News

Following the abrupt termination of the 2019-20 programme, the branch committee have been striving to establish a way forward that is in compliance with both Government regulations and with the safety of our members and speakers in the year ahead. The good news is that there will be a full programme of eleven lectures including all the speakers who we ...

Dear Members and Friends, You will not be surprised to read that we have had to take the decision to cancel all remaining lectures of this year's programme in addition to the planned trips to The Spike in Guildford and walk around Winchester with Professor Nigel Saul. As we are all confined to our homes, full members of the Historical ...

Aspects of American Foreign Policy in the Nuclear Age by Dr Jonathan Hunt, University of Southampton. Dr Jonathan Hunt is shortly to attend a conference at the UN Headquarters, to commorate the 50th anniversary of the agreement to define which countries are allowed to have nuclear nuclear weapons, and which countries which develop nuclear weapons face the consequences of sanctions ...

Due to the current situation with the coronavirus we have decided to cancel this Tuesday's lecture by Dr Lucy Wooding. Dr Wooding teaches at Lincoln College, Oxford, and has informed us that a number of students at the university have tested positive for coronavirus, with the first student to do so at Lincoln. We hope to organize a date in ...

Dear all, The first half of the 2019-20 programme has seen some very interesting lectures and big attendances. As I mentioned in my last newsletter, the committee made a major effort to involve schools with the selection of topics. Our decision to focus on the Tudor period was a response to their input. The two Tudor lectures drew a very ...

The Tudor Rebellions by Stephen David No English King had died on the battlefield since King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, and  Henry Tudor, according to propaganda, bought peace and stability to the country. By 1486, Lord Lovell a lifelong companion to King Richard III, organized a rebellion in Yorkshire, an area of traditional support of King Richard III ...

1919: The Year that Changed China by Dr Elisabeth Forster, Lecturer of Modern China (University of Southampton) 1919 was the year in Chinese history, that generated the most significant and radical changes in Chinese history. At the beginning  of 1919, nobody in China, could of predicted that changes that were going to take place in that year. Among the changes, ...

Last year at this time I appealed for help to upgrade and modernize our website. A hero did step forward-Derek Linney- he has made the site much more user friendly and much more appealing. As Chairman, I wish to record my personal thanks to the committee who make things tick over so smoothly. Attendances in 2018-9 have been approaching maximum ...

Dr Ian Archer: Associate Professor in History, Keble College, University of Oxford. In 1550, the population in London was 75, 000, which made London the sixth most populous city in Europe. London was smaller in population, in 1550, than in 1300, as a consequence of the Black Death. By 1700, the population of London had increased to 575, 000, which ...

Professor Lawrence Goldman, St Peters College, University of Oxford Disraeli was the grandson of an eighteenth century Italian immigrants, with his parents being booksellers in Buckinghamshire. Disraeli commenced his career in journalism, which proved to be disastrous, with the consequences of heavy debt, but Disraeli pursued a more successful career as a novelist. He began his career, as a Whig ...

Professor David Egerton: History of Science and Technology and Modern British History, King’s College, London The United Kingdom in the 1900s was an exceptional country. British coal was exported throughout the world, and the country was the largest exporter in the world, of energy (coal). With Argentina, the country turned to the UK, to power its railways, as well as ...

Not so much an Empire more a World System: The British Empire in Global Perspectives There are currently 3 myths concerning European colonial empires 1)      Empires are only a European phenomenon  and the British Empire being even more unique phenomenon among European empires, with the British empire arriving late in history in comparison to other empires, for example the Mongol ...