Symposium: John Thelwall and Radical Norfolk

John Thelwall and Radical Norfolk

Friday 25 October 2024

Norfolk Record Office Archive Centre Martineau Lane Norwich NR1 2DQ

Programme

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Norfolk and the city of Norwich experienced an extraordinary cultural efflorescence. In these years, Norwich became a centre of vibrant literary and intellectual activity supporting a substantial, educated population nurtured by its newspapers, its Theatre Royal, public library (1784), and its numerous debating and discussion clubs and coffee shops. Norwich’s citizens actively debated the leading political, social, and cultural issues of the day, including the American War of Independence, the transatlantic slave trade, the French Revolution and civil and religious liberty more widely. This culture of political activism extended to the nearby port of Great Yarmouth. In 1796, the famous London radical poet and lecturer, John Thelwall, arrived in Great Yarmouth to deliver his historical lectures, an event that ended in serious rioting when opposing loyalist forces deployed a naval pressgang to disrupt the proceedings.

This symposium is being held to mark the generous donation of manuscripts, by the John Thelwall Society to the Norfolk Record Office which includes affidavits of witnesses to and victims of this politically motivated assault and the recent discovery of a new manuscript copy of Thelwall’s poem, ‘The Orphan Boy”.

9.30-10.00:  Registration and coffee

10.00-10.10: Welcome and Introduction: Peter Kitson (University of East Anglia)

10.10-11.10: Nicholas Roe (University of St Andrews), ‘John Thelwall at Pontic Hill’.

11.10-11.30: Coffee break

11.30-12.15: Penelope Corfield (Royal Holloway, University of London), “Norwich radicalism’.

12.15-13.15: Lunch

13.15-14.00: Steve Poole (University of the West of England), ‘‘The Suppression of Radicalism in England c.1796-1798’.

14.00-14.45: Judith Thompson (Dalhousie University/University of Kings College, Halifax Nova Scotia), ‘John Thelwall in Norfolk: Orphan Boys and Female Citizens’.

14.45-15.05: Refreshments

15.05-15.55: James Wood (University of East Anglia), ‘“Jermyn Pratt, David Service, and Poetic Electioneering.”

15.55-16.40: Hana Hill (UEA), “Amelia Opie and Radical Norfolk.”

16.40-17.00: Closing Remarks: Peter Kitson (University of East Anglia).

There will also be a walk in Norwich to visit the Octagon Chapel and other relevant locations on Saturday morning for those interested.

For booking and other details see: https://norfolkrecordofficeblog.org/events-summer-autumn-2024/#thelwall

For further detail contact: James Wood J.Wood@uea.ac.uk or Peter Kitson p.kitson@uea.ac.uk

The event is organised by the Norwich Public Record Office and The University of East Anglia