--- title: Downton Abbey Season 5 Episode 6: The Truth of What Happened to Thomas description: What happened to Thomas happened to lots of men canonical: https://time.com/3688172/downton-abbey-thomas-electroshock/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-09T12:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:59:43.231Z article:section: History og:title: Downton Abbey Season 5 Episode 6: The Truth of What Happened to Thomas og:description: What happened to Thomas happened to lots of men og:url: https://time.com/3688172/downton-abbey-thomas-electroshock/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6287cd47ff659e3/69877caf524fc0cfbedec33c/da-gk-10-6-14-01311_6_1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Downton Abbey og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Downton Abbey Season 5 Episode 6: The Truth of What Happened to Thomas twitter:description: What happened to Thomas happened to lots of men twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6287cd47ff659e3/69877caf524fc0cfbedec33c/da-gk-10-6-14-01311_6_1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Historical Truth Behind Thomas' Tragic Revelation on _Downton Abbey_ > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 9, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  Robert James-Collier as Thomas (far left) on Downton Abbey Robert James-Collier as Thomas (far left) on Downton Abbey Nick Briggs—Carnival Film & Television Ltd/PBS  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 9, 2015 12:00 PM UTC **_Contains spoilers for the episode of_** **Downton Abbey** **_that aired in the U.S. on Feb. 8, 2015_** After several episodes that left viewers wondering what Thomas was up to behind closed doors and what was making him look so ashen, _Downton Abbey_ answered the question in a way that may surprise modern audiences, though perhaps not so much given the character’s history. His trip to London earlier in the season had been to receive electrotherapy that would “make \[him\] more like other people” (to change his sexuality, that is) and he had given himself an abscess through follow-up injections with an unsterilized needle. Though Dr. Clarkson’s and Baxter’s attitudes toward the discovery were perhaps a little blasé for historical accuracy — as _Downton_ viewers and people who saw [_The Imitation Game_ ](http://time.com/3599607/imitation-game-accuracy-benedict-cumberbatch-alan-turing/)know, there were criminal penalties for homosexuality in England at the time — the tragic history behind that kind of electrotherapy is very real. In fact, fans of _Masters of Sex_ may remember that the technique showed up last summer on the show as well. [As we explained back then](http://time.com/2981731/the-reality-behind-that-literally-shocking-masters-of-sex-scene/), electroconvulsive therapy wasn’t the most typical method used to “cure” homosexuality, but it did happen, along with shock-based aversion therapy. And it wasn’t even all that historical — it happened to Thomas in 1924, it happened on _MoS_ in the ’60s and it didn’t stop then. It was as recently as Feb. 12, 1965, that TIME ran a story with the declarative headline “[Homosexuals Can Be Cured](http://time.com/vault/issue/1965-02-12/page/50/)“: “One reason why homosexuals are so rarely cured is that they rarely try treatment,” the story began. “Too many of them actually believe that they are happy and satisfied the way they are.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3688172/downton-abbey-thomas-electroshock/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3688172/downton-abbey-thomas-electroshock/"},"headline":"The Historical Truth Behind Thomas' Tragic Revelation on Downton Abbey","datePublished":"2015-02-09T12:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:59:43.231Z","description":"What happened to Thomas happened to lots of men","url":"https://time.com/3688172/downton-abbey-thomas-electroshock/","keywords":["Television","downton abbey","TV"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6287cd47ff659e3/69877caf524fc0cfbedec33c/da-gk-10-6-14-01311_6_1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6287cd47ff659e3/69877caf524fc0cfbedec33c/da-gk-10-6-14-01311_6_1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Downton Abbey","caption":"Downton Abbey","creditText":"Nick Briggs—Carnival Film & Television Ltd/PBS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3688172/downton-abbey-thomas-electroshock/","name":"The Historical Truth Behind Thomas' Tragic Revelation on Downton Abbey"}}]}] ```