We warmly welcome guests to our talks at £5.00 per person. Students are free.
Membership to the Marlborough History Society is £15.00 per annum and if you wish to become a member please click here.
For events/talks held at St Peter’s Church, doors open at 7.00 pm
Please note: There are no talks in June, July, August and December
19 Sep
The RNLI Bicentenary – 1824 to 2024
TIME: 7:30 PMSPEAKERS: 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.
20 Sep
Guided Walk Around Avebury
TIME: 11:00 AMLeader: Dick Whitfield (Volunteer guide for the National Trust at Avebury).
Join the Marlborough History Society for a Guided Walk around the historical Avebury stone circle.
The tour will be approximately one hour or more.
Limited to 15 places – members only in the first instance.
MHS Members: Free
Guests: £5.00
To book your place please contact John Osborne via email: jeo66@btinternet.com
The meeting point will be confirmed to those who book.
17 Oct
Marlborough by Gaslight: the Victorian Age
TIME: 7:30 PMSPEAKER: Nick Baxter
Nick Baxter (MA) lectures widely on local history subjects and leads guided walks. For the past three years he has tutored on Discovering Marlborough’s History for Marlborough College Summer School.
Topic:
On December 2nd 1997 a “Victorian Extravaganza” was held in Marlborough High Street. Late night shopping was made available and a variety of stalls, displays and street entertainment provided. Just before the event, the Retort house, the last surviving part of the old Victorian gasworks, was unceremoniously demolished reflecting what the town really thought about its 19th century heritage.
Victorian Marlborough was a very different place to what it is now. The gasworks, prison, workhouse, tanneries, breweries, rope works and railway stations are all gone but they continue to cast a shadow.
21 Nov
Lest We Forget – Fabian Ware and the Imperial War Graves Commission
TIME: 7:30 PMSPEAKER: 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.
