8th January - Errant Saints: sex, scandal and religion in the mid-seventeenth century Lecture from Dr Fiona McCall, University of Portsmouth
The secular authorities of the Commonwealth period are notorious for their particularly harsh line against sexual misdemeanours. This lecture shows how their attention to the behaviour of scandalous clergy and adulterous parishioners developed out of long-standing concerns both of the church courts and of puritan polemic.
19th February - ‘Gone with the Wind`- a great book? Lecture from Professor Tony Badger, President of the Historical Association
Tony Badger explores the extraordinary international popularity of Gone with the Wind both as a book and a film. He examines the historical accuracy of the book, particularly the disconnect between the Scarlett O'Hara of the book and the plantation mistress of the film. The talk examines the white racial attitudes and the account of post-civil war reconstruction in the light of the historiographical orthodoxies of the 1930s and traces the development of Margaret Mitchell from hard-bitten journalist to conservative celebrity.
12th march - Hardly a man's work at this time: the Portsmouth Military Service Tribunal. A lecture from James Daly, D-Day Museum, Portsmouth
This talk-is-based on research into- the records of the Portsmouth Military Service TrthunaLduringWW1. Although the records were ordered to be destroyed on the cessation of hostilities, they survived and provide insights into local society and conditions in the later years of the Great War.
14th may - AGM and Lecture from Bishop's Cannings to Portsmouth, via the Pacific: The Career of William Bayly (1738- 1810) Dr James Thomas, University of Portsmouth. James Thomas's research centres on William Bayly, farmer's son, astronomer to Captain Cook and Headmaster of Portsmouth Naval Academy, 1785-1806.
4th June - A lecture from Dr Sue Bruley, University of Portsmouth on The Hidden History of a Naval Town: Women's Activism in Portsmouth since 1960 (a project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund)