The Historical Association

Dr James Thomas, reader in Local and Maritime History at the University of Portsmouth, encourages us all to come along to some of the exciting historical events forthcoming at our local branch of the Historical Association

Founded in 1906, and with headquarters at 59A Kennington Park Road, London, the Historical Association is an independent charity incorporated by Royal Charter. Styling itself as ‘The voice for history’, it exists to promote the academic discipline at all levels. A nationwide organisation with over 50 branches, from Norfolk and Norwich to Swansea, from Durham to the Isle of Wight, from Glasgow and West Scotland to Derry in Northern Ireland, it hosts a series of publications including the acclaimed journal History, and regularly produced magazines, The Historian, Primary History and Teaching History. An Annual Conference, usually held in May, provides an opportunity to meet other members, listen to notable speakers, explore and engage with the subject. For nearly eight decades tours have also been an important part of the H.A.’s activities, while a comparatively recent development has been the formation of a Dining Group in London. Branches are given a free hand in terms of how they organise their activities. In Portsmouth the branch hosts a series of monthly lectures between October and May, the last meeting of the season being combined with the requisite Annual General Meeting. Speakers are drawn from the organisation’s National Panel of Speakers and from enthusiastic local academics and researchers. The branch also supports a series of monthly seminars between October and March. These are designed to achieve three objectives:

1. Promote discussion.
2. Provide new researchers with an initial opportunity to make a public presentation in a friendly environment
3. Provide established researchers with a venue to try out a new paper based on their current research.

Branch meetings and seminars are held in Room 2.07 Park Building, University of Portsmouth on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month and commence at 7pm. The next two events are a lecture by Dr James Thomas, Reader in Local and Maritime History in the University of Portsmouth and a Fellow of the H.A. , on 10 January 2017. His talk is entitled ‘The Governor, the Pirates and the Lost Treasure: A Case of Misplaced Loyalties’. The next seminar is on 24 January 2017 when Richard Watson, a final year History undergraduate, will present a paper entitled ‘American Prisoners of War 1775-1783’. Do come along, participate and proffer support.