APRIL  2018

SPEAKERS

PETER SHAKESHAFT

 

peter.shakeshaft@btinternet.com  01253 720852

 

ASPECTS of FRECKLETON

 

INDUSTRIAL FRECKLETON

 

THE HISTORY of FRECKLETON MARSH

 

RELIGION in FRECKLETON

 

FRECKLETON CLUB DAY 1800 – 1914

 

HISTORY of  HOLY TRINITY  FRECKLETON

 

ST ANNES - THE FIRST 25 YEARS

 

ASPECTS of  HEYHOUSES

 

HISTORY of  ST PAUL’S WARTON

 

HISTORY of  ST CUTHBERT’S LYTHAM 1536 - 1834

 

HISTORY  of  LYTHAM MANORIAL COURT  1517 - 1946

DICK GILLINGHAM  

 

gill.gillingham@uwclub.net     01253 890105

 

FISH AND SHIPS  History of Deep Sea Fishing from Fleetwood

 

DECIMUS BURTON Fleetwood’s Founding Architect

 

FREDERICK KEMP OF FLEETWOOD  The Man or the Myth - Victorian Philanthropist

 

VICTORIAN PHILANTHROPISTS & THE NEW INDUSTRIAL SETTLEMENTS

 

THE HEYDAY OF THE BRITISH CIRCUS

 

THE PORT OF FLEETWOOD

 

 

CHRISTINE STOREY

mc.storey@btinternet.com

 

POULTON-LE-FYLDE THEN & NOW,                POULTON - A Fylde Market Town,                  St CHAD’S - Poulton Parish Church

 

CARLETON  - The history of a township,            TRACING A FYLDE FAMILY - 800 Years,   St JOHN the EVANGELIST Catholic Church Poulton

 

MIKE COYLE

 

mike.coyle@btinternet.com    01253 761778

 

WAR MEMORIALS as a RESOURCE

 

RESCUE, RESTORATION and RELOCATION of

WAR MEMORIALS

 

ANY TOPICS RELATED to WAR MEMORIALS, THEIR HISTORY and PLACE in the MODERN WORLD

 

 

Victorian Optical Entertainments

A talk or seminar for students of art history, media, film studies and visual sciences and groups interested in social history, photography, cinema and the Victorians.

Since the earliest times, artists and scientists have tried to capture real life (movement and  perspective) through art and mechanical devices. The Victorians used the new science of  optics to create perspective machines, persistence-of-vision devices, panoramic scenes,  three-dimensional imagery and moving pictures in large scale theatrical extravaganzas and children’s toys.

I have collected optical antiques for forty years and presented authentic Victorian magic  lantern shows, on a professional basis, for the last twenty. I work with museums; TV companies; academia; festivals; U3As and special interest groups. In addition to my lantern slide shows, I now offer a talk or seminar on the Victorian optical entertainments (peepshows; transformation views; dioramas; panoramas; zoetropes; stereoscopes; magic  lanterns; phantasmagoria shows and much more) that led to the invention of cinema and the  plethora of visual entertainments we enjoy today.

One hour talk - a light-touch, illustrated meander through the history of optical entertainments from  cave art to the birth of the movies in 1895, with practical demonstrations and the opportunity to see (and play with) Victorian optical devices.

Half day seminar - a broader, deeper examination of the subject.

“A talk, an experience, an adventure even, that took one back to a pre-celluloid era, giving an intriguing glimpse into the visual entertainment our great grandparents enjoyed. Andrew's depth of knowledge and obvious enthusiasm guaranteed an enthralling presentation. Historical devices and optical artefacts from his collection brought additional life to the story and revealed the ingenuity and resourcefulness of Victorian entertainers and showmen.” Alan Wiseman, Burnley & District U3A.

“The show was very informative and entertaining. Students and staff alike enjoyed Andrew’s informative presentation and being able to use some of the items on show. It really helped join the dots of the relationship between the pre-cursors of photography,  cinema and where we are now with inventions like the ipad.” Matthew Andrew, School of Arts and Media, University of Salford.

“Andrew led us through the fascinating development of pre-cinema visual entertainment - described by our members as ‘delightful’ ,’wonderful’, ‘unique’ and ‘just the most unusual and interesting presentation I’ve seen in years’, followed by an opportunity to ‘look at and marvel over’ a wide range of original optical devices. ‘I had no idea there were so many’.” Peter Scurfield, Chairman, Wilmslow U3A.

Explore this forgotten world and experience the visual wonders enjoyed by our Victorian ancestors. For further information or to discuss a particular event, project or course, please  contact me, Andrew Gill, on 01706 227328 or email me at         lanternist@ntlworld.com

 

 

 

 

Talks currently offered to local societies and organisations

Updated June  2015

 

Dr Michael (Mike) Winstanley

Retired Senior Lecturer in Social and Regional History, Lancaster University

m.winstanley@lancaster.ac.uk (preferably) or melandmike73@gmail.com 015242 21277

 

These are talks I have given to local societies and groups across Lancashire and Cumbria.  All are based on original research and all, bar two, use illustrations from the North West.

I am always researching and working other subjects up; please ask for further details.

 

Lancashire History

Lord Burghley and maps of Lancashire: an Elizabethan mystery

Discusses two of the earliest maps of the county which include names of the gentry and some enigmatic crosses by some of the names.

 

Was Shakespeare in Lancashire?  The strange case of John Cottom of St Michael’s on Wyre, Stratford schoolmaster.

A critical re-examination of the evidence that the young William Shakespeare stayed at Houghton Tower in the early 1580s, introduced to Catholics in the county by the Stratford schoolmaster, John Cottom, who hailed from St Michaels on Wyre.

 

Edward Baines and the History of Lancashire (1836)

The first scholarly (4 volume) history of the county with detailed parish histories.  Who was Baines?  How did he write such a work in an era without local archives and libraries?  The people who assisted him, including the young Edwin Butterworth of Oldham who visited every parish. Who supplied the illustrations?

 

Artists and Prints

Lancashire AND/OR Cumbria Illustrated: early 19th century prints (including local examples)

I can offer this for Lancashire or Cumbria or both.  It illustrates the counties from the profusion of prints which appeared in the early decades of the 19th century and discusses the artists behind them why so many were produced at that period and what they can tell us about life in the region at the time.

 

Thomas Allom (1804-1872): artist and architect

Not a household name today but once renowned for his work as an artist, architect and draughtsman.  This looks at his some of his nearly 200 published prints of Lancashire and Cumbria made in the 1830s (many for sale today in antique shops and on the web) and his fascinating life and work as an artist and architect.

 

Markets and Shops

Markets to Supermarkets: 200 years of shopping:…

Looks at the development of markets, shops, chain stores, co-ops and supermarkets over the last 200 years, focusing in particular on the North West’s distinctive developments.  Can be tailored to different parts of the region

 

Lancaster’s Markets

A history of Lancaster’s street and covered markets and their place in the town.

 

Lonsdale and the West Indies

For Tortola: Quakers, (Lonsdale or Lancaster) merchants and West Indies c.1750-1850

This explores some of the remarkable trading, personal and religious connections between the Morecambe Bay area and the tiny, often neglected but important Caribbean Virgin Islands.  It expands on the context for a book on Abram, a Lancaster-built ship named after a plantation owner which sailed to the islands and which later became an arctic whaler! M Winstanley and R David, The West Indies and the Arctic in the Age of Sail: Voyages of Abram 1802-1862 (CNWRS Lancaster University 2013)

 

The Lune Valley and the West Indies

An exploration of the multi-faceted connections between farming and yeomen families in the Lune Valley and Britain’s sugar colonies in the West Indies.

 

Lancaster History (see also Lancaster Markets)

Lancaster Castle as 19th century prison

An exploration of how a medieval castle was converted into a 19th century prison and how the prisoners – and debtors – were treated.  

West Indies to Window Blinds: 19th century Lancaster

Georgian prosperity, mid-Victorian slump, late 19th century boom and an Edwardian swansong.  How the old county town fared during the industrial revolution.

 

Historical Pageants

Historical Pageants in the North West

During the first half of the 20th century, many towns and villages (inc Carlisle, Lancaster, Preston, Liverpool, Manchester, etc) mounted elaborate historical pageants, often with casts of thousands, which depicted their areas’ local histories. This talk illustrates some of these pageants and discusses why they were mounted, what they contained and who participated.

 

Lancaster Pageants

This talk focuses on Lancaster’s pageants in 1913 and 1930 and also covers the celebrations of 1937 when Lancaster became a city and an indoor pageant of 1953.

 

Rural Society c1780-1920 (can be given individually or split/expanded/merged) illustrated with material from NW England (see also sources). Topics covered -

 

a) Agricultural Revolutions: Feeding the Industrial Revolution

What did the rapidly expanding population of the country, and particularly the industrial North west, eat and where did their food come from?  

b) Landowners and tenants

An exploration of the families who owned and farmed the land in C19 North West and some sources for studying them

c) Work on the Land

A discussion of the workforce – men, women and children - how it changed over the course of the century and how it differed up and down the country and region

d) Enclosures and Commons

The drive towards Parliamentary Enclosure but also the survival and value of common land, especially in the North West.

e) Ireland:  Potatoes, Famine and Emigration OR ‘The Great Hunger: 1845-51’

Why did the Irish eat potatoes and why did so many die in the Great Famine of the 1840s or leave the country?

f) The Highland Clearances

What were they? How ‘cruel’ were they? What did they achieve?

 

Victorian Society in Cumbria AND/OR Lancashire

a) Charity, the Poor Law and Workhouse’ – when all else failed

An exploration of the ways in which people sought to ‘make ends meet’ and get through hard times including the poor law and the increasingly dreaded workhouse

b) Muck, Medicine and Mortality:  Health and Housing

Water, sewerage, housing, hospitals, medicine – an exploration of the ways in which Victorians coped, or tried to cope with squalor and disease

c) Happy Days? Educating the Masses

Elementary schooling, 1818-1918

d) Outside the Law: crime, policing and punishment

Patterns of crime, the development of local police forces and the changing role of local prisons

e) Roughs and Respectables: the pleasures and problems of leisure

Some of the various ways in which people entertained themselves – or were entertained – and authorities’ responses to them

f) Getting Away from it all: seaside resorts and the Lakes

The growth of the day trip, seaside holiday and Lakeland tour

g) Child Labour in the 19th century

How extensive was child labour?  What were contemporary attitudes towards it?

 

Sources for Local History

Edwardian Domesday c1910-14

An introduction to maps, surveys and descriptions of every property in every parish in the country. Ideally I would need time to research in the National Archives in London to be able to provide local examples.

 

Making Sense of the Census

The census is a widely used for family history but what else can one do with it?

 

A Neglected Treasure Trove: 19th century Lancashire and/or Cumbrian History from Parliamentary Publications

British Parliamentary enquiries have information on virtually every aspect of British history: population, factories, enclosure and farming, public health etc etc. And every local MP’s speeches!

 

Agricultural Returns and the National Farm Survey of 1941

The government has collected details of agricultural output at parish level every year since 1870 and in 1941 instituted a major survey of every farm.  The sources and what they tell us