Fundraising walk held to coincide with release of book about Chesterfield LGBT+ pioneer Edward Carpenter

Ed Fordham and Luke Povey walked 5.3 miles from Chesterfield to the rural Derbyshire village of Millthorpe on Sunday – the same day their book, The Chesterfield Letters of Edward Carpenter, was released.

They followed a route regularly taken by Edward himself to fundraise for the Derbyshire LGBT+ centre on Rutland Road, Chesterfield.

Led by international human rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, the sponsored walk took place two days after Edward’s birthday.

A total of £1,140 has been raised so far through online donations.

Born in Sussex in 1844, Edward Carpenter lived in Chesterfield before moving to Millthorpe with his partner George Merrill.

Edward, a poet and philosopher, lived as an openly gay man at a time when it was illegal to be gay.

He was way ahead of his time and celebrated for being the ‘last gay man standing in Britain’ when most of gay London fled to Paris in the wake of Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment in 1895.

Ed and Luke’s book – which features a collection of previously unknown and unpublished letters written by Edward to Chesterfield architect William Martin Ashmore – is available to buy from the Brockwell Books of Chesterfield Facebook group.

Copies are also on sale on Ed or Luke’s stall at Chesterfield Market on a Thursday or Saturday.

You can still donate to the Derbyshire LGBT+ centre through The Edward Carpenter Walk JustGiving page.

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