Robert Thistlethwayte

Robert Thistlethwayte (baptized 16 December 1690 – c. January, 1744) was the third son of Francis Thistlethwayte (b. 1658) of Winterslow, Wiltshire. He was a Warden of Wadham College, Oxford and a clergyman in the Church of England.

In 1737 Thistlethwayte fled to Boulogne after being accused of making homosexual advances towards a student, William French, whose tutor John Swinton was also accused of homosexual practices. Satirical poetry was written about these events. The following limerick probably also refers to Thistlethwayte:

:There once was a Warden of Wadham

:Who approved of the folkways of Sodom,

::For a man might, he said,

::Have a very poor head

:But be a fine Fellow, at bottom.

Allegations of homosexual behaviour, which was considered scandalous at that time, and the College's decision to take out fire insurance combined to prompt the following verse:

:Well did the am'rous sons of Wadham

:Insure their house 'gainst future flame;

:They knew their crime, the crime of Sodom,

:And judg'd their punishment the same.

Robert Thistlethwayte

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