Events Archive

RHS Presidential Lecture — ‘European Exploration, Empires, and the Making of the Modern World’

‘European Exploration, Empires, and the Making of the Modern World’

 

 

Emma Griffin

RHS 2023 Presidential Lecture
held on 24 November 2023
at Mary Ward House, London, and online

 

 

 

Abstract

The British industrial revolution has long, and rightly, been regarded as a turning point in world history, and the question of why it all began in Britain has produced a large and lively literature.

In the past twenty years, our understanding has been considerably enhanced by the repositioning of events in eighteenth-century Britain within global history frameworks. Yet this has resulted in some unwieldy comparisons between Britain, a small island, on the one hand; and very large, continental land masses – India, China, and North America – on the other.

In this lecture, Emma Griffin suggests a far more meaningful comparative approach may be developed by turning to some of Britain’s nearest neighbours in continental Europe. By looking at European nations, similar in size, existing outside Britain’s empire, and indeed in some instances with imperial holdings and ambitions of their own, it is possible to shed new light on the complex and contested relationship between empire and industrialisation, and offer new answers as to why Britain industrialised first.

Emma Griffin is President of the Royal Historical Society, and Professor of British History and Head of School at Queen Mary University of London.

 

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RHS Public History Lecture — ‘Pilgrimages, Pandemics and the Past’

‘Pilgrimages, Pandemics and the Past’

 

Tom Holland

RHS 2023 Public History Lecture
on 7 November 2023

 

 

 

 

Abstract

The Society’s 2023 Public History Lecture, held in association with Gresham College, is given by the historian and broadcaster Tom Holland. In this lecture Tom reflects on walking in London during the Covid pandemic, and how this experience might inform historians better appreciate and understand the perspectives and expectations of those who undertook pilgrimages in the past.

 

 

RHS Panel — ‘Black British History. Where Now, Why Next?’

RHS Panel — ‘Black British History. Where Now, Why Next?’, 24 October 2023

 

Listen to this panel discussion

 

‘Black British History. Where Now, Where Next?’ (24 October 2023) was an opportunity to reflect on the major themes currently being pursued in Black British History, and their development in recent years. It’s also chance to propose new areas of research in the years to come.

In addition, panellists and audience members explore the infrastructure that supports the study of Black British History in UK Higher Education and beyond. Recent years have seen welcome advances, including the creation of posts dedicated to teaching and research. At the same time, the subject fights to establish itself in many university History curricula, while departmental cuts and the cost of a first or further degree create restrictions for those seeking to study in this area, and impede many who seek to pursue postgraduate research. Our panel and audience discussion also considered the health of the discipline outside Higher Education, in community projects and the media.

This event, held in UK Black History Month, brings together historians to consider the present and future of Black British History. Led by Professor Bill Schwarz, a longtime commentator and writer in this field, the event takes place on the fifth anniversary of the publication of the Royal Historical Society’s report, Race, Ethnicity and Equality in UK Higher Education (October 2018).

Speakers

  • Hannah Elias is a Lecturer in Black British History at Goldsmiths, University of London. Hannah is cultural historian of Britain in the twentieth century researching Black British histories, religion, media and public history. She is Chair of the IHR’s Equality Working Group and a co-convenor of the Institute’s Black British History seminar, which is actively engaged in the promotion and facilitation of learning, debates and conversation about new currents in this developing field of study.
  • Kesewa John is a scholar of Caribbean people’s intellectual and political histories, with a doctorate on collaborations between French and English-speaking Caribbean activists in the decades prior to the Windrush docking. A former PhD student of Hakim Adi, and a History Matters conference organiser, Kesewa previously taught at the Université des Antilles in Martinique and Guadeloupe. She joined Goldsmiths, University of London, as Lecturer in Black British History in September 2023.
  • Liam Liburd is Assistant Professor in Black British History at Durham University and a historian of ‘race’ and racism, and empire and decolonisation, and their legacies in modern Britain. His publications include: ‘The Politics of Race and the Future of British Political History’, Political Quarterly (2023).
  • Bill Schwarz is Professor of English at Queen Mary University of London. Bill’s many publications include his Memories of Empire trilogy and his contribution to Stuart Hall’s Familiar Stranger. A Life between Two Islands (2017). With Catherine Hall, Bill is also General Editor of the Duke University Press series, The Writings of Stuart Hall.

The event was introduced by Emma Griffin, President of the Royal Historical Society and Professor of Modern British History at Queen Mary, University of London.

 

RHS Panel discussion — ‘Writing and Publishing Trade History’

 

‘Writing and Publishing Trade History’, with Yale University Press – 10 October 2023

 

 

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‘Writing and Publishing Trade History’ (10 October 2023) was jointly hosted by Yale University Press and the Royal Historical Society. It brought together publishers, editors, authors and literary agents to discuss trade publishing in History. At this event, panellists discussed their experience of writing for and publishing trade history and provided guidance for those considering working with a trade publisher for their next book.

Topics covered included: What is trade publishing; how does it differ from an academic monograph? Why publish a trade book? How do you propose and pitch to a publisher of trade History? What does an editor wish to see? What are authors’ experience of writing a trade book? Who are your readers? What’s the future for History trade books, and how do publishers seek to ensure diversity and inclusion in History trade publishing?

 

Speakers at this event
  • Rebecca Clifford, Professor of Transnational and European History at Durham University. Rebecca’s publications include her 2020 book Survivors: Children’s Lives After the Holocaust (Yale University Press).
  • Robert Gildea, Professor of History at Oxford University. Robert’s most recent book is Backbone of the Nation. Mining Communities and the Great Strike of 1984-85 (2023, Yale University Press)
  • Heather McCallum, Managing Director of Yale University Press London with responsibility for commissioning medieval, early modern and modern history
  • James Pullen, literary agent at the Wylie Agency
  • Simon Winder, Publishing Director at Penguin Books

‘Writing and Publishing Trade History’ was introduced by Emma Griffin, President of the Royal Historical Society and Professor of Modern British History at Queen Mary, University of London.

The event was held to mark ‘Yale 50’, celebrating 50 years of Yale University Press publishing in London.

 

RHS Lecture — ‘Migrant Voices in the Multilingual City’

‘Migrant Voices in the Multilingual City’

 

 

Dr John Gallagher

(University of Leeds)

RHS Lecture on 15 September 2023

 

 

 

 

Abstract

Early modern London was multilingual, and early modern urban life was shaped by linguistic diversity. The reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) witnessed an important ‘migration moment’, with substantial numbers of migrants and refugees coming to England as a consequence of religious and political conflict on the continent. In London, a rapidly growing urban capital, the voices of migrants mingled audibly with the other languages of the city, shaping a multilingual oral culture which had to be navigated by strangers and Londoners alike.

This lecture draws on the multilingual archives of Elizabethan London’s ‘stranger churches’ – Protestant congregations which catered to the needs of French-, Dutch-, and Italian-speaking migrants (among others) at a moment of significant migration to England from continental Europe – to explore how linguistic diversity shaped social relations in the early modern city. 

 

RHS Sponsored Lecture — ‘The Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved African People in Restoration in England’

 

‘The Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved African People and the Emergence of New Relationships between State and Commerce in Restoration in England’

 

 

Professor William Pettigrew

(Lancaster University)

RHS Sponsored Lecture on 11 September 2023
Held at Canterbury Christ Church University

 

 

 

 

Listen to the recording of this lecture

 

Abstract

This lecture assesses the role of an often-forgotten founder of England’s contribution to the transatlantic trade in enslaved African people, the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa. It defines the company, considers its significance for the history of the slave trade, and reflects on what the company can teach us about the role of the slave trade in British history.

Proceeding from a full prosopographical survey of the founders and investors in the company, this lecture will examine the role of the English monarchy in establishing the slave trade, as well as how the changing membership of the company records a shifting relationship between landed and commercial wealth that had important repercussions not just for the slave trade but for economic growth in this period.

The lecture also examines the interconnections between the investors in the Company of Royal Adventurers and the Royal Navy. The lecture will offer a deep and full appreciation of the role of monarchy, court, merchants, and state in laying the foundations for Britain’s contribution to the transatlantic trade in enslaved African people.

Professor Pettigrew’s lecture was given as part of the Society’s Visit to historians at Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Kent. Our thanks to those at both departments for hosting this day visit and lecture.

 

About the speaker

Professor William Pettigrew teaches at Lancaster University. An expert on early modern English trading corporations, he has written two monographs, Freedom’s Debt: The Royal African Company and the Politics of the Atlantic Slave Trade (2013) and Global Trade and the Shaping of English Freedom (2023) and edited three more. He has led multiple large scale research projects and is currently the editor of the Register of British Slave Traders a collaborative project examining all of the (c. 12,000) investors in the transatlantic trade in enslaved African people who were based in Britain.

 

Scholarly Editing for Historians: An Introduction and Guide to Working with Primary Texts

RHS Workshop — ‘Scholarly Editing for Historians: An Introduction and Guide to Working with Primary Texts, 18 July 2023

 

In this Workshop, the editors of the RHS Camden Series — Richard Gaunt and Siobhan Talbott — share their extensive knowledge of producing scholarly editions and working with editors as they prepare primary texts for publication. They were joined by Jayne Gifford and Daniel Patterson who, as a recent contributors to the Camden Series, share their experience of identifying and producing a scholarly edition.

Part One of the Workshop (Video 1/3) offers a guide to getting started on a scholarly edition. Part Two offers more focused guidance for those currently working with a text for publication. Video 2/3 (‘Pre-1800’) covers working with medieval and early modern texts. Video 3/3 (‘Post-1800’) covers working with modern sources.

Speakers
  • Richard Gaunt is Associate Professor in Modern British History at the University of Nottingham. With Siobhan Talbott, he is a Series Editor for the Royal Historical Society’s Camden Series — a collection of scholarly primary editions, edited by specialist historians.
  • Siobhan Talbott is Reader in Early Modern History at Keele University and, with Richard, is Series Editor for the RHS Camden Series, with responsibility for pre-modern content.
  • Jayne Gifford is Lecturer in Modern History and a specialist on British imperial rule in the twentieth century. She is co-editor of the Sir Earle Page’s British War Cabinet Diary, 1941-42 (2021), as part of the Society’s Camden Series.
  • Daniel Patterson is an Independent Scholar and the editor of The Diary of George Lloyd (1642-1718), for the Royal Historical Society’s Camden Series, published in 2022.

 

 

RHS Prothero Lecture — ‘To Do and Be Undone: Enslaved Black Life, Courtship and Marriage in the Antebellum South’

‘To Do and Be Undone: Enslaved Black Life, Courtship and Marriage in the Antebellum South’

 

 

Professor Brenda E. Stevenson

(University of Oxford)

RHS Prothero Lecture on 5 July 2023

 

 

 

 

Brenda Stevenson’s 2023 Prothero lecture centres on the familial ideals and realities of enslaved Black people in the American South via their courtship and marriages, ritually and experientially. The trope of the missing Black family has lived large in the ambitious research designs of scholars, the critical imagination of the public, and the caustic decisions of policy makers. The reality, however, is that even through the pain and loss brought on by centuries of slavery and systemic racialised inequalities of all sorts, Black people wanted and were able to create family ties that fostered humanity, assured survival, and even undergird post-emancipation progress across the generations.

The lecture describes and analyses courtship/romantic attitudes and behaviours, the traits that adults desired and despised in a partner, the negotiations with family and captors regarding one’s choice for a spouse, and the various kinds of ceremonies (or not) that signified one’s marital commitments.

 

 

 

Your Research and the Media: An Introduction and Guide for Historians

This Royal Historical Society workshop offers a practical guide to promoting your research via the media. The workshop was presented by Dr Tom Almeroth-Williams, a communications specialist in arts and humanities research, as well as a published historian and Fellow of the Society.

The session takes you through different scenarios and stages of the process from identifying a potential news story in a forthcoming research paper or book, to responding to media coverage. Topics covered include pitching to an HE institution’s communications team; writing an effective press release yourself; providing assets including images; setting embargoes, contacting journalists; answering enquiries, giving interviews and seeking corrections.

About the speaker

Dr Tom Almeroth-Williams is Communications Manager (Research, Arts & Humanities) for the University of Cambridge. In this role he publicises a wide range of research, including the work of historians, and offers media training. For this RHS workshop, Tom will share his advice on best communicating historical research to the broadest audiences.

 

Eric Williams’ Capitalism and Slavery: debates, legacies and new directions for research

RHS Panel — ‘Eric Williams’ Capitalism and Slavery’, 13 June 2023

 

Eric Williams’ Capitalism and Slavery (1944) remains a powerful, provocative and influential work of historical scholarship. For Williams, chattel slavery provided Britain with the capacity to develop commercial and industrial capitalism, and—in turn—the means to power an eighteenth-century industrial revolution. As the profits of slavery declined, Williams argued, so did British commitment to the slave trade—the motivations for abolition of the slave trade (1807) and of slavery (1834) being economic rather than humanitarian.

In this international panel, historians working in the fields of eighteenth-century Caribbean slavery and slave economy, and Anglo-Caribbean society, come together to consider the debates and legacies of Capitalism and Slavery. First published in the UK by André Deutsch in 1964, Williams’ classic text — ‘perhaps the most influential book written in the twentieth century on the history of slavery (Oxford DNB) — is gaining a new readership following its republication as a Penguin Modern Classic in 2022.

Speakers

  • Dr Heather Cateau (University of the West Indies and University of St Andrews)
  • Dr Stephen Mullen (University of Glasgow)
  • Professor Harvey Neptune (Temple University)
  • Professor Meleisa Ono-George (University of Oxford)
  • Professor Matthew J. Smith (University College London, and chair)

 

 

  • Watch the event: full event panel contributions, audience questions and discussion