Surrey History Centre holds the memoirs of Harry Daley of Dorking (1901-1971), Metropolitan Policeman, Merchant Seaman and one-time lover of the novelist E M Forster.

Early years in Dorking
Daley's father had drowned in the Lowestoft Fleet shipping disaster of 1911 and the family moved to Dorking in 1916. He lived his boyhood years enjoying the halcyon days of the Edwardian era, brought to an abrupt end with the outbreak of the Great War. In his posthumous autobiography, This Small Cloud (1987), he admitted that his lack of ambition led him to take the first real job that came along, a delivery boy for the select grocers Kinghams.  He called at Lord Ashcombe’s House, as well as Polesden Lacey, the home of famous Edwardian hostess, the Hon. Mrs Greville. He met the Prime Minister, Bonar Law, the infamous Marie Stopes and media magnate Lord Beaverbrook.  He had lots of customers - ‘friendly, kind and the opposite’ - but he was still lonely.

Being Gay

Daley realised he was gay at an early age. He had always felt different and kept himself apart from other children, immersing himself in books, the theatre and art galleries. When his well-meaning guardians and their neighbours proffered a sweetheart to Harry, he knew this was not what he wanted - ‘Throughout my life I have had a recurrent nightmare in which, having just been married, I lead my beautiful bride to the church door. At this point I cry out in despair “Oh what a bloody fool I am” and I wake sweating gradually realising that I have not really ruined two lives.’

He saw no wrong – against the general opinion at the time - in being gay nor in striking up close relationships with other men. In 1914, he met a young seaman, Nobby Clark. Very soon rumours were spreading. Threatened with punishment and prison, Harry could not believe love and affection were things to be ashamed of. He viewed his relationships as only having done him good and certainly no harm.

He joined the police force in 1925 and was soon aware that his homosexuality was widely known both among his colleagues and higher officers. Although he bore the jibes and comments stoically, he still felt the same prejudice that he felt as a boy and he wished it would stop.


Occasionally, he would encounter some more belligerent police colleagues and superiors. His policy was always not to deny his being gay nor to allow them to ride roughshod over him.
 

The Roaring ‘20s - E M Forster & The Bloomsbury Set
In 1926, Harry, now part of the Bloomsbury Set, began his short relationship with E M Forster, who found him worryingly indiscreet. Forster was convinced that Harry’s indiscretion ‘would get them all arrested’.  Harry soon struck up a relationship with the artist and sculptor Duncan Grant, who painted a portrait of Harry in uniform, now in The National Gallery.  In this social circle he also became friends with J R Ackerley, Edward Sackville-West, Desmond Shawe-Taylor and other figures in the literary and musical world. His social life in the late 1920s and early 1930s was certainly gay and all-embracing.  There were many parties where several men fell in love with him but he was attracted to what he described as ‘normal men, older, rougher and stronger’ than himself.


Last days and reflections

Just short of retirement, Harry was employed as Master-At-Arms in the Merchant Navy. He faced the prospect of ‘coming out’ to new friends, superiors and colleagues – could he face the ‘whispering, the sniggering, the leg pulling, the shouted insults, the cold shoulder? Yes, on the whole, he could bear all those things’.

The close of Harry’s life was very quiet. Retired from the Merchant Navy, he gardened and nursed his Siamese cat. He died in 1971.

Reflecting on his life, he wrote:
‘My life has been delightful and given a chance by God or somebody of another life at the end of this then I’d say without hesitation, Same Again, please!’ Harry Daley’s memoirs and a copy of his posthumous autobiography This Small Cloud (1987), are held at Surrey History Centre where they are freely open to study, reference 7832/-; click the link to see the archive record.
 

Have your say

Do you have anything to add to this theme? Let us know.

Your comments about Harry Daley

Laura 'This Small Cloud' is a pretty astonishing book. Harry's good humour, optimism and self-belief, sometimes in the face of great misfortune, is an inspiration, and we have people of his strength to thank for the slightly more civilised treatment of minorities now. Well worth reading by people interested in social history, police history, and anyone interested in the experience of sexual minorities in the early 20th century.

Ross I read Harry Daly\'s autobiography when it first appeared and found it a stunning record of the social history of Britain in the years it covered. Daly was an interesting man, vain, vulnerable but kind to those he encountered, whose only crime was to be poor. One sentence from the book still makes me laugh years later. Commenting on the fact that many posh public schoolboys had been driven to become policemen through the Depression, Daly was delighted that \" for the first time the police were better looking than the criminals!\"

Tags or Keywords

Tagging is a way to add keywords to connect related records.

• Tag this record