Beaumont Society

Founded in 1966 as the UK wing of the American organisation Full Personality Expression (FPE), it evolved into the Beaumont Society, naming itself after Chevalier d'Eon de Beaumont.{{Cite web |title=Beaumont Society Press Cuttings Collection |url=https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/collections/beaumont-society-press-cuttings-collection |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=Bishopsgate Institute |language=en}} One of the co-founders was Alice Purnell,{{Cite book |last=Playdon |first=Zoë |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sYZGEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+Beaumont+Society%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA225 |title=The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes: And the Unwritten History of the Trans Experience |date=2021-11-02 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-9821-3946-9 |pages=225 |language=en}} another Alga Campbell.{{Cite web |last=Phillips |first=Sara |date=2021-03-24 |title=Friends of Eon, 1978 |url=https://projectartscentre.ie/activearchive/friends-of-eon-1978/ |access-date=2024-03-19 |language=en-US}} It was founded with two aims. The first was to provide information for legal and medical practitioners, as well as the general public, on trans issues, and the second to provide a social network for transvestite, and later transgender, people.

The first official meeting of the society was held in Southampton in 1966 (although there had been an initial one the year before).{{Cite web |title=Museum of London {{!}} Free museum in London |url=https://collections.museumoflondon.org.uk/online/object/531220.html |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=collections.museumoflondon.org.uk}} The first official meeting had twelve attendees, two of whom were wives of members. In 1969 Virginia Prince, the American founder of FPE, visited Britain, generating publicity for the Beaumont Society.{{Cite book |last1=Ekins |first1=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ibTEYWZxZ60C&dq=%22The+Beaumont+Society%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA8 |title=Virginia Prince: Pioneer of Transgendering |last2=King |first2=Dave |date=2006-02-07 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-0-7890-3055-9 |pages=8 |language=en}}

By 1973 the society had 233 members. Later in the 1970s it had 700 members.{{Cite book |last=Pickett |first=Brent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84nxEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+Beaumont+Society%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA39 |title=The Transgender Encyclopedia |date=2024-02-26 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-5726-8 |pages=39 |language=en}} By the late 1970s over 2,000 people had passed through its membership.{{Cite book |last=Thane |first=Pat |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3IurHTsQdqQC&dq=%22The+Beaumont+Society%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA147 |title=Unequal Britain: Equalities in Britain Since 1945 |date=2010-04-19 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-84706-298-7 |pages=147 |language=en}} During this time Stephen Whittle joined the society. In its early years the society was explicit that it was for 'heterosexual transvestites' and that 'overt gayness' was not included.{{Cite book |last=Whittle |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Whittle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mQhRr9CKticC&dq=%22The+Beaumont+Society%22+-wikipedia&pg=PT96 |title=Respect and Equality: Transsexual and Transgender Rights |date=2012-08-21 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-33706-3 |language=en}} Campaigning to alter this started in the 1980s, By the 1990s transgender people, across a range of sexualities, were explicitly included.

It is the longest running support group for trans people in the UK.{{Cite web |title=Beaumont Society |url=https://www.consortium.lgbt/member-directory/beaumont-society/ |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=www.consortium.lgbt}} It also provides counselling.{{Cite web |title=Overview - Beaumont Society - NHS |url=https://www.nhs.uk/services/service-directory/beaumont-society/N10957181 |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=www.nhs.uk}} The society has branches across Britain, such as in Kent,{{Cite web |date=2019-09-09 |title='We are a voice, we are a friend' |url=https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/we-are-a-voice-we-are-a-friend-211801/ |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=Kent Online |language=en}} Leeds,{{Cite book |last=Wardle |first=Faye Helen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lg9kZ5EWEeMC&dq=%22The+Beaumont+Society%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA136 |title=You Should Have Seen the Caterpillar |date=2013-04-03 |publisher=Xlibris Corporation |isbn=978-1-4836-1796-1 |pages=136 |language=en}} as well as other locations. The society's annual dinner was held at Broadcasting House in the 1970s and 1980s, subsequently moving to new Kensington Town Hall.{{Cite web |title=Trans Pioneers – Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Histories {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/lgbtq-heritage-project/trans-and-gender-nonconforming-histories/trans-pioneers/ |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}}

In 1978, Friends of Eon was established, as a sister organisation to the Beaumont Society but to provide support for transgender people in the Republic of Ireland.

Members of the Beaumont Society in Leeds, including June Willmott,{{Cite web |date=2023-05-12 |title=GENDYS Journal - The First UK Transgender Conferences, 1974 and 1975 |url=http://www.gender.org.uk/gendys/2007/39ekins.htm |access-date=2024-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512154010/http://www.gender.org.uk/gendys/2007/39ekins.htm |archive-date=2023-05-12 }} organised the 1974 conference Transvestism and Transsexuality in Modern Society, the first UK national Trans conference held at the University of Leeds. In 1975 they organised a subsequent conference in Leicester, entitled Transvestism and Allied States in Family and Society.{{cite journal | pmc=2157633 | date=1975 | title=Medical news | journal=The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners | volume=25 | issue=152 | pages=206–207 }} The same year it also established the first charitable trust in the UK for trans people,{{Cite book |last=Burns |first=Ms Christine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=synhDgAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+Beaumont+Society%22+-wikipedia&pg=PT42 |title=Trans Britain: Our Journey from the Shadows |date=2018-01-25 |publisher=Unbound Publishing |isbn=978-1-78352-470-9 |language=en}} as well as a helpline.

In 1986, the society supported the establishment of a transgender archive at the University of Ulster, and advertised it to its members.Ekins, Richard. [https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/06d829a8-3690-4c9c-937b-332c88100e32/content "A Concise History of the University of Ulster, Trans-Gender Archive (1986-2010)."] (2013).

The society began to distribute the Beaumont Bulletin from January 1968. Published every two months, it started at eight pages long, but by 1970 it was regularly 24 pages long. The May 1970 issue was the first to include content written by wives of members. The publication referred to its readers as 'girls', and included tips on make-up application and buying clothes, especially those in larger sizes.{{Cite book |last=Fawcus |first=Margaret |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7i8BCAAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+Beaumont+Society%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA323 |title=Voice Disorders and their Management |date=2013-11-11 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4899-2861-0 |pages=323 |language=en}} In 1977, a new publication, Beaumag, was issued which included fiction and comic writing. As of 2024, the society still created a publication for its members, now entitled Beaumont Magazine.

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.beaumontsociety.org.uk/ Official website]
• [https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/collections/beaumont-society-press-cuttings-collection Beaumont Society Press Cuttings Collection] (Bishopsgate Institute)
• [https://wellcomecollection.org/works/hntza94x Papers of Susan, Beaumont Society member] (Wellcome Collection)
• [https://www.flickr.com/photos/167027157@N06/40832215253/in/photolist-A2Fwn-25dcM2g-2mgKGAe-7XyLWH-Xf7Yo7-2nwEjEK-2ptKeTE-NgJKPe-sRf49-2pi2wiE-qa9Wjt-2pi4eCE-2pmVo4b-reBGyy-2pmWkD1-hb7XEn-JrseB-Jrsez-b5fe2g/ Beaumont Society event]

Category:Human rights organisations based in the United Kingdom

Category:1966 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:LGBTQ rights organizations

Category:LGBTQ history in England

Category:Transgender topics in England