Swansea Branch Programme
Enquiries to Liz McSloy FHA, Branch Secretary historyliz1565@yahoo.com 07810 304616
All meetings take place at the National Waterfront Museum, Oystermouth Road, Swansea, SA1 3RD at 11am. All talks are free to attend
The museum does not have a car park but there are a number of pay and display car parks within easy walking distance of the museum: NCP, York Street, Swansea, SA1 3LZ; Copr Bay South, Oystermouth Road, Swansea, SA1 3BX; Civic Centre East, Oystermouth Road, Swansea, SA1 3SN; East Burrows Road, Swansea, SA1 1RR; St David’s Multi-Storey, St David’s Place, Swansea, SA1 3LQ
Associate branch membership £10 per year. Retired/student/unwaged £5 per year. Household £15 per year.
The branch year starts at the beginning of March
New Branch Website: www.haswansea.org.uk/
www.facebook.com/histassocswan/
Swansea Branch Programme 2026- 2027
18th July 2026
Professor John Alban FHA
A Danish Knight in Fifteenth Century England: Sir Andrew Ogard
Sir Andrew Ogard stands as a compelling, if, today, a lesser-known figure in the tapestry of late medieval England. From the 1420s to the 1440s, he forged for himself a prodigious martial reputation and amassed enormous wealth, serving in Henry VI’s armies in France and Normandy during the Hundred Years’ War, where he was closely associated with the Dukes of Bedford and York. After retiring from military service, he played a significant role as a member of the English gentry, in Norfolk and Hertfordshire. It is therefore perhaps surprising to discover that he was not English at all, having been born at Ågård in Denmark, as Anders Petersen Gyldenstjerne. A younger son of a noble Danish family from North Jutland, he had few prospects there, thus he left his native land to make his mark elsewhere. In so doing, he anglicised his name, also adopting a new surname based on his birthplace. Marrying into a prominent and wealthy knightly Norfolk family, he became a leading member of the gentry, building two fortified manors at enormous expense, one at The Rye in Hertfordshire, the other at Emneth in Norfolk. He served the crown in many administrative capacities, on numerous royal commissions, and became a Knight of the Shire for Norfolk in the Parliament of 1453-4. As Patron of Wymondham Priory, he used his influence with the king and Pope to have the priory elevated to abbey status. On his death in 1454, he was buried in the abbey, but his tomb is now lost, having been destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
John Alban is an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of History and Art History at the University of East Anglia and was formerly County Archivist of Norfolk, 1997-2013. Previously, he was City Archivist of Swansea, 1974-97, when, for over two decades, he was also Course Director for local history programmes in the Department of Adult Continuing Education at the then University College of Swansea, in particular, devising and teaching the Diploma in Local History course. His PhD thesis (University of Liverpool, 1976) was on ‘National Defence in England, 1337-89’. He has published extensively on aspects of local history, heraldry, archives, the Hundred Years’ War, and the history of Swansea and Gower. He holds Fellowships of the Society of Antiquaries, the Royal Historical Society and the Historical Association, while, in 2015, he was also made an Honorary Branch Fellow of the Swansea Branch of the HA.
15th August 2026
The Sid Kidwell Memorial Lecture
Peter Rees
Queen Elizabeth I and the Origins of the Swansea Copper Industry
From the high point of producing over 70% of the world’s output of refined copper, the growth of the world’s leading producer is traced back to its starting point in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Peter Rees was born, raised and educated in Swansea, and spent his entire working life with the American multinational Signode Corporation. Transferring to the International Division of the company in 1979, Peter’s work in the Human Resource Department took him to over 30 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.
On retirement, he was free to develop his life-long interest in history, and in July 2013, graduated with an Honours degree in history from Swansea University.
In 2017, he gained a Master of Arts degree in Local History at the Carmarthen campus of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Peter is the author of “Sanitising Swansea: Water Supply and Sewage Disposal in Nineteenth-Century Swansea” (Swansea, 2021).
19th September 2026
The President’s Lecture
Professor James Daybell
Gender and the Glove in Early Modern England
This talk explores the remarkable power of a seemingly ordinary object in early modern England: the glove. Drawing on a wide range of historical, literary, and material sources, it shows how gloves shaped—and were shaped by—gendered relationships of power in everyday life, politics, and culture. Far from simple accessories, gloves were deeply meaningful objects whose materials, craftsmanship, use, exchange, and later preservation all reveal the complex ways gender and authority operated in the past.
Gloves were made from globally sourced materials, linking English wearers to labouring men and women across Europe and the Americas. Their manufacture involved highly gendered forms of work: men dominated glove‑making guilds, while women contributed essential skills in preparing materials, embroidering designs, and creating perfumes. Wearing gloves also carried social significance. In an age when gestures mattered, gloves shaped how men and women interacted—whether through courtship, diplomacy, or displaying status at court. A dropped glove could hint at romance; a glove strike could provoke a duel.
Gloves were also powerful gifts. They circulated between family members, friends, diplomats, and monarchs, often marking loyalty, favour, or remembrance. Queens such as Elizabeth I received elaborately decorated gloves at New Year as signs of political allegiance, while at weddings and funerals gloves became symbols of community and continuity. Women, in particular, used the gifting and bequeathing of gloves to build networks of memory, identity, and care.
Finally, the talk shows how the meanings of gloves changed long after their original use. Once preserved in family collections or museums, they gained new power as historical relics, shaped by curatorial choices and cultural narratives that continue to reflect gendered assumptions. Overall, the glove offers a vivid lens through which to understand how objects can create, express, and preserve gendered power across centuries.
James has a long history as an historian of the Early modern period but has also written extensively on other areas of history and related subjects. He is currently Associate Dean with responsibility for research at Plymouth and has many years of experience on presenting history in different public spaces as well as in the academic world.
26th and 27th September 2026, 10am to 4pm
History and Heritage Fair at the National Waterfront Museum
10th October 2026
History Day
In collaboration with the Royal Institute of South Wales, a day of history talks and a lunchtime debate taking place at the Swansea Museum in the morning and the National Waterfront Museum in the afternoon.
17th October 2026
The Anniversary Lecture
Jeff Childs
Manchester and its Making
Originating as a Roman outpost, Manchester evolved from a modest medieval market town into the world's first industrial city, driven by rapid expansion in textile manufacturing and population growth during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Known variously as ‘Shock City’ and (at its peak) ‘Cottonopolis’, Manchester played a pivotal role in the Industrial Revolution. Despite its declining industrial importance in the mid twentieth century, the city - renowned for its radical politics, scientific achievement and cultural influence - has been rejuvenated through large-scale redevelopment following the 1996 IRA bombing. Today, Manchester thrives as a modern, forward-looking, diverse post-industrial and global city and a dynamic economic hub.
Jeff Childs was born in Fforest, Pontarddulais but grew up in Pontardawe. He is a Fellow of the Historical Association Swansea Branch and a member of many other historical organisations. He is also a former chair and president of the South Wales Record Society and was joint editor of Morgannwg, the journal of the Glamorgan History Society, for nearly twenty years. He has published several works covering the Swansea and Cardiff areas, his most recent being The Parish of Llangyfelach: landed estates, farms and families. His long-term interest in Manchester and its history stems from his time as a student in that city in the early to mid 1970s.
14th November 2026
Debra John
Aspects of WWI - Experiences of a composer, a poet, an engineer, a nurse and others. Stories from the front and at home
Debra was born and brought up in Swansea. She studied Drama and English at university in Aberystwyth and gained a Primary PGCE at Swansea University some years later. She is also an Associate in Music of Trinity College, London.
A freelance actress and storyteller, Debra plays a wide range of characters, and performs in schools, museums, castles and other sites of historic interest throughout Wales and beyond, giving audiences insight into the country’s heritage.
Television appearances as historical characters include Mistress Prichard in ‘The Story of Wales’ (Green Bay/BBC Cymru Wales) and Amy Dillwyn in ‘Mamwlad: Amy Dillwyn’ (Tinopolis/S4C). Debra has provided voice-overs for heritage organisations and exhibitions, and has appeared on several educational and heritage DVDs.
Debra has also played Amy Dillwyn in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
In 2019 Debra was awarded a Branch Honorary Fellowship of the Historical Association Swansea Branch.
12th December 2026
Ray Collier
Swansea West – December 1918 – “assuredly the bitterest contest in the General Election”
After the signing of the Armistice in November 1918, Lloyd George and the Conservative leader Andrew Bonar Law agreed to continue their wartime coalition and, by jointly endorsing candidates for the general election, ensure that Lloyd George’s Liberal supporters and Conservatives candidates did not compete against each other. In Swansea West this strategy imploded when Lloyd George’s nominee was declared ‘not a fit and proper person to represent any British constituency’ by the local Conservative Association, who proceeded to put forward their own candidate. With Labour also standing, the three-way election battle that ensued was, in the view of The Times newspaper, “assuredly the bitterest contest of the General Election”.
Born and brought up in London, for the last thirty years Ray Collier has lived in Tonna. On retiring in 2015, he completed a part-time honours degree in history at Swansea University in 2020 and a master’s degree in modern history in 2023. Ray is a committee member of the Swansea Branch of Historical Association and one of its community outreach speakers. In addition, he is a committee member of the Neath Antiquarian Society and a member of the Friends of Hafod-Morfa Copperworks where he gives talks on the history of the Hafod-Morfa works and tours of the copperworks site.
16th January 2027
John Richards
The Life and Death of Richard III
The Life and Death of King Richard 111 talk covers his participation in the Wars of the Roses and his journey to the throne, including his involvement with the princes in the tower. His reign culminates in the Battle of Bosworth and his death. We then look at the discovery of his remains in Leicester. Some medieval weapons are described and demonstrated and a close look at a replica of Richard's skull is used to reveal how those weapons caused the wound marks thereon. Evidence would suggest that he was slain by an identifiable Welshman!
John Richards was born in Neath and educated at Neath Grammar School and Aberystwyth University. He worked for 20 years as a fireman in the London and West Glamorgan Fire Services. While completing a part-time degree in Ancient History and Classics at Swansea University he worked in museums and on archaeological digs.
He ran his own business for 20 years teaching history, archaeology and drama in local primary schools. Currently, he is employed as a guide in the Shakespeare houses in Stratford-upon-Avon. John is also a Vice President of the Skewen and District Historical Society and is a Community Outreach Speaker with the Branch.
In 2024 John was awarded an Honorary Branch Fellowship.
20th February 2027
Dr Neil Howe
Art, Music, Politics and Cricket: The Cultural Life of Sir Watkin Williams Wyn, fourth Baronet
Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, fourth Baronet (1748–89), was the largest landowner in Wales, with estates extending across five Welsh counties including Merioneth, Denbighshire and Montgomeryshire, in addition to an estate in Shropshire. He was a Member of Parliament from 1772 until his death in 1789 and is not credited with making a single speech. Sir Watkin was also a keen patron of the arts.
This paper locates the cultural activities and interests of the fourth Baronet Williams Wynn within the broader context of post-Namierite late eighteenth-century culture, considers, who Sir Watkin's connections within these cultural pursuits were likely to have been and demonstrates that in the age of the club, concert and pleasure garden, leading an active cultural life was not incompatible with having an active political life. This paper challenges the Namierite view, which presented Sir Watkin’s varied cultural activities and interests as evidence of a lack of interest in political life, instead arguing that cultural interests could provide a background for political negotiations and lobbying.
Neil’s MA Dissertation (University of Wales, Aberystwyth) examined the Political Life of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Fourth Baronet, he holds a PhD from the University of Nottingham and his doctoral thesis examined the representation of Charles James Fox in satirical prints. He has taught at the Universities of Nottingham, Bath Spa and Winchester and is currently teach History, English and Citizenship at a Private School in Swansea.
20th March 2027
Andrea D’Ambra
“L’eta piu bella negl’ anni piu tristi”, The Prime of my Life, The Saddest Years of my Life: One Man’s War Memoir
'On 8th September 1943 Italy capitulated. It did not surrender. It simply stopped fighting.
This led to a situation where Germans were attacking Italians, Partisans were attacking Italians and Italians were attacking Italians.
Francesco D’Ambra was a naval gunner based on the Albanian coast. Over the ensuing three years he was imprisoned, pressed into service, enslaved, starved, beaten and tortured by each of competing groups in turn.
The presentation will be by Andrea D’Ambra Francesco’s son. He was born and brought up in Swansea and has lived there for most of his adult life. He is a retired solicitor who has practiced in and around Swansea over forty years, specialising in Family Law. He translated his father’s war memoir in 2022.
17th April 2027
Philip Hume
‘The King’s Writ does not run here’: The Welsh Marcher Lordships
The medieval Marcher Lordships were a region between England and Wales that, politically and administratively, didn't belong fully to either. Within each of the 50 lordships, the Marcher Lord had unique regal-like powers with their own laws, judicial powers, and access to resources and armies. This talk explores the origins and development of the Marcher Lordships in the context of the 200-year struggle for control of Wales, with particular reference to the importance of the Marcher Lordship of Gower.
Philip Hume is the author of The Welsh Marcher Lordships I: Central and North (Logaston Press, March 2021 & new edition March 2023; and editor of the Marcher Lordship series), On the Trail of the Mortimers’ (Logaston Press, 2016), On the Trail of the Mortimers in the Welsh Marches (Logaston Press, 2022), co-author of The Ludlow Castle Heraldic Roll (Logaston Press, 2019), co-editor of The Mortimers of Wigmore 1066 - 1486: Dynasty of Destiny (Logaston Press, 2023) and author of articles in various journals. Philip is the Chair of the Mortimer History Society, and in January 2024 started a part-time PhD at Swansea University.