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Confirmed Bachelor: The Gay Diaries of David Strain

Down County Museum, Downpatrick, English Street, Downpatrick, County Down, BT30 6AH
David Strain sitting

About

When the linen merchant David Strain died in the late 1960s, his diaries – covering 1920-1943 and 1962-1969 and containing about two million words – were deposited in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

Almost entirely unknown until recently, they are perhaps one of the richest sources we have for how gay men lived beyond the major metropolises such as London, New York, and Berlin.

In this illustrated lecture, Dr Tom Hulme tells David Strain's story: how he discovered his sexuality, searched for love, and ultimately forged a circle of gay friends - both in Belfast and his beloved Oughley Hut in Co. Down.


Tom Hulme is a Reader in Modern British History at Queen's University Belfast and author of Belfastmen: An Intimate History of Life before Gay Liberation (Cornell University Press, forthcoming 2026).

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  1. Down County Museum is located in the old county Gaol of Down. It houses fascinating…

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Entrance to Down County Museum, DownpatrickDown County Museum, DownpatrickDown County Museum is located in the old county Gaol of Down. It houses fascinating exhibitions on the history of Down as well as restored cells with life-size figures of prisoners and their gaolers.

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