Hamilton de Tatham

Hamilton de Tatham – the aristocratic ‘de’ was an affectation, he was born plain Tatham – was a medical officer in the India Army but had retired by the time he found himself, aged 47, up in court charged with ‘acts of gross indecency.’ His accusers were four of the staff at the Junior United Service Club, variously described in newspaper reports as ‘youths’ and ‘boys,’ though at this remove in time we don’t know exactly how old they were. At his first appearance Tatham was bailed for £400. When the case came to trail the following month, in May 1891, ‘a great deal of evidence was given, and a number of persons holding distinguished positions gave the defendant an irreproachable character. The jury, after a deliberation of nearly three hours, returned a verdict of Not Guilty’ (Reynolds’s Newspaper, 10 May 1891).

A three-hour deliberation was not perhaps the ringing endorsement of his innocence that Tatham had hoped for. Nevertheless, one newspaper subsequently reported: ‘The prosecution utterly failed to substantiate their charges, and Dr Tatham denied the accusations on oath. As considerable public prominence was given to the accusations, and very little notice has been taken of the trial and honourable acquittal, we have much pleasure in giving this publicity to the satisfactory termination of the case' (Home New for India, China and the Colonies, 15 May 1891).

Tatham died, aged 59, on 25 November 1903 at Almond’s Hotel, Clifford Street, Mayfair. He left an estate valued at £45,522.

Photographed by John Mayall of London.