Bridport History Society

Talks Programme 2024

Every second Thursday of the month (except July and August), 2.15 for 2.30.

January 11 –  Dr Robert Nantes –  ‘The luxury of the age will be the ruin of the nation’ (Daniel Defoe): The eighteenth-century panic over lifestyles, luxuries, and the consumption of tea, coffee and wine.


February 8  –   Bridport and Area Historians’ Round Table: The Society will welcome a panel of local historians who will be introducing us to their latest research, or reflecting on aspects of their past investigations.  February’s speakers and their subjects are:


Gavin Bacon – ‘The Arrival of the Railway in Evershot (Dorset) in 1857’; Dr Michael Denny – ‘Castles in the Air’ (The life of seventeenth-century Dorset physician Thomas Sydenham); Dr Mark Forrest – ‘Trade and Commerce in Dorset, 1300–1550’; Richard Sims – ‘From Bridport Harbour to West Bay: A Journey through Time’; Sylvia Stafford – ‘An Accidental Historian’s Journey’; Bruce Upton – ‘We'll have your liver and lights by tonight!’: Bridport Women Falling Foul of the Law in the Nineteenth Century


March 14  –   Prof. William Gibson (Oxford Brookes University), ‘Seals, Sedition and Sacheverell’.  The talk introduces the ways in which personal wax seals were used in the eighteenth century – on documents, as decorative items and for political purposes.  Through the case of Henry Sacheverell, we see how seal-makers exploited the political nature of public life.  Although forgotten now, Sacheverell was a great celebrity in the first two decades of the eighteenth century  – either hero or villain depending on your point of view, use of his seals raises questions of loyalty and treason in the period.

Henry Sacheverell

Extract from Greg Jenner's Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity:

'Doctor Henry Sacheverell...was an ambitious Anglican minister who gave a fiery speech from the pulpit of St Paul's Cathedral on 5 November 1709, attacking "false brethren" in the church...it was immediately perceived as a political broadside against the Whig party by pro-royalist Tories, and thus Sacheverell was thrust into the centre of a political maelstrom...Before long, 100,000 copies of his speech had been sold...His next speech was attended by a huge mob, desperate to get into church...the Whig government attempted to try him for sedition...riots broke out in his defence...'

(right) Staffordshire figure of Henry Sacheverell (c.1745), an example of eighteenth-century celebrity merchandising

...at the height of Sacheverell's new fame, penny loaves were inscribed with his name and the year, medals were issued, commemorative plates were struck, ceramic statuettes were made, babies were named in his honour, his chubby face appeared on wax-seals so people could stamp it into their letters, and he stared out from ladies' fans, decks of cards, tobacco pipes, and coat buttons...Sacheverell was already every inch the modern celebrity.' (Greg Jenner, Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity)

April 11 –  Austen Hamilton MA – The Eighteenth-Century Speculative House Builder – a Familiar Figure:  ‘The housing problem’ has a long history, as has the role of the speculative builder in its solution. The development process has changed little over the centuries and a look at some of the players and controversies of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century housing development can provide an interesting sidelight on our own times.

 

May 9 —  Professor Karen Hunt (Keele University)

‘Tales from the Outworkers’ Ledger: trying to make a living in the Bridport netting industry in the twentieth century’

Prof. Hunt says: A large ledger can be found in a corner of Bridport Museum. Page after page of handwritten figures may not look that exciting but each page is a window into one Bridport net worker’s working life; their household and neighbourhood; as well as the town and the industry that dominated it. Most of the outworkers — those who were paid by local net manufacturers to make nets of all shapes and sizes in their own homes — were women. Reading against the grain of these apparently unpromising documents I will conjure up individual life stories that tell us about making a living in the challenging times that the ledger covers — 1916–25.

June 13 –  D-Day 80th Anniversary: special, all-day event 10am – 4.30pm: Jane Ferrentzi-Sheppard and others

Joining Jane to speak at the event will be Chistopher Jary (Keep Regimental Museum, Dorchester) and Nick Pitt.  Plus, all the way from the US, Steve Clay (Regimental Historian, US 16th Infantry Regiment).  For details, go to:

Autumn 2024

September 12
Dr Alastair Forbes
The Bells of Saint Mary's Bridport — Their Story in the Context of the History of the Church

There have been church bells at St. Mary’s Bridport for hundreds of years. This illustrated talk tells their story, showing how it fits with the history of the church, the town and the nation.

Dr Alastair Forbes is a retired academic and a member of the bell ringing team at St Mary's.  Born in Bridport, he only came to live here in his retirement.  His grandfather rang bells at Powerstock (West Dorset).

10 October 2024

Lt Col (Rtd) James Porter

The German Occupation of the Channel Islands in WW2

France’s unexpected collapse in 1940 suddenly transformed the Channel Islands from a relatively safe backwater to (potentially) the front line. As German forces swept across France, the British Government had to come to terms with surrendering British territory which was manifestly indefensible, and the islanders had to come to terms with evacuation to England or to continuing to live at home, but under the Swastika. The talk covers the drama of 1940, the evacuation, the splitting up of some families, and then every-day life for the islanders under occupation. The talk also examines the German fortification of the islands, and their contribution and effect on military operations in WW2. Finally, the talk covers the liberation of the islands the day after the German surrender on what is now VE Day. The speaker is a Channel Islander, born and brought up in Guernsey.

Nov 14 — Bruce Upton

‘We'll have your liver and lights by tonight!’: Bridport Women Falling Foul of the Law in the Nineteenth Century

Bruce will be looking at: the crimes for which local women were imprisoned in the 1800s; the conditions they had to endure in prison; and the external events which caused such widespread misery during the first half of the nineteenth century.

Dec 12 — Jane Ferentzi-Sheppard and others: Bridport House Histories

© Bridport History Society 2024