Calamus in Bolton: Spirituality and Homosexual Desire in Late Victorian England

In 1885 a small group of men began to meet regularly in Bolton, England, to discuss the poetry of Walt Whitman. They thought that Whitman's writings could provide the basis of a new religion, as well as offering spiritual guidance for the people in an age of mass politics. Intense friendships developed between some of the group as well as an interest in the nature of homosexuality. In order to explain their own quasi‐homosexual attachments, they created a new understanding of spiritual love and of an alternate self. These ideas influenced and were influenced by the work of Edward Carpenter.