Roger Lockyer: historian who made history as a gay marriage trailblazer

His relationship with Percy Steven spanned half a century and – changes in both social attitudes and the law, which only recently recognised same-sex marriage

Lockyer, seated, in 2005, with his then civil partner Percy Steven (Ferdaus Shamim/WireImage)

Roger Lockyer, who has died just short of his 90th birthday, was a distinguished historian whose books on the Tudor and Stuart periods have become established as core texts for generations of A level students and undergraduates.

Lockyer also gained distinction in his personal life, making headlines across the world as one of the first men to enter into a same-sex civil partnership in 2005 and subsequently a marriage in 2014.

Born in London in 1927, Lockyer completed national service in the navy and studied history at Cambridge, graduating with first-class honours.

He spent much of his career as a reader in history at Royal Holloway, University of London. His Tudor and Stuart Britain, first published in 1964 is a go-to book for students, and remains admired for its clarity and comprehensive coverage of the period.

Lockyer met his future husband, the South African-born actor, Percy Steven, now 78, on a blind date at a lunch party in 1966. At the time, homosexuality was still illegal. It was not decriminalised until the Sexual Offences Act 1967 was passed.

Lockyer commented that in removing the need for secrecy, the new legislation took away some of the frisson of gay life. “It was exciting in a way and almost an adventure”, he later said, “But looking back at it now one realises that potentially it could be awful. We know people who were sent to prison and their careers ruined.”

A benefit of the new-found openness was that gay figures from history could be discussed with less fear of rebuke. As a biographer, Lockyer was able to reveal in his 1981 book The Life and Political Career of George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham that its subject had an intimate relationship with King James I.

“There was always the threat of blackmail,” said Mr Lockyer. “But there was a very big gay sub-culture. I didn't feel at all apprehensive. Percy and I just behaved as any other courting couple would.”

In 2005 Lockyer and Steven became one of the first couples to enter into the new legally recognised partnership, after 39 years of waiting. Lockyer, by then aged 78, told The Independent “I felt quite certain from almost the first time I met him that this was someone I wanted to live with. That never wavered. Now we will be able to assert to the world that we are a proud, gay couple.”

Asked elsewhere about the significance of the moment, he replied: “It really has been a long time to wait for what, quite frankly, should have been recognised as our normal right. It means that I am not going to worry anymore about things like inheritance of our home, were I to die first. We both know of people who have lost their home because of the inheritance tax bill when one partner has died.“

In 2014, when same-sex marriage became legal, Lockyer and Steven returned to Westminster Register Office, to be one of the the first couples to benefit from the new law. Earlier this year, they walked side-by-side at Pride in London, carrying rainbow flags. Together for more than half a century, they had witnessed a dramatic change in legal and social attitudes, going from being criminals in the eyes of the law, to celebrating their love together openly in public, as a married couple.

Roger Lockyer, born 27 November 1927, died 28 October 2017.