The National Trust was established in 1895, the year Oscar Wilde stood trial for gross indecency. Hall recreates the suffocating, hypocritical atmosphere of late 19th-century England; of London, in particular. But did hard-pressed queer Victorians create the National Trust? Not exactly. It's true that one of its founders, Octavia Hill, lived with a woman.
Victoria and Albert loved to give gifts to each other, usually ones that reminded of what they had done together that particular year or included portraits of their children. The royal family also helped promote the idea of charitable deeds as the old year was replaced by the new, distributing Christmas trees, presents, food, and useful goods like blankets and coal to the poor.
"Anyone who's ever fallen in love with someone others didn't approve of-whether it was your parents, your friends, or society itself-will feel something when they hear this story."
On his death in 1882, the Freeman's Journal noted: 'Captain Ingram, it is no exaggeration to say, was the guardian, and the reliable guardian, of the lives and property of the citizens of Dublin.'
