Alan King-Hamilton, 1904-2010

Back during the Summer of Death we noted the passing of James Kirkup, whose poem “The Love that Dares to Speak Its Name,” which “implicitly attributed homosexual acts to Jesus,” resulted in a blasphemous libel charge against the paper that printed it. Now Alan King-Hamilton, the judge whose refusal to allow expert testimony of the merits of the poem made a finding of guilty inevitable, has also expired (at the rather incredible age of 105). What sort of man was he?

He was a devoted advocate of the merits of corporal punishment, once declaring that the best form of psychiatric treatment was administered not to the head but to the backside. The reintroduction of National Service, he claimed, would deter youths from crime, teach them discipline and make men of them. He openly regretted the fact that he was not allowed to shame offenders by putting them in the stocks.

Also, concerning his behavior at the trial:

Judge King-Hamilton went on record in the Observer on the day before the trial opened as being of the opinion that homosexuality was the cause of the fall of the Roman Empire… Judge King-Hamilton made his own views clear from the outset. He actually apologised to the jury for having to ask them even to read the poem. He ingratiated himself with the jury, being very solicitous about their comfort, the room temperature, the availability of coffee, and frequently smiled at them. He was constantly slipping in his own views and prejudices and obvious detestation of the poem in question, thus associating his high office with the prosecution side of the trial.

And now he’s dead.