Pride, Representation, and Belonging

Blog

Louis Flood, Digital Engagement Officer & Display Curator

June is Pride Month, an international celebration of the experiences and resilience of the LGBTQ+ community. It can also be a time to consider the importance of representation, including in everyday objects.

 ‘Pride, Representation, and Belonging’ is a display that pulls together objects which speak to this visibility. Even what most consider to be ordinary objects can carry important meaning about identity and belonging for members of the queer community.

This display is the first in the Museum’s history to focus on a queer topic and marks 20 years since the formation of the Bank’s internal LGBTQ+ network.

Symbols of Belonging

This display began by thinking about how symbols of support for the LGBTQ+ community can be found in everyday life, including in the workplace.

In 2015, the Bank’s LGBTQ+ network expanded to include Allies, heterosexual or cis-identifying people who act as advocates for queer people. Colleagues received pens and mugs branded with the network’s logo and the word ‘Ally’, which began to appear at desks throughout the Bank’s offices, quietly signalling acceptance and support for queer colleagues.

Today, staff members may choose to wear items which similarly convey their support, like security lanyards with the rainbow stripe, or ‘Trans Ally’ badges. We’ve accessioned each of the objects acquired for this display, so they are now part of the Museum’s permanent collection.

Although they feel very new and are still used today, we will keep them as a future snapshot of history. Who knows who might look back on them in 5, 10, or 50 years' time?

The LGBTQ+ Network

The LGBTQ+ Network is one of several staff-run networks in the Bank that bring together communities through social and informative events.

Since 2015, the LGBTQ+ network has been responsible for organising the Bank’s participation in London and Leeds Pride – nationwide events that celebrate the contributions and resilience of the community.

The Bank’s LGBTQ+ network was the first staff network, founded 20 years ago. For this display, it felt important to share voices of the network. Accompanying the display are interviews with network members discussing the importance of a sense of belonging in the workplace.

These conversations revealed interesting insights about the importance of acceptance in the workplace. Participants described how, because of the network’s existence, they feel more comfortable and accepted at work, and empowered to be their authentic selves: for instance, feeling safe to mention their same-sex partners. Colleagues also highlighted how everyday symbols, such as the lanyards or ally badges, contribute to that feeling of belonging.

A final theme of the conversations covered the ways the network continues to evolve. One speaker references its original name, the ‘LGB’ network, before it was extended to include Trans community members and signal the plurality of queer identities as the ‘LGBTQ+ Network’. Another reflected on the recent efforts marking Lesbian Visibility Week, highlighting voices which are often overlooked within the community itself.

To hear these accounts, you can scan the QR code in the display or access the recordings remotely below.

'Pride, Representation, and Belonging' | Bank of England Museum | Bloomberg Connects

Representation in banknotes

The display also includes two banknotes with queer connections: the Bank of England £50 note, and the Bank of Scotland £100 note.

The current £50 Bank of England note features Alan Turing, widely known for his work at Bletchley Park cracking the Nazi’s Enigma Code during the Second World War. He is also known for his 1936 paper which essentially founded the field of computational science.

Alan Turing was also a homosexual, and towards the end of his life suffered under mid-20th Century attitudes to homosexuality, which was illegal in the UK until 1967. In 1952, his London residence was burgled. Turing reported the crime and police arrived at the scene. However, instead of focusing on the burglary in court, they prosecuted Turing for having a sexual relationship with another man in the privacy of his own home. He was convicted of ‘gross indecency’.

To avoid jail, Turing accepted hormonal treatment that is now recognised as medical abuse. During this time, he was treated as a security risk, lost his clearance, and was subject to state monitoring. Turing’s conviction, and subsequent treatment, directly led to his death by suicide in 1954, which he likely staged as an accident fearing his mother’s reaction.

In 2009, Gordon Brown issued a formal public apology for the treatment of Alan Turing. An official royal pardon by HM Queen Elizabeth followed in 2013, which was later extended to all men convicted or cautioned under long-repealed laws against homosexuality. These legislative changes, passed in 2017, became colloquially known as ‘Turing’s Law’.

On 23 June 2021, coinciding with his birthday, the Bank of England issued the latest series of £50 banknotes which were to feature the famous codebreaker and computational pioneer as the historical character. As the first known queer figure to appear on a British banknote, Turing’s inclusion marked a milestone in LGBTQ+ representation. The Bank of England donated a rare low print version of the banknote to Queer Britain, the UK’s first national LGBTQ+ museum.

In 2022, Turing was joined by pioneering Suffragette Dr Flora Murray in the pantheon of numismatic queer representation. She appears on the Bank of Scotland* £100 note.

Dr Murray was selected for her contribution to the UK during the First World War. She and Dr Louisa Garrett Anderson set up the Women’s Hospital Corps (WHC), a group of women doctors and nurses who ran two military hospitals in Paris and Wimereux, France. Overcoming resistance from the UK Government, Flora and Louisa returned to London to run Endell Street Military Hospital, a large institution in London staffed predominately by Suffragette women.

Beyond their pioneering work for the Suffragette movement, Murray and Anderson lived together as companions. Whilst not openly queer, they wore matching diamond rings, and Murray referred to Anderson in the dedicated of her book as ‘my Loving Companion’. In 1923, they retired to their cottage in Buckinghamshire together with their two terrier dogs. Murray’s tombstone commemorates both women, with the inscription: ‘We have been gloriously happy’.

The Murray £100 note came into circulation on 9 May 2022, a day after her birthday. The Bank of Scotland auctioned 94 rare notes with the serial number prefix ‘FM’ and ‘AA’ in aid of Mental Heath UK and The Royal Free Hospital, London.

Further Information

To learn more about the life and legacy of Dr Flora Murray, we recommend Wendy Moore’s book ‘Endell Street: The Women who ran Britain’s Trailblazing Military Hospital'

To learn more about the release of the Alan Turing £50 banknote, you can listen to former Chief Cashier Sarah John’s panel discussion with Queer Britain.

*The Bank of Scotland selects the design for its notes and is authorised to issue currency by the Bank of England. It’s a system which ensures that Bank of Scotland banknotes are securely backed and hold the same value as Bank of England-issued currency.