What’s On

18 Jan

An Architectural History of Marlborough College

SPEAKER: Chris Rogers

Christopher Rogers is a retired schoolmaster and lectures on Historic Buildings. He taught at Marlborough College, and ran Summer School courses on architectural and art history. He lives locally and has been an Arts Society lecturer for many years.

TOPIC:
From the building of Marlborough House around 1700, which formed the nucleus of Marlborough College at its foundation in 1843, through the building of the Chapel, to the construction of a new dining hall (the Norwood Hall) in the 1960’s, the College has used a series of well-established architects to create the range of buildings which are so familiar to us today.

18 Jan

An Architectural History of Marlborough College

SPEAKER: Chris Rogers

Christopher Rogers is a retired schoolmaster and lectures on Historic Buildings. He taught at Marlborough College, and ran Summer School courses on architectural and art history. He lives locally and has been an Arts Society lecturer for many years.

TOPIC:
From the building of Marlborough House around 1700, which formed the nucleus of Marlborough College at its foundation in 1843, through the building of the Chapel, to the construction of a new dining hall (the Norwood Hall) in the 1960’s, the College has used a series of well-established architects to create the range of buildings which are so familiar to us today.

15 Feb

How the Monarch Entertains at Windsor – Treasures From the Royal Library

SPEAKER: Oliver Everett

Oliver Everett is Librarian Emeritus of the Royal Library, Windsor Castle. He was Librarian there from 1985 to 2002. He wrote articles and helped with several books on the Royal Collection, and wrote the official guidebook on Windsor Castle. After serving as a diplomat, he was Assistant Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales, and then Private Secretary to Diana, Princess of Wales. He lectures widely to arts societies in Britain and abroad, on cruise ships, and takes arts groups to India.

TOPIC:
HM Charles III is continuing the long tradition of monarchs taking their dinner guests at Windsor to the library after the meal.

21 Mar

The Strange Death of Marlborough Union Workhouse

SPEAKER: Nick Baxter

Nick Baxter is a local historian, author, lecturer and tour guide

TOPIC:

Opened in 1837, the Marlborough Union Workhouse’s early years were fraught with difficulties. In January 1849 inmates wrecked the kitchen and smashed windows. Boards covered the broken windows, except in the able bodied men’s ward where the paupers were left to freeze.

In 1930 the workhouse became a Public Assistance Institution following the abolition of Poor Law Unions. Buildings were converted to the use of a Children’s Convalescent Home, and later Hospital and School, which closed in the 1980’s. In the 1990’s it was re-developed into luxury flats for older people. Controversy erupted when the developer chose to name the development “Digby Court” after a Civil War general who was involved in the sacking of the town in December 1642. After extensive media coverage “Digby Court” was dropped and replaced by “St Luke’s Court” after the patron saint of physicians. Further controversy came when the plaque, identifying the building as originally a workhouse, was removed by the developer. This was vigorously resisted and the plaque eventually reinstated.

The horrors of the Civil War, and the sufferings of those incarcerated in the workhouse, are not the images desired by some. But in attempting to erase those images, history risks being distorted and sanitised.

18 Apr

Discovering Avebury – Landscape and People

SPEAKER: Dr Nick Snashall

Dr Nick Snashall is the National Trust archaeologist for the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site. She has excavated on prehistoric, Roman and Medieval sites across Britain and Europe. An expert in the Neolithic and Bronze Age, her research interests include prehistoric stone tools, landscape inhabitation and the archaeology of ritual and religion. She is co-director of the Avebury Living with Monuments Project. Follow her on Twitter @DrNickNT

TOPIC:
Avebury, its ancient stones and burial mounds have been the subject of speculation and exploration for centuries. In this talk Dr Nick Snashall will reveal the story of a landscape that almost four hundred years after the antiquary John Aubrey first encountered, it is still giving up its secrets.

Further information about Avebury and its landscape: Avebury’s stone circles & henge | Wiltshire | National Trust
The Avebury Papers – a project that is currently underway at Avebury to digitise and share the museum archive of Alexander Keiller’s excavations at Avebury. You can find out more information here.

16 May

Unsung Heroes: Animals in War

SPEAKER:  Philip Whitemore

Philip Whitemore was born in Bath, graduated from Birmingham University, and spent thirty years in the Royal Signals, mostly in Germany. Retiring from the army he joined BT Syntegra as a consultant, and managed the construction and running of an Information Systems and Communications test house at Blandford Camp.

TOPIC:
This is the sometimes heartrending story of the horses, mules, pigeons, dogs, and even a cat and a pig, that served the Armed Forces in wartime – from ancient times, through two World Wars and the Cold War, to recent conflicts in the Middle East.  Millions of animals and birds died, and this story hopes to show that they were valued, cared for, and have been recognised with awards and memorials.

19 Sep

The RNLI Bicentenary – 1824 to 2024

SPEAKERS: Mary and Ben Bentley

Devizes based husband and wife team Mary and Ben Bentley have been fundraisers for the RNLI for over 20 years. Ben spent 32 years in the Royal Navy and Mary was a nurse for 37 years. They started giving presentations 2 years ago, to numerous groups in Wiltshire and beyond.

TOPIC:
The Marlborough History Society talk coincides with the 200 years anniversary of when the RNLI was formed. They will give a 50 minute illustrated talk regarding the formation and development of the institution from the early 1800s up until the present day. There will also be time for questions and a chance to buy some RNLI souvenirs and Christmas cards.

17 Oct

The Wiltshire Rising Against Oliver Cromwell

SPEAKER: Eric Jones

Eric Jones is a retired Professor of Economic History and Author

Topic:
The Penruddock Uprising was a Royalist revolt launched on 11 March 1655, intending to restore Charles II to the throne of England. It was led by John Penruddock, a Wiltshire landowner who fought for Charles I in the First English Civil War; intended as one of a number of co-ordinated risings, the others failed to take place and it was easily suppressed.

21 Nov

Lest We Forget – Fabian Ware and the Imperial War Graves Commission

SPEAKER: David Du Croz
David Du Croz was Head of History at Marlborough College for eleven years before retiring in 2007. He became involved with the College’s WWI centenary commemorations and developed a keen interest in events on the Western Front, leading many battlefield tours. He ran courses on the First World War at the Marlborough Summer School and has lectured extensively on various aspects of that war

TOPIC:
The Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission was the brainchild of Fabian Ware, whose own story and that of this most remarkable achievement are the bones of this talk. Together with some of the finest talents in the kingdom – Rudyard Kipling and Edwin Lutyens to name but two – he fashioned the greatest global memorial known to man.