Plymouth Branch Programme 2024-25

 

Website: http://www.ha-plymouth.org.uk

Contact: Alan H. Cousins, 1 Russell Court, Russell Close, Saltash PL12 4LZ , Tel. 01503 230106 a.cousins345@btinternet.com

Meetings are open to all, and are free for national or local members of the Historical Association, and for University of Plymouth students.

Visitor tickets: £6, concessions £4.

Local annual membership rates: Individual membership: £8, Family membership: £12

Student membership: £4

Membership secretary: John Stead, 2 Jessops, Plympton, Plymouth, PL7 4HW

Booking for lectures:

The easiest approach is to book tickets online: plymouth.ac.uk/arts-institute, otherwise phone the Arts Institute Plymouth University T: 01752 585050 or email - theartsinstitute@plymouth.ac.uk

Time & Venue: All talks start at 7pm and are held in Theatre 2, Roland Levinsky Building, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA.

Circumstances may mean that one or more of the talks in the series will need to be streamed online.

 

 

Lecture Programme 2024/25 This is a joint programme in collaboration with the History Department at Plymouth University

 

Tuesday 1 October

Who did Henry VIII Think he Was?

Professor Steven Gunn, Merton College, Oxford

Henry VIII did some extraordinary and shocking things, but why did he think they were the

sort of things kings could or should do? This talk will look at the different models of kingship available to Henry and which of them he seemed to be following at different points in his reign. He knew some other kings: his father Henry VII, his ally Maximilian I, his rival Francis I. He read about others in English history: Henry V, Edward I, King Arthur. He studied others in the Bible, above all King David. But who did Henry VIII think he was?

 

Tuesday 15 October  

West Indian Wealth in West Devon: Jamaica and the Maristow Estate

Dr Malcolm Cross Independent Researcher

Maristow House in West Devon has a rich, remarkable and little-known history. The Estate on the eastern banks of the Tavy near its confluence with the Tamar and just north of Tamerton is a fine example of the complexities that arose from the Caribbean encounter. In the 17th century the family interest was in the building of plantation society. Jamaica became a British colony in 1655 and two brothers from Exeter – one of whom lived at Maristow – played a leading role in this process.

A second family with roots in both locations established themselves in the early years of the following century. They became the classical absentee owners of slave plantations, never actually visiting Jamaica or ever meeting an enslaved individual. Later the estate received another injection of Jamaican capital but not from plantation ownership but from providing the means that enabled it to thrive.

These three families illustrate the complexities of the Caribbean connection. Wealth, social standing and political power are the avenues to influence and all three can be observed in this one house, but in different combinations over time.

 

Tuesday 5 November

United Irish Fears and French Invasion: Contextualising the Mutiny of the Marines at Stonehouse Barracks, 1797

Dr Lee-Jane Giles, Plymouth University

On 23 June 1797 a court martial was convened in the Citadel at Plymouth to hear evidence against four Irish marines, Robert Lee, Daniel Coffey, John McGuiness and Joseph Brenan; all stood accused of inciting mutiny and sedition at the Stonehouse Barracks. Levied against the Plymouth marines were the following charges: Robert Lee endeavouring to ‘excite the Marines in Barracks, to Mutiny and Sedition’, Daniel Coffey ‘active in Swearing the Marines … and seditious words in the ranks …’, John McGuiness ‘for inciting Marines to join’, and Joseph Brenan for also using seditious words in the ranks. Occurring at the same time as the more well-known and documented mutinies at Spithead and the Nore this mutiny came at a time when the country faced the threat of invasion from France. Alongside rumours of United Irish involvement, the fear that this mutiny in particular generated within the Admiralty was plain to see and three of the marines were condemned to be executed by firing squad. Using court martial testimonies, admiralty letters, diary extracts and letters and poems penned by the ringleader, this paper will explore the events that occurred at Stonehouse Barracks to situate this lesser-known incident within the wider context of the more well documented mutinies of 1797.

 

Tuesday 26 November 2024

Folk Religion and the Chinese Communist Party in the Mao Era (1949-1976)

Professor Stephen Smith, All Souls College Oxford

China was an overwhelmingly religious society at the time the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949. The talk looks less at the institutionalized religions that the CCP notionally recognized – Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism – and focuses on the religion of the vast majority of the population, which the regime dismissed as ‘feudal superstition’, i.e. not a proper religion at all. Mao Zedong’s vision of Communism put much greater stress than the Soviet model  on transforming the heart/minds of the masses, and a key dimension of this transformation entailed eradicating popular conceptions of the world as governed by supernatural entities and cosmic forces. The talk dissects the elements that went into this policy of eradication, including mass propaganda, education, science, the utilization of folk culture, informal networks and, increasingly, coercion. It also looks at popular resistance to the regime through the lens of folk religion.  By looking at the Maoist party-state from the unusual angle of folk religion, it seeks to illuminate its workings and effectiveness.

 

Tuesday 28 January 2025

Public Health in Plymouth 1926-34

Dr Mike Sheaff, Visiting Research Fellow, Plymouth University

Dr Austen Nankivell became Plymouth’s Medical Officer of Health in 1925. Four years later the Conservatives lost control of the city council. An extraordinary period of change followed. From birth control to cancer services, and from child welfare clinics to establishing a municipal hospital, the city was at the forefront of radical progress in health care. This changed in 1932. With austerity policies in the ascendant, Conservatives regained control of the council, and Dr Nankivell was imprisoned for ‘gross indecency’. This talk, focusing on synergies between political and professional roles during his tenure, also considers connections between subsequent political conflicts and the criminal allegations against him.

 

Tuesday March 4

Dartmoor & government environmental policy (provisional subject)

Professor Matthew Kelly, Northumbria University

 

Tuesday March 25

Christopher Durston Lecture

Professor Catherine Richardson, University of Kent

 

Tuesday 29 April

Early 19^th century Louisiana: colonialism and the environment

(provisional subject)

Dr Camille Mathieu, University of Exeter