To any Allied Officer to whom this may be shown

The bearers of this have given us food and a place to sleep at some danger to themselves from the Germans in the vicinity.

Please treat them well and recompense them.

244060 David A Dowie  Lieutenant

210319 Alec Harding      Lieutenant

194844 Dan Billany         Lieutenant

Ex prisoners of war from Campo 49, Fontanellato near Parma.

Capistello  20th November 1943

Luciani Vincenzo

The story of Hull’s Dan Billany [1913-43] has been posted previously in ‘A hero of his time and ours’ It is appropriate, therefore, that in time for Hull Pride on July 18th, we have received this message of support from Dan’s niece, Jodi Weston Brake,

“I wish I could be in Hull for the Pride event . Dan would have been so PROUD. How times have changed.”

How indeed

Writing in the late 193os ,when any expression of male homosexuality was illegal, in one of his detective novels ,Dan writes of the reality of gay love then .

“it was a kind of love which,in te world as we know it,could not be made public. Rather commit suicide...Many have.”

And a little later,writing of the very real risks that gay men were at from blackmailers [the anti-gay laws were accurately described as a ‘blackmailers charter’ ]

“Unhappy devil ,Mrs. Valentine [the blackmailer] had found a way to make the very honey of his life into poison to buy her brandy and run her Daimler.”

Turning honey into poison —-that was the reality of the effect of the cruel prejudices and discriminatory laws of numerous gay men of Dan’s and later generations Without their sacrifices we would not have such freedoms as we do today.

And that is why it is so important that those convicted under gross indecency and other anti-homosexual laws should be exonerated–and why we are launching our petition at this years Hull Pride.

Who can doubt that Dan would have been Proud to be marching with us on July 18th? And he would have been utterly amazed to tune in to West Hull FM at 8 on a tuesday evening to hear Danny Norton announce ‘This is ‘Loud and Proud’-for West Hulls’ LGBT Community; being beamed out over his birthplace on Hessle Road. The ‘love which in this world could not be made public’ is now very public indeed!

Yes—-Dan would have been proud of his native city of Hull and its LGBT Community. t

On Hull Pride Day on 18th July a wreath will be laid at Hulls Cenotaph in Hull in honour of all those LGBT servicemen and women who gave their lives defending our freedoms. As Dan’s niece says in a message to Hull Pride, “Their bravery needs to be acknowledged.Caught between the devil and the deep,and so much to fight for-what Hitler would have done to the Gay Community ,given the chance, does not bear thinking about . His track record gives us a terrifying insight

“What a different world we would be living in if it wasn’t for the selfless bravery of all who fought.”

All the braver one might add when they would have been denied the most basic freedom to give expression to the love that they felt for their own sex had they survived and returned home. And which they would have been discharged from the services for until the year 2000. Despite all that they gave their lives for us.

We are PROUD of all of them

And We Are Proud of Our Dan

Within his short life Dan never lived to see a world more understanding of his true nature. Had he done so I believe that he would, in his writings, been as great a champion of Gay Rights as he had been of other oppressed groups. Because of the harsh times that he lived in, however, he ended up fighting for everybody but himself. 

Within his short life Dan never lived to see a world more understanding of his true nature. Had he done so I believe that he would, in his writings, been as great a champion of Gay Rights as he had been of other oppressed groups. Because of the harsh times that he lived in, however, he ended up fighting for everybody but himself

.

LGBT History Month 2017. For Dan Billany-and us-the war was not over.

 Posted on February 13, 2017 by Colin | Leave a reply

 Hull's Lost Hero to be celebrated at last

 At this year’s City of Culture Celebrations in Hull Dan Billany (1913-43) is at last to be given some of the recognition that he deserves as an acclaimed writer, working-class hero who made his way to university having left school at 14 by means of evening classes, an innovative teacher and a war hero whose body was never found after fleeing from his prisoner of war camp in 1943. In addition to this Dan was an LGBT hero who, living in hostile times struggled to come to terms with his sexuality.

It was a story shared - but unwritten about and hidden from view - and largely unacknowledged by many thousands of gay men who fought for the freedom of their country but had precious little freedom of their own. The difference with Dan was that he was a marvellous-if largely forgotten writer and in semi-autobiographical novels such as The Trap, and The Cage as well as in his diaries, poetry and private writings -we learn much of his efforts to come to terms with his sexuality, and face  up to the (hostile) world as he knew it and which would have continued for decades even had he returned safely from Fontanellato. For Dan and his kind the war would not have ended in 1945.

 "In This World As We Know It"

 Dan's writings in the 1930s show both the hostile world in which LGBT people lived but also the struggles that he had in recognising and accepting his sexuality. In one of his highly popular detective novels comes- this passage.

 "It was a kind of love which in the world as we know it, could not be made public. Rather commit suicide. Many have"

And so they did

The anti-gay laws were often correctly labelled a blackmailers charter [An argument to be used with potent effect at partial legalisation in 1967. Here is Dan again

“Unhappy devil (the gay victim) Mrs Valentine (the blackmailer) had found a way to make the very honey of his life into poison to buy her brandy and run her Daimler”

 And indeed most gay men lived their lives in fear.

 But Dan also struggled to accept his sexuality. He hints that it is a symptom of 'arrested growth' - of a phase that he will grow out of.

 In his thinly disguised autobiographical novel The Trap we have this passage from the avowedly heterosexual hero about his first loves at school. This comes after his account of the first girl he thought he fell in love with.

"I next fell in love when I was thirteen, with the boy who shared my desk at school. His name was Joey - Again this was an absorbing emotion. One of the great epochs of my life. He had very fair hair. clear blue eyes, a broad forehead, and was very good and kind I remember plenty about my love for Joey. but it would not seem much in the writing and anyway I have an inner reluctance to drag out details which probably wouldn’t be understood and wouldn’t seem significant - even for me if I put them in black and white. As an example, once during the hot weather, when Joey and I were walking home from school, he put his arm around my shoulders. It was a common enough gesture with him, in fact most schoolboys do it, without thinking: but I have remembered to this day the leaping of the heart, and all that incident is printed on my mind so that it will be clear when I am an old man. Well I said that you would not understand."

But we do Dan. Dan himself for long thought it was something that he would 'grow out - a misconception exploited by religious extremists and advocates of conversion therapy. Even when he was to meet David Dowie-the love of his life-in an Italian prisoner of war camp-he at first refuses to recognise it for what it was. He even suggests to his sister back home in England-that David would be an ideal husband for her-despite the fact that both she and he are already engaged to somebody else ! When he does realise the true nature of his feelings for David and declares them David is shocked and for a while even broke off their friendship. Dan was devastated and pleaded with David - notably through a beautiful poem that at least their friendship be resumed. And so it was and they fled the camp together were sheltered by the brave Melitti family, Dan leaving his drafts for The Trap and The Cage for For You The War is over] which were duly posted back to England and published after the war to great acclaim. They were never seen again.

On realisation of the true nature of his true nature Dan wrote this marvellous poem - as relevant today as an answer to those who claim that homosexuality is a matter of choice.

"When nature carved my limbs was I consulted?

 Do I control the movement of my blood?

 Could I reject the nose so oft consulted?

 (An article I would barter if I could?)

 Just Sol I cannot be cancelled by decree

 And love not you because you love not me?

Such, of course, was to be the theme of The Cage / For You The War is over which he co-wrote with his beloved David.

FOR YOU THE WAR IS OVER

And what if Dan had survived and returned to England? Would his war be over? Would he have obtained his freedom as a gay man?

NO!

Even in his diaries whilst in the POW camp Dan confesses that 'he does not want to become a spinster and that he supposes that he will have to get married. Dan did not want to upset his family or start the wagging tongues going. Like many gay men of his time he might have married to seek to hide and deny his sexuality. That was what 'gay marriage' meant. Or had he stayed true to his true nature he could --despite having fought to defend his country's freedom' he could have been dismissed the armed services because of his sexuality right up until 2000, Had he become a civilian-returned to teaching for example-he would have been treated as a criminal in all circumstances until 1967 and in many until 2003. And he would not have been exonerated.

The best we can hope for now is that Dan and David passed peacefully in each-others arms on that freezing mountainside.

But at least we are beginning to recognise the cruelties and hypocrisies imposed on generations of gay men such as Dan. who defended our freedoms but would have had little of their own. Dan once wrote that he would die of shame if he ceased to be angered by the injustices of this world and seek to do something about them.

 We made a start with the wreath laying at the Cenotaph at Hull Pride 2015. But we have a long way to go yet.

 Let us make a start by celebrating Dans life and works at this year’s City of Culture events.

 Colin Livett 13/2/17

 PRIDE IN HULL

In the 2017 City Of Culture celebrations it is appropriate to remember a forgotten hero of Hull. Hull teacher and writer, Dan Billany disappeared without trace in World War Two, but left behind the manuscripts of two novels, The Cage and The Trap, that became international best sellers.

The Trap was hailed as a wartime classic; said by one critic to be one of the most powerful English novels to come out of the war. The Cage tells the story of Billany’s relationship with fellow POW David Dowie, who also went missing.

Billany has become known for his freedom of thought and his life as a rule breaker.

2017  productions at Hull History Centre and Kardomah 94 bring the man to life on stage through readings, drama, music and multimedia