Clifford Williams
Clifford Williams is a researcher and historian. Clifford grew up as a gay teenager in the London Borough of Sutton in the 1970s and discovered the London Gay Teenage Group in 1978. He wrote about that experience in his book 'Courage to Be' published by the Book Guild in 2021. The book is a comprehensive history of the early gay and lesbian youth groups in England (1967-1990) at a time when gay sex was still illegal for, or with, anyone under 21 years of age [1]. Whilst at school he joined the local Young Liberals and canvassed for the party at elections, including for Michael Steed. He was also a member of the Anti-Apartheid Movement and C.N.D. [2].
Williams studied History and Social Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, graduating with First Class Honours. He then went to study Criminology at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (University of Cambridge) before embarking on research for a PhD based at the University of Bradford and doing part-time work for the Home Office Research Unit [3].
Williams served as a police officer from 1987-2012, witnessing a transformation of the police relations with lgbt peoples. An article published in the Journal of the Police History Society captures this remarkable turnaround [4]. While serving as a police officer Williams came out as bisexual and was the most senior out male officer marching at Brighton Pride in 2007 [5]. In 2025 part of Williams' research into police and gay men was published in the Journal Policing and Society [6].
Williams has documented the LGBT history of Hampshire in a booklet 'A Queer A-Z of Hampshire' [7].
Williams has given numerous presentations on lgbt history, both in person and online. Some of these presentations are available on You Tube [8].BBC Radio interviewed Williams about gay liberation on the 50th anniversary of the GLF [9]. In February 2024 Williams led a Mr George Lucas walking tour of the West End and Soho. His current research includes policing gay men 1950-2010 [10], the life of Gabriel D'esty (1895-1968) a gay man who lived in Bishop's Waltham, and the Southampton gay scene 1960-1999 [11].
References
- ↑ https://www.gaystheword.co.uk/product-page/courage-to-be-organised-gay-youth-in-england-1967-1990-by-dr-clifford-williams
- ↑ On the Record deposited in the Bishopsgate Institute 5CR/3/6 Audio recording, video recording and transcript from an oral history interview with Clifford Williams, conducted as part of the 5 Cally Road project by On The Record (2020)
- ↑ Phd Offenders and Victims of Crime 1997 . A copy is held in the Rotherham Archives
- ↑ Clifford Williams (2019) 'Gay men and the police 1950-2010' in the Journal of the Police History Society no 33 pp56-60
- ↑ the first year Hampshire police officers were allowed to march in uniform at a Pride event
- ↑ A complete turnaround: police and gay men 1950–2010 https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2024.2437019
- ↑ Published in 2019, went into two editions in that year, and a third edition was published in 2024.Hampshire Record Office hold a copy
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ima9GZjw_Nw is an example of a recorded talk
- ↑ 50 years on since the formation of the Gay Liberation Front. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08v45nc (accessed 23.12.2024)
- ↑ Article in Policing and Society issue 5 2025
- ↑ https://godshousetower.org.uk/eventer/talk-capturing-southamptons-gay-scene-1960-1999-by-clifford-williams/edate/2025-08-24/
