This January the WS Society hosted its first January Lecture Series, an extension of the History Special Interest Group. We hosted three excellent speakers who covered a range of historical subjects, many with links to Writers to the Signet or the Signet Library’s collections.
Our first speaker was Dr Kit Baston who gave a lecture on ‘The Bibliotheca Polonica: Poland and the Signet Library’. Dr Baston’s new research into one of the Signet Library’s most storied collections of books revealed a curious, open and sympathetic history of the Signet Library during the Polish revolutionary wars. A collection of Polish books, the Bibliotheca Polonica, was donated to the Signet Library to protect them from near constant conflict in Poland and out of reach of the Prussians and the Czar. This rare collection, now in the care of the National Library, demonstrated a forward-thinking Signet Library in the nineteenth century. Dr Baston reflected on the similar threats to books and libraries in present day Ukraine. Dr Baston and the Signet Library team curated a detailed exhibition with artefacts and documents related to the Bibliotheca Polonica, which is still available for viewing in the Upper West Library.
Richard Blake WS followed with a lecture on his new book Sugar, Slaves and High Society: the Grants of Kilgraston 1750-1860. This book explores the fortunes of the Grants of Kilgraston who were interlinked with the rise and subsequent decline of the British Empire and the Caribbean slave economy. Richard Blake WS presented a wonderfully varied cast of characters who were colourful, idiosyncratic, wayward and talented. As the British Empire extended its dominion, the Grants cemented their position in high society and left their mark on history as they encountered royalty and the White Rajahs of Sarawak. This history offered attendees a moving insight into a local family with global connections (and several Writers to the Signet to note).
Our last speaker in the series was Chloë Kennedy, Professor of Law and History at the University of Edinburgh. Professor Kennedy’s lecture was based on her new monograph, Inducing Intimacy: Deception, Consent and the Law. Professor Kennedy utilised the Commissioner Room’s extensive historic texts on criminal law for parts of her research. Her lecture considered the law’s response to deceptively induced intimacy across both civil and criminal law over more than two centuries. Encompassing legal responses within a fresh model of socio-legal history, Professor Kennedy takes a long-term historical view which has important implications for the law’s treatment of induced intimacy today.
We were delighted to attract a full house for each lecture in the Commissioners Room. Our guests enjoyed a drinks reception before each lecture and had ample opportunity to discuss their historical interests.
