Today, Manchester’s Market Street boasts dozens of busy high-street retailers and restaurants. But once upon a time, the site was home to the Clarion Café, a powerful institution for social activists.
Edward Carpenter: the Granddaddy of the Gay Rights Movement, by Tim Jahnke
Edward Carpenter was born in 1844 in Brighton to a middle-class naval family. He grew up with nine siblings. All of his brothers pursued careers in the armed forces, while he decided to go to university. He was admitted to Cambridge University in 1864. In 1867 Carpenter was offered a clerical fellowship at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He accepted and was ordained into holy orders.