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Tim Jerrome

@timjerrome.bsky.social

1.1K followers 480 following 41 posts

Doctoral student at Brighton researching gay and lesbian histories in rural England. Also a writer, gamer, enthusiastic but hopeless tennis player, and fan of all dogs with facial hair

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · Feb 5

If you have any interest in queer histories of the English countryside, be sure to check out the first publication of my PhD - an article for the amazing folks over at The MERL:

The Boo-seum of English Rural Life @themerl.bsky.social · Feb 5

How can we trace same-sex relationships in rural archives, when love letters were heavily euphemistic or burned after reading?

For LGBTQ+ History Month, Tim Jerrome shares his research into queer rural relationships: from his first find, to the challenges faced.

merl.reading.ac.uk/blog/2025/02...

Thomas and Austen: a gay relationship in the MERL archives? - The Museum of English Rural Life

For LGBTQ+ History Month 2025, researcher Tim Jerrome shares how he's using rural archives to research same-sex relationships in the countryside.

merl.reading.ac.uk

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · 1d

Very kind of you - will have to screenshot this and send it to potential publishers when the time comes!

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · 1d

ie. If a letter indicates a same sex relationship, but does not 100% confirm it, should this be highlighted on the archive catalogue as material related to LGBTQ+ history?

Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · 1d

Genuine pleasure to be an absolute unit once more! Curious to hear listeners’ opinions on the speculatory nature of this research, and how that might clash with archival neutrality.

The Boo-seum of English Rural Life @themerl.bsky.social · 1d

Absolute Units is back!

We continue our conversation with @timjerrome.bsky.social (University of Brighton; formerly, The MERL) about his research into queer rural life.

Discover what Tim has found in our archives to date & the research challenges he's faced.

merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

Absolute Units, a podcast from The Museum of English Rural Life. Three giant sheep float over the English countryside.

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · 2d

Could I ask why? My focus is on the other side of their lives - their rurality - and I've found Grant's letters to be a great source of rural reflections.

Is it just that they've occupied too much of the narrative when it comes to queer histories of London?

Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · 2d

Not qualified to speak about the worlds of fashion and decoration, but I know that we still have a lot to learn from Bloomsbury. I've been going through the archives of Bell and Grant and they have so much to tell us about English queer history!

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · 14d

Absolutely! Let me know when you are next coming to MERL and I'll see if I can be there 🙂

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · 14d

That's lovely to hear - a major inspiration for doing this research is so that LGBTQ people living in rural areas today know that there is, and always has been, a place for them in the countryside

Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · 14d

Never before has a comment on Bluesky caught my attention so quickly... the search for the queer lumberjack has defined my life for far too long now! Curious to see what you can find.

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · 15d

That's very kind of you to say - most of it is just patience and perseverance (but an appetite for finding gossip also helps!)

Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · 15d

Thank you to the eternally wonderful Joe and Ollie for guiding me through my first time on a podcast - if intense ramblings about finding queer snippets in rural archives is your thing, give it a listen! @themerl.bsky.social

The Boo-seum of English Rural Life @themerl.bsky.social · 15d

🐏 New Absolute Units 🐏

Same-sex relationships have always been part of rural England, but they've been underrepresented in our collections.

In the first of 2 episodes, @timjerrome.bsky.social shares his work tracing queer rural lives in The MERL archives.

merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

The Absolute Units art. Three giant sheep hover over the English countryside.

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · 17d

If there's one thing I've learned it's that marriage to someone of the opposite sex does not preclude queerness in this time period! There must be a reason why he shares a headstone with Morris rather than his wife.

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · 18d

Wow, thank you, what a marvelous find. I shall have to do some digging on Ancestry to try and find out more about them. I'm no expert on gravestones but I expect it's very rare to see two men named together in this time period

Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · Aug 12

Given that this was written in 1930, it's the earliest instance I've seen in archives of two men being described as "boyfriends". I wonder if anyone has seen anything earlier than this? Bonus points if it's rural!

(Archive ref for this diary is TGA 8317.7.2.4)

Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · Aug 12

Earlier this year, I visited Tate Britain to explore the archive of the artists Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines, a same-sex couple who lived in rural Suffolk from the 1930s onwards. In Lett's diaries I found this entry which describes two friends of theirs, Oswald and Jack, as "boyfriends".

A page from Arthur Lett-Haines's diary, dated 29th March 1930. It states "To Oswald Balfour's for tea". In the bottom corner it also reads "Oswald, Jack Webb, Boyfriend".

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · Aug 12

Thanks for the recommendation and glad you enjoyed the talk - hopefully there's some decent gossip... I mean historical findings in there!

(Sorry for taking so long to reply!)

Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · May 27

I'm giving a talk on queer histories of rural England in July! If you're in the Berwick area and want to find out more about how I'm using archives to explore this under-researched topic, please do sign up and/or share with anyone else who may be interested

www.maltingsberwick.co.uk/whats-on/ced...

Cedric, Lett and queer histories of the English countryside with Tim Jerrome. – The Maltings

www.maltingsberwick.co.uk

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · Apr 2

Amazed that the cloaking device still works after all these years - looks like a classic example! (I assume, I've never actually seen one)

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · Apr 2

You deserve the credit for the photo of the Flying Fordson... by legitimately finding it in the archives of course

Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · Apr 1

Four years ago today, I somehow got away with uploading this utter nonsense to the @themerl.bsky.social website:

The Tractor Whisperers (an April Fool’s) - The Museum of English Rural Life

Its members were known as the tractor whisperers, achieving feats of tractor mastery well beyond the human ken. But what was the Order of Credulum?

merl.reading.ac.uk

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · Mar 27

Can highly recommend this as something to listen to whilst sat in a reading room, going through countless ledgers on mine administration, seeing the word "boring" on every page

The Boo-seum of English Rural Life @themerl.bsky.social · Mar 26

Come for the big animals. Stay for the history of rural England and its people.

The first full episode of Absolute Units, the official MERL podcast, is here!!!

merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

Three flying absolute units (Exmoor Horn rams) glide over the English countryside. The artwork for Absolute Units, The MERL podcast.

Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · Feb 25

I'm pretty sure I'm still the undisputed MERL Grade Up to Elite Cow champion, which is definitely because I'm unbeatable, and not because no one wants to play it with me (including my mum)

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · Feb 25

Thank you Warhorse, Tom McKay and of course @lukedale.bsky.social

Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · Feb 25

I wouldn't normally post about this sort of thing, but just had to say that the romance scene in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 between Henry and Hans is one of the sweetest things I have ever seen in a video game. Beautifully acted as well. Will no doubt stay with me for a long time.

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · Feb 11

My first time being threatened by the author of a 19th century farm diary... I hope Aylesbury Gaol has good Wifi!

(Found at @themerl.bsky.social under archive reference FR BER 40/1/1)

Poem written by the author of this farm diary, warning people against reading it. It is dated January 1st 1868, and reads:
Touch not this book for fear of shame,
For here you see the owner's name,
And if he catch you by the tail,
You may be sure of Aylesbury Goal

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Tim Jerrome @timjerrome.bsky.social · Feb 6

Hello! Thanks for your interest in the article and appreciate the repost 🙂