The Bloomsbury Group in LGBTQ History
The Bloomsbury Group was a notable group of writers, artists, poets, composers, and painters in Great Britain that were a loose group of friends and acquaintances associated with the University of Cambridge. Many of these individuals were from the LGBTQ community and had several romantic relationships with each other. Their work had a significant influence on culture and society during their lifetimes. Notable meetings were held as the Friday Club and Thursday Evenings with lively intellectual debate. Many members lived in the Bloomsbury area of London.
All members of the Bloomsbury Group came from wealthy middle-class backgrounds. They were viewed as rebellious, and the group generally rejected realism and materialism in their works. Many were anti-war activists and writers. They supported gender and sexual equality
Prominent LGBTQ members include: writers E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, and Vita Sackville-West; artist Duncan Grant; economist John Maynard Keynes; and poet Siegfried Sassoon.
We have identified the following LGBTQ individuals as members or related associates of the Bloomsbury Group.
- Joe Randolph Ackerley, literary editor
- Francis Birrell, writer and bookshop owner
- Elizabeth Bowen, novelist
- Baron Benjamin Britten, conductor and composer
- Dorothy Bussy, novelist
- Dora Carrington, landscape and decorative artist
- G. L. Dickinson, academic
- E.M. Forster, writer
- David Garnett, writer and bookshop owner
- Duncan Grant, painter
- Christopher Isherwood, writer
- Katherine Mansfield, writer
- Forrest Reid, writer, literary critic
- Paul Roche, novelist and poet
- Vita Sackville-West, writer
- Siegfried Sassoon, poet
- Ethel Smyth, composer
- Lytton Strachey, novelist
- Stephen Tomlin, painter and sculptor
- Virginia Woolf, novelist
See Also
- Stonewall Icons
- Early European LGBTQ Activists
- Feminist Activists Who Identify as Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgender
- Animal Rights Activism and the LGBTQ Community
- Peace Activists Who Identify as LGBTQ
- Prominent Members of ACT UP
- The LGBTQ Community and the Beat Generation
- LGBTQ Participation in the Harlem Renaissance
- The Violet Quill Author's Group