Location
Keele University
A one-day conference to mark the 75th anniversary of Wedgwood’s death and the 80th anniversary of the Munich crisis, presented by The History of Parliament Trust, The Remembering Eleanor Rathbone Group and the School of Humanities, Keele University.
Tickets are £15, available via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/testament-to-democracy-j-c-wedgwood-british-politics-and-the-struggle-against-fascism-1933-1943-tickets-49280764092
Draft conference programme available here: https://democracywedgwoodworkshop.wordpress.com/
2018 is the 75th anniversary of the death of Josiah C. Wedgwood MP: the founder of the History of Parliament Trust, MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme (1906-1942) and a man who, although largely forgotten today, campaigned passionately for wide ranging causes including land tax reform, personal freedom and the future of the British Empire. The latter part of his campaigning career was dominated by the fight against Nazism and fascism in the 1930s and early 1940s, including the support of the Kindertransport rescue effort which evacuated thousands of predominantly Jewish children out of Nazi occupied Europe.
This year also marks the 80th anniversary of Neville Chamberlain’s infamous Munich Agreement, which proved to be a turning point in British attitudes to Nazi Germany. Wedgwood’s determined campaign against appeasement placed him at the centre of this key debate in British politics. This conference will explore Wedgwood’s career and use it as the starting point to facilitate a discussion of the British political reaction to Fascism and anti-Semitism.
Please direct questions and enquiries to Sammy Sturgess at the History of Parliament Trust: ssturgess@histparl.ac.uk