. Cannon's mother successfully petitioned the Duke of Newcastle for the charges against her son to be dropped, claiming he was repentant, and indeed, wished to return to England not only because of financial necessity, but in order to publish a retraction or recantation of the original pamphlet. No such text has ever come to light. After returning to England, Cannon lived quietly at Windsor with his mother and sisters, and never returned to public life again. No copies of Cannon's pamphlet appear to have survived. The text was presumed lost to history until 2003 when what is presumed to be the majority of the work was discovered as quoted extracts in the original indictment against the printer, which survived in the records of the

King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of commo ...

. The text was finally published in ''Eighteenth-Century Life'' magazine in 2007. What remains of ''Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplify'd'' shows that rather than being a dry treatise, it is a somewhat gossipy and jokey anthology of homosexual advocacy, written with an obvious enthusiasm for its subject. It contains the words: "Unnatural Desire is a Contradiction in Terms; downright Nonsense. Desire is an amatory Impulse of the inmost human Parts: Are not they, however constructed, and consequently impelling, Nature?"

References

''Eighteenth-Century Life'', Duke University Press, Volume 31, Number 1, Winter 2007. On line, Project MUSE.

Bibliography

* Hal Gladfelder,

', "Eighteenth-century life", XXXI 2007 (n. 1), pp. 22–38. * Hal Gladfelder, ''The indictment of John Purser, containing Thomas Cannon's Ancient and modern pederasty investigated and exemplify'd'', "Eighteenth-century life", XXXI 2007 (n. 1) pp. 39–61. * Thomas Cannon, ''Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplify'd''(excerpts) on WikiSource.

External links

Ancient text shows 'gay activist'
BBC News, 25 April 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cannon, Thomas LGBT writers from England British gay writers LGBT rights activists from England 18th-century LGBT people 1720 births Year of death unknown 18th-century English people 18th-century English writers 18th-century English male writers