Enquiries to Andrea Robertston at histassocglos@gmail.com or Robert Sutton on 01242 574889

Members and students free entry to all talks, visitors £4 entrance fee.

Venues for most talks are the University of Gloucestershire either in Cheltenham or Gloucester. Directions can be found on the university website – www.glos.ac.uk

Some talks will be held at alternative locations. Details are provided for each talk.

Our website contains up to date information www.haglos.co.uk 
 

Gloucestershire Branch Programme 2025-6

 

 

Monday 22 September, 7.30pm

The Exmouth Arms, Bath Road, Cheltenham and by Zoom

 

AGM  followed by Patently Obvious - a quiz; hosted by Janet Graham

This quiz illustrates a number of patents that were put forward in the UK and USA, mainly from the 1900s. You just have to work out what they were for!! Multiple choice options make it a bit easier? Good luck.

 

Monday 13 October 7.30pm

University of Gloucestershire, Francis Close Hall Campus; Swindon Rd, Cheltenham, GL50 4AZ and by Zoom

Remembering the Reformation - Professor Alex Walsham Emmanuel College, Cambridge and President of the Historical Association

This lecture has a double objective: it explores how the Reformation transformed medieval memorial culture and perceptions of the Christian past, alongside the manner in which the Reformation itself was remembered, forgotten, contested and reinvented by later generations and in subsequent centuries.

 

Monday 10 November 7.30pm

Gloucestershire Heritage Hub; Clarence Row, Alvin Street, Gloucester, GL1 3DW and by Zoom

Rethinking Enclosure: encroachment, and the making of property and community on the margins in the English west - Professor Carl Griffin, University of Sussex

 

Monday 15 December 7.30pm

Exmouth Arms; 167 Bath Rd, Cheltenham GL53 7LX

Pantomime and Tradition: Pantomime is Never as Good as it Used to Be … - Professor Kate Newey; University of Exeter

We like to think that pantomime is the most English of entertainments. It’s everybody’s Christmas entertainment, fun for all the family, and unchanging.  

However - like many things English – it is actually a mongrel form, bred of Italian commedia dell’arte and street acrobats, out of harsh eighteenth century satire, Dickensian jollification, and twentieth century sensationalism. The pantomime at Christmas is for all the family, but different members of the family will enjoy different things in it. We’ll all laugh at the antics on stage however, and feel reassured that in the darkest and busiest days of the year, we can settle into three hours of a warmth, light, and silliness.

Kate Newey will give an illustrated talk about the history of pantomime, with a focus on the heyday of Victorian pantomime, and Pantomime fairies and Dames. 

 

Monday 19 January 7.30pm

Zoom only

The Abolition of Slavery in the British Empire - Dr Kate Rivington, Monash University, Melbourne University, Australia

 

Monday 16 February 7.30pm 

Zoom only

How to lose friends and alienate people: Chieftains in the Icelandic medieval sagas - Dr Louisa Taylor; University of Aberystwyth

 

Wednesday 18 March 7.30pm

Gloucestershire Heritage Hub; Clarence Row, Alvin Street, Gloucester, GL1 3DW and on Zoom

The First Opium War, 1839 to 1842: Origin, Theatre and Consequences - Professor Yang-Wen Zheng; University of Manchester

How did increased tea consumption and the growth of middle class in 18th and 19th century Britain led to war with China?  To what extent was the conflict less about opium and more about silver? How did the conflict shape the history of modern China and led to the country's transformation in the post-Mao era? The talk dives deep into the origins of the conflict, it explores the theatre of war and probes both the short- and long-term consequences. 

Born and raised in China, Professor Zheng was educated at Oberlin College (USA) and Cambridge University (King's College). She taught at the University of Pennsylvania and the National University of Singapore before joining Manchester where she is Professor of Chinese history. She has authored/edited 10 volumes, including The Social Life of Opium in China and Ten Lessons in Modern Chinese History. 

 

Monday 20 April 7.30pm

University of Gloucestershire, Park Campus; The Park, Cheltenham GL50 2RH and on Zoom

Links between the American and French Revolutions - Professor William Doyle; Professor Emeritus of History and Senior Research Fellow, University of Bristol

Professor Doyle has written extensively on French and European history from the seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century. He has been a consultant to various television programmes on revolutionary and pre-revolutionary France, appeared in programmes on Marie-Antoinette and the OU Introduction to History programmes and spoken on the radio on themes in the same area. Professor Doyle regularly lecturers at sixth-form conferences.

 

Monday 18 May 7.30pm

University of Gloucestershire, Francis Close Hall Campus; Swindon Rd, Cheltenham, GL50 4AZ

Panel discussion on the relationship between academic history and historical fiction - Humanities team at the University of Gloucestershire

A conversation on the relationship between academic history and historical fiction.