Fun facts #8: Vaughan Williams and Hemingway a Travesti

[Stavros]

Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer of some of the most popular works in the classical repertoire of the 20th century; and Ernest Hemingway a popular writer of books, mostly novels, and a winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Hemingway also had a transgender son Gregory who later became Gloria, and with whom he had a tempestuous relationship (see link below). Yet both as children were dressed by their mothers as girls....did this impact their lives in later years?

Vaughan Williams when young...



Hemingway




Life of Vaughan Williams – a longer and more comprehensive biography (rvwsociety.com)

Ernest Hemingway & His Sister Dressed as Twin Girls Shown in Newly Digitized Scrapbooks From Hemingway’s Youth | Open Culture

Gloria Hemingway, The Transgender Child Of Ernest Hemingway (allthatsinteresting.com)

[filghy2]

Interesting theory, Stavros, but actually it was common for very young boys to wear dresses in the old days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeching_(boys)

The reason was practical. Before the invention of zippers, elastic, etc undoing of pants was a cumbersome process with much risk of toilet-training accidents.

[Stavros]

Thanks for the link and the argument which is fair. I myself have been photographed, around 6 months I think, wearing the same lace Christening dress that my sisters wore. Now I wonder....or best not to go into that.