LGBTQ+ History at Sissinghurst Castle Garden

Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson married in 1913, a union filled with love but also a sympathetic understanding of each other's desires. Their marriage provided them with both stability and the freedom for true expression, allowing them to pursue same-sex relationships.

Writing to Vita in 1926, Harold summarised their love as “something which only two people in the world can understand”, referring to themselves.

A creative haven

The relationships Vita and Harold enjoyed outside of their marriage had a profound effect on their life and work, particularly Vita's, some of which can still be felt at Sissinghurst.

Vita filled her creative sanctum, her Writing Room in the Elizabethan Tower, with tokens of love which symbolised her relationships with other women.

These mementoes include a photograph of lover and fellow author Virginia Woolf on the Writing Desk, turquoise 'cog' dishes (currently on display as part of our exhibition 'A Persian Paradise') gifted from Vita to Virginia, and books by Dorothy 'Dottie' Wellesley, another love of Vita's, who was with Vita the first time she saw Sissinghurst in April 1930.

Vita and Harold often entertained artists and writers at Sissinghurst Castle Garden, whose lives form part of the LGBTQ+ stories we tell. Among them were Edith Craig, Clare Atwood (known as Tony Atwood) and Chris St. John, a trio of artistic practitioners who lived openly together at Smallhythe Place in Kent.

By inviting the many creative indiviuals within their social circle, Vita and Harold reaffirmed Sissinghurst Castle as a space for them to express themselves freely.

Vita and Violet

Beginning as childhood friends, Vita and Violet Trefusis (née Keppel) went on to have a romantic and tempestuous relationship, which Vita later used as a basis for the relationship between characters Julian and Eve in her 1923 novel 'Challenge'.

When the pair eloped to France together in 1920, Vita assumed the role of Julian, dressing in men's clothing and answering to the fictitious name. However, the elopment put great strain on their marriages to Harold Nicolson and Denys Trefusis, resulting in the two men travelling to France to bring them back home.

Decades later, Vita and Violet's affair was discovered in love letters which had been locked away in a Gladstone Bag. These letters and the relationship became the focus of the 1973 biography 'Portrait of a Marriage', which was written by Vita and Harold's son Nigel Nicolson.

Virginia Woolf

Vita first met Virginia Woolf on 14th December 1922 at a dinner party hosted by artist Clive Bell, Virginia's brother-in-law and Vita's friend.

Vita and Virginia were immediately intrigued by each other, sparking a love affair some years later which matured into a deep friendship.

The two writers also inspired one another creatively. Virginia’s critically acclaimed novel 'Orlando' is inspired by her lover as the book’s main character fulfils a destiny that Vita long for, to inherit her stately childhood home. Vita had been denied her family home, Knole, as it was passed to her male relative.

The novel was once described by Nigel Nicolson as "the longest and most charming love letter in literature".

Raymond Mortimer

Harold had many discreet affairs with men, most of which were casual. However, his relationship with Raymond Mortimer, editor of the New Statesman and the Nation, was more serious.

Their relationship lasted several years in the 1920s, eventually settling into a loving and mutual friendship. Both he and Vita affectionately called Raymond 'Tray', and frequently socialised together.

Dawn Langley Simmons

Dawn Langley Simmons, born Gordon Langley Hall, was the daughter of Vita and Harold's chauffeur Jack Copper and servant Marjorie Hall Ticehurst.

Although born in the UK, Dawn found success as a writer in the United States during the mid 20th century. Her life and work challenged societal norms at a time of great civil oppression.

She was one of the first individuals to receive gender-affirming surgery in the United States and often remarked upon the similarities between her own story and that of 'Orlando'. In her memoir 'Dawn: A Charleston Legend', she wrote: