Martin Archer-Shee Martin Archer-Shee Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Martin Archer-Shee, DSO (5 May 1873 – 6 January 1935) was a British army officer and Conservative Party politician. He was the son of Martin Archer-Shee and his wife Elizabeth Edith Dennistoun "née" Pell of New York who married in 1872 at Piccadilly. His father was a bank manager. He was the great grandson of the painter Martin Archer Shee. His half-brother was George Archer-Shee, whose notable acquittal of the accusation of theft became the basis of the play "The Winslow Boy" by Terrence Rattigan. Archer-Shee was educated at The Oratory School before entering the Royal
Terence Rattigan "Aunt Edna" inspired Joe Orton to create "Edna Welthorpe", a mischievous alter ego stirring up controversy about his own plays. Rattigan was gay, with numerous lovers but no long-term partners, a possible exception being his "congenial companion ... and occasional friend" Michael Franklin. It has been claimed his work is essentially autobiographical, containing coded references to his sexuality, which he kept secret from all but his closest friends. There is some truth in this, but it risks being crudely reductive; for example, the repeated claim that Rattigan originally wrote "The Deep Blue Sea" as a play about male lovers, turned