This article is based on a talk originally given after the 2003 Branch AGM which drew on branch records subsequently deposited with the County Archives. These comprise AGM and committee minutes as well as notes on, and some details of, speakers for each meeting from the 1928-9 season to 1957,...

A Brief History of the Exeter BranchExeter was one of the seventeen pre-First World War branches, founded in November 1906, the same year as the Historical Association itself. The Exeter branch was founded by Professor Walter (W.J.) Harte who became President of the (national) Historical Association 1932-36. Harte was appointed...

A major feature of the Historical Association's branches has been their strong links with a variety of voluntary organisations focused on, or with interests in, history.  The Association's initial aims drawn up in June 1906 included 'Co-operation for common objects with the English Association, the Geographical Association, the Modern Language...

Brief History of the Lincolnshire Branch.When  the branch was founded There was a successful branch of the Historical Association in Lincolnshire after World War Two, centred in Boston, and run by staff from the schools there. In 1999, when I moved to Lincolnshire, I discovered there was no longer a...

The Branch was founded in May 1907, a few months after the Historical Association was established. The founding Branch President was Professor John Masterman, Professor of History (1902-09) in the University of Birmingham's Department of Commerce, as it was designated in those days. He was one of several historians in...

Richmond & Twickenham Branch History 1964-2011In 1964 some members of the historical Association, mostly from the West London branch, met at Maria Grey Training College in Isleworth to set up a new branch for the Richmond & Twickenham area. A Provisional Committee was formed with George Bartle, a college lecturer, as...

Essex Branch - Early DaysEssex Branch was founded in 1920 or earlier and was active continuously until 1936.  In 1920-1 the president was H. de Havilland of The Manor House, Great Horkesley, and the secretary Mr. E.T. Baldwin of Earls Colne Grammar School.  There were 56 branch members and 8...

The Norfolk and Norwich Branch - a short historyThe branch was founded in 1920, at the instigation of two local teachers, W. J. Blake (the father the famous historian, Robert, Lord Blake) and Walter Stephenson, the father of our most long-serving (1941-1962) president, Andrew Stephenson, who was himself a distinguished...

Manchester Branch is proud of its role in the foundation of the Historical Association (HA) in 1906.  Professor Thomas Frederick Tout and others at Manchester University had been discussing the idea of forming an Association to promote the teaching of a more relevant and vibrant form of history than was...

Although active between the wars, the Canterbury Branch had faded into oblivion by the 1960s.The arrival of the University of Kent at Canterbury brought about the Branch's revival in 1971-1972, led by Peter Roberts, Grayson Ditchfield and Donald Read, and a programme was arranged for 1972 -3.   Among those on...

See the current Portsmouth Branch programme of events Portsmouth's Branch "Minutes Book No. 2" of the years 1946 -1981 is in the city Record Office. It records a Jubilee Dinner held in 1974: so the Branch was founded in 1924. Sadly, no "Minutes Book No. 1" has come to light....

The Branch was founded in May 1907, a few months after the Historical Association was established. The founding Branch President was Professor John Masterman, Professor of History (1902-09) in the University of Birmingham's Department of Commerce, as it was designated in those days. He was one of several historians in...

The Branch is proud of its role in the foundation of the Historical Association in 1906.  Professor Thomas Frederick Tout and others at Manchester University had been discussing the idea of forming an Association to promote the teaching of a more relevant and vibrant form of history than was currently...

The origins of the Hull branch of the HA go back to 1921. However the branch really came to life when Dr Fred Brooks arrived as Reader in Medieval History at the new University College of Hull. From 1930 to 1977 he was the mainspring of the activities and growth...

The Ealing Branch was formed shortly after the second world war.  Among its founder members was Gordon Batho, then a schoolboy at Ealing County Grammar School for Boys and now President of the Durham branch of the Historical Association and Emeritus Professor of Education at Durham University. The Ealing branch holds...

History of the Swansea BranchThe first Swansea Branch of the Historical Association was established in 1923. Unfortunately, the activities of the branch are unknown as no local documentation from that time has survived. All that is certain is that by 1925 it had ceased to meet.Following a suggestion by the...

The  Nuneaton Branch of the H.A. was originally founded in November 1919 as one part of a county wide Warwickshire branch.  Instrumental in this was the editor of the Nuneaton Chronicle, Albert Francis Cross, assisted by local doctor turned local historian, Edward Nason. After this arrangement ended Nuneaton was re-founded...

Brief outline history of the Reading Branch of the Historical AssociationReading is one of the places to have had a branch before the First World War, between 1908 and 1911 as was shown in The Historian, ‘The Branches of the Historical Association 1906-2006'. The story of the current Reading Branch,...

History of the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Branch of the Historical AssociationThe Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole branch of the HA was founded in December 1922 and has been in existence ever since. Its history can be followed in the annual reports sent to HQ, in the complete set of committee...

The earliest information we have about the HA in Cornwall is an Annual General Meeting minute book showing that the branch was re-formed in 1963 by schoolteachers. Lecture meetings were held in various schools and these were probably all in the Truro area. The branch always appears to have been...