The Albany Trust was founded in the United Kingdom as a registered charity in May 1958 to complement the Homosexual Law Reform Society (HLRS). It takes its name from The Albany, in Picadilly, where Jacquetta Hawkes had an apartment, and at which the trust's earliest meetings were held. The Homosexual Law Reform Society was an organisation that campaigned in the United Kingdom for changes in the laws that crimialised homosexual relations between men. ... The Albany is a residence in Piccadilly, London. ... Piccadilly is a major London street, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. ...

The goal of the Trust is to "promote psychological health in men by collecting data and conducting research: to publish the results thereof by writing, films, lectures and other media: to take suitable steps based thereon for the public benefit to improve the social and general conditions necessary for such healthy psychological development."

The founding Trustees were Anthony Edward Dyson, Jacquetta Hawkes, Kenneth Walker, Andrew Hallidie Smith, and Ambrose Appelbe. Anthony Edward Dyson (November 28, 1928 - July 30, 2002) was a British literary critic, university lecturer, and gay rights campaigner Educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, his academic career began in 1955 when he was appointed as Assistant Lecturer in English Literature at the University of North Wales, Bangor. ...

The Albany Trust developed into a pioneering counseling organisation for gay men, lesbians and sexual minorities.

The funds raised and donated for the work of the Albany Trust allowed it to open offices in October 1958. These facilities, at 32 Shaftesbury Avenue, were then also available for the campaigning work of the HLRS. Shaftesbury Avenue is a major London street, named after Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, that runs in a north-easterly direction from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus. ...

After the Sexual Offences Act 1967 partially decriminalised homosexual relationships between adult men, the Albany Trust became an educational and counseling organisation. From 1967 the Trust was also involved the development of sex education.

External links

• The Albany Trust