Event Type: Branch

Takes Place: 12th March 2026

Time: 7:30pm

Venue: Newport Minster, St Thomas’ Square, NEWPORT, IW PO30 1BG

Description: The egalitarian handshake has a long history, but it began to spread into daily use only in the urban/commercial world of Western Europe from the eighteenth century onwards. This lecture takes Britain as a case history - and traces key users of the gesture, including merchants confirming a deal - and radical Quakers confirming their spiritual equality. But some traditionalists strongly objected to the salutation. So the handshake glided only slowly into daily use - and not without controversy. The lecture ends by noting the handshake's continuing international spread, giving it not only a long history but an expanding future too.

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

Tel: 07988171708

Email: jacobscme@gmail.com

Website: https://www.facebook.com/HistoricalAssociationIW

Organiser: All enquiries to Caroline Jacobs

Lecturer: Professor Penelope Corfield President of the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies

Comments: Finishing at approximately 9.00pm. Doors open at 7.00pm

Region: South-East England

Branch: Isle of Wight