English painter and writer Simeon Solomon was BOTD in 1840. Born in London to a wealthy Jewish family, he studied painting at the Royal Academy where he met Dante Gabriel Rossetti and became involved with the Pre-Raphaelite movement. He exhibited regularly at the Academy, frequently depicting same-sex lovers and scenes from Jewish family life. He provided illustrations for Algernon Charles Swinburne’s 1868 erotic novel Lesbia Brandon, which was subsequently banned by censors. He and his friend James Campbell Reddie are also thought to have been the authors of The Sins of the Cities of the Plain, an erotic novella based on the sexual adventures of Victorian rent boy Jack Saul. A well-known figure in London’s underground queer scene, his friends included Oscar Wilde and cross-dressing actors Thomas Boulton and Frederick Park. In 1873, Solomon was arrested for cruising in public toilets, and was imprisoned with hard labour. On his release, he moved to Pais where he was arrested on a similar charge and sentenced to three months in prison. His public reputation destroyed, he no longer exhibited his work, relying on the charity of friends including Wilde and John Addington Symonds. Destitute and a rampant alcoholic, he was admitted to a workhouse in 1884 where he lived until his death in 1905, aged 64.