All enquiries to Mr Geoff Bisson (gb@queenscollege.org.uk), tel. 01823 353749

All talks start at 7.30pm on Wednesdays and take place in the Birchall Hall, Queen's College, Trull Road, Taunton, TA1 4QS unless otherwise stated. There is free car parking on site.

Associate Membership: £10 per year. Talks free to national HA members and students, visitors £3.

 

Taunton Deane Programme 2025-26

 

Wednesday 17 September 2025

Four Somerset Knights and the Scrope-Grosvenor Controversy (1386-90)

Dr Melanie Devine (Brendan Books)

The talk will pose the question: why did four Somerset knights choose to become witnesses for Sir Richard Scrope during his protracted court case with Sir Robert Grosvenor for the right to bear the arms Azure a Bend’Or, that is, blue with a diagonal gold stripe?  The answer to this question hinges on the tremendous power, wealth and influence of John of Gaunt, third son of Edward III, during the reign of his nephew, Richard II.  

This is after the AGM Lunch: attendance is by booking in advance

 

Wednesday 15 October 2025

From Hell Island to Hay Fever: The Life of Dr Bill Frankland

Paul Watkins (Veterinary Surgeon and Author)

Bill Frankland died in 2020, at the age of 108. As a doctor he worked for Sir Alexander Fleming, but also served in WW2, where he was taken prisoner at the fall of Singapore. He was responsible for developing the field of clinical allergy, developed the pollen count and treated many patients, including Saddam Hussein.

 

Wednesday 12 November 2025

The Assassination of JFK: The History of a Mystery

Tom Heywood (Management Consultant)

Tom’s talk will unpack the key events of the assassination, and review the way it has been interpreted ever since. What are the main assassination theories, and how and why have these evolved since 1963? What does this tell us about interpretation, and history itself? Our goal is to decode the mysteries of 60 years of assassination thinking!

 

Wednesday 10 December 2025

The Victorian Way of Death

Charlotte Coles (Senior Finds and Archives Officer)

This talk will be about everything from Victorian superstitions around death, to the funeral, death photography, early cremations, the necropolis railway and mourning clothes. This talk looks into the quirkier side of Victorian society and culture, where many traditions and practices are very unusual to our modern views, but were they really so different to us?

 

Wednesday 14 January 2026

The Local King Arthur in Medieval and Early Modern England

Dr Mary Bateman (University of Bristol)

This lecture will focus on how Arthurian places across England were managed and experienced by late medieval and early modern people. These emplaced experiences of Arthur provided more than just entertainment for our forebears: Arthurian places became essential in supporting the impression of Arthur’s reality once it was being more openly brought into question at the dawn of the Renaissance.

 

Wednesday 11 February 2026

Persecution and Toleration in England, 1400-1700

Professor Alexandra Walsham (University of Cambridge, President of the HA)

The story of the decline of persecution and the rise of toleration is part of an enduring and rather self-congratulatory narrative about the making of the modern world. This lecture provides a broad overview of developments in England over a 300 years period. It analyses some of the complexities and paradoxes of this process and advances the argument that persecution and toleration, intolerance and tolerance, were inextricably interlinked.

 

Wednesday 11 March 2026

Revisiting The General Strike

Professor James Thompson (University of Bristol)

This talk re-examines the 1926 General Strike. It looks at the background and legacy of the General Strike. It revisits the mobilisation of strikers and of opponents of the strike, and thinks about the impact of the strike on British politics, society and culture.