Emeritus Professor W.A. Speck R.I.P.

I was saddened to learn of the death of Bill Speck in February 2017. He will, I'm sure be sadly missed by the whole community of eighteenth-century studies. I first met him at the University of Nottingham at a meeting of the Historical Association, a society which he was a great advocate and past President. I would later work alongside him co-convening the University of Nottingham Interdisciplinary Eighteenth-Century Research Seminar (2009-2011). His passion for History, and the Eighteenth-Century in particular, was infectious and he rapidly became a friend and mentor. He was a regular and popular figure at the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Annual Conference, where we continued to meet after I left Nottingham. His work has left an indelible mark upon the history of the reign of Queen Anne, and his later work on the poet Robert Southey demonstrated his intellectual talent and adaptability, publishing across the length and breadth of the long eighteenth-century. 

Rest in Peace Old Friend.

Charles James Fox and William Pitt the Younger: A Rivalry in Caricature

I have, at long last, got around to finishing drafting my book on Charles James Fox and William Pitt the Younger and their Rivalry in Caricature, and submitted it to I.B. Tauris in February.

Update . . .

A lot has been going on since my last update:

• I have taken on the role of Membership Secretary for the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
• I have had a review of Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer published on the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Criticks website
• I have been invited to help with the re-launch of the Hampshire Papers pamphlet series
• I have also submitted a proposal to a publisher with the view to turning my PhD. Thesis: 'The Politician in Caricature: The Case of Charles James Fox' into a book on Charles James Fox and William Pitt the Younger in Caricature
• I will be giving a paper at the 2015 British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Conference on 'A Democrat - or - Reason and Philosophy': Negative Images of Charles James Fox and the French Revolution

British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies

I have recently been co-opted onto the Executive Committee for the British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies.


For more information about the society, its aims and objectives see: http://www.bsecs.org.uk/

Enlightenment! Setting the Pace in the Eighteenth Century

I recently had an essay 'Promoting Business' published in Enlightenment! Derbyshire Setting the Pace in the Eighteenth Century (2013), the exhibition catalogue for the exhibition of the same name which was staged to coincide with the end of the Enlightenment! Derbyshire Setting the Pace in the Eighteenth Century Project which had run from 2008-2013 with funding from the Heritage Lottery  Fund's 'Collecting Cultures' project.

BSECS 2014

I recently presented a paper 'Concerts for Ancient Music Revisited' at the 43rd Annual Conference of the British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies.


In this paper I sought to revise the prevailing view that James Gillray's print Ancient Music (1787) was purely a social satire on the attendance of the King and Queen Consort at the concerts as subscribers, drawing out a number of political undertones including the removal of the Fox-North Coalition.


I also sought to revise the view that the dominance of Handel in the musical canon of the concerts was down to its first treasurer, Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, fourth baronet, by demonstrating that Handel's work continued to dominate after Sir Watkin's death and that there was evidence in later programmes of an overarching strategy.


My main conclusions were as follows:


The work of Handel dominated most concerts put on by the Concerts of Ancient Music.

• His was the only work to fill the entirety of individual concerts or an entire act of a concert.
• Whilst Sir Watkin Williams Wynn was no doubt a keen admirer of Handel’s music he was not the only director of the concerts to give over a disproportionate amount of space to his work.
• The work of Handel dominated the music library catalogue of the Concerts published in 1827 covering forty-one of the sixty five pages.
• The dominance of Handel’s works continued well after Sir Watkin Williams Wynn’s death in 1789.
• James Gillray’s print Ancient Music clearly hints at the concerts having a political aspect with many of its protagonists being current or former ministers
• The print also provides a comment on the fall of the Fox-North Coalition some three years after its fall from power.

Enlightenment! Derbyshire Setting the Pace in the Eighteenth Century

Yesterday saw me return to Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, where I had undertaken an internship with the Enlightenment Derbyshire Project in the spring of 2011, undertaking a research project into Ephemera Collections. It was the first time that I had been back since completing my internship and so the first time I got to see the plaque they won at the 2011 Derbyshire Heritage awards on the back of my piece of research.

 

 

My visit also coincided with an exhibition marking the end of the Enlightenment project. The exhibition provides an excellent opportunity to view the new acquisitions made as part of the project, funded by the Heritage Lottery fund's Collecting Cultures Project. The exhibition contained a number of interesting pieces, all of which had a connection to Derbyshire, either having been manufactured there, or been by inhabitants of the county. The exhibition runs in Buxton until Sunday 14 April when it moves on to Strutt's Belper North Mill (Sunday 20 April to Monday 27 May) and then on to Derby Museum and Art Gallery (Sunday 22 June to Sunday 25 August). Further news on the project and information on items purchased as part of the Enlightenment! project can be found on their blog:  www.enlightenmentderbyshire.wordpress.com