Blue Patt for Barnsley Gay pairs

Tom McDogalBBC News, Yorkshire

Maurice Dobson and Fred Holiday, which went together, is now Mauris Dobson Museum and Heritage Center

The Maurice Dobson Museum is an old colored picture of two men outside a corner store. The building is painted in white and three steps up to a white painted door with a black door frame. On its left is a bow window with black window frame. There is a stone wall under the window. A man stands with a hand on the wall next to the door wearing a white cloth. In front of him he is a brown and black dog. On the right, there is a man wearing dark trousers and cardigans. Both men appear to be middle -aged and are looking towards the camera and smile. — Maurice Dobson and Fred Holiday, which went together, is now Mauris Dobson Museum and Heritage Center

A blue plaque dedicated to a gay couple, which “defined” convention during the 1950s and 60s, is unveiled at the site of the shop he had run.

Maurice Dobson and Fred Holiday met during World War Two. In 1956, he opened a famous facility store at Darfield, Barnsley.

Following his deaths, it turned into the Maurice Dobson Museum and Heritage Center run by the volunteer, where the plaque – has been organized by the Barsley Civic Trust – has been installed.

Heritage curator Steven Scley said that the couple’s story was an example of “a lot of contradictions and complications” in the history of homosexuality in the UK.

Maurice Dobson was born in 1912 in Wombwell and died in 1990

Mr. Dobson was born in the womb in 1912, and Mr. Holiday was born in 1914 in Pudse near Leeds.

The museum’s volunteer Kane Brooks, who knew the couple, explained that both of them were soldiers in the Durham Light Infantry and met in Cairo, Egypt.

“This was love at first sight for Maurice, he found Fred a kind and gentle man – but in the armies, that too could be difficult.”

Maurice ranks second from right to right in the first line, while Fred is in second place in the back row.

The Mauris Dobson Museum stands in a line behind a black and white photo of fourteen men standing outside a brick building, behind nine five others who are squat, sitting or kneeling. They are wearing army uniforms and looking at the camera. — Maurice ranks second from right to right in the first line, while Fred is in second place in the back row.

As of 1967, homosexuality was still criminal in England, and was punishable by imprisonment or chemical caustation.

However, Mr. Brooks stated that the couple was mostly welcomed by the local people at Darfield, and Mr. Dobson – a boxer in the army – would “clot” to those who tried to misuse them.

“Maurice can fall out with himself. If you touch something, he tells you that if you are not going to buy it, keep it down!” Mr. Brooks said.

However, he said that the pair supplemented each other, because “when Maurice received information about anything, Fred would calm it down”.

In 1988, Mr. Holiday died, who “devastated” Mr. Dobson – who died two years later in 1990.

Recalling the Maurice and Fred, the Barnsley Civic Trust arranged to install the plaque at the shop they used to run

The Maurice Dobson Museum has an external view of the Cream painted by the Maurice Dobson Museum and Heritage Center. It is a two -storey building on a corner with a blue door. — Recalling the Maurice and Fred, the Barnsley Civic Trust arranged to install the plaque at the shop they used to run

Georgian Yoman’s house now has several artifacts, some of some donated by Mr. Dobson, which explains the social history of Darfield.

Mr. Scley said: “Especially in the northern cities of the working class, some evidence is found by social scientists that some small communities were a bit more tolerant in the 50s and 60s.

“It may be that those people were meeting the bus and being alive – they did not have energy.

“If you were fine with them, I am not saying that you were accepted, but you were still part of the community.”

The couple concluded with the blue plaque: “Let their pink sun set.”

The Maurice Dobson Museum is a blue plaque on a wooden stand. The plaque reads: — The couple concluded with the blue plaque: “Let their pink sun set.”

He called the blue plaque “special” and said that although Mr. Dobson and Mr. Holiday were only locally known, similar stories should be “highlighted more”.

“I personally think it’s great – we must be a TV drama that maps his love story,” he concluded.