Category: Uncategorized

For May we will be welcoming Society member Ian Russell Lowell. Many of you will know Ian from when he lived in Wellingborough and Northampton, and several will have attended one of his courses at Knuston Hall, before its untimely closure.

Ian’s range of interests are eclectic and include art, theology, wargaming and the history of playing cards, all of which are contributing to his talk, along with several others.

This talk will look at the role of Northampton’s twin city of Marburg in Germany during the Reformation. Northampton was known as a hot bed of radical religious thought, and our German counterparts were no slouch in this area either. During this evening we will be finding out how preaching, playing cards, landsknechts*, knights, snails and shoes have particular significance for the German Reformation and for Marburg.

*If you don’t know what a landskneckt is you’ll just have to come along to find out, won’t you?

Tickets FOR PERSONAL ATTENDANCE ONLY are available on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/marburg-the-reformation-and-northamptons-twin-city-tickets-631490243317

The talk is free to fully paid up members. Non-members can attend for £5.00, payable when you book your ticket. If you join on the night (£20 single membership, £30 for family) this will be deducted from your fee. Memberships taken out at the event cover the meeting and the rest of 2023.

Tea and coffee will be available in the Salon before the meeting. This is being arranged by the Delapre Abbey volunteers, and a donation box for payments will be provided.

Members attending by Zoom do not need to book a ticket.

This month we have Professor Turi King, who led the project to sequence the DNA from the skeleton found in the carpark in Leicester. This ultimately proved that Richard III’s remains had been found.

Most of the tickets have been snapped up through priority notification to Society members. A very small number remain for purchase by non-members. These can be bought through the Eventbrite website: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-kings-dna-tickets-609777469827

30th March 2023

Society member Chris Kemp has had a varied career, from running “Tradewinds” outdoor leisure shop in Wellingborough, to working in the NHS. Before all of that he was an officer in the Royal Engineers, and was one of those who was part of Operation Corporate – better known to the rest of us as “The Falklands Task Force”.

Victory in the Falklands was not a foregone conclusion. Chris served throughout the conflict, from “Bomb Alley” to Port Stanley. In this personal account he will discuss, amongst other things, the engineering that made victory possible and his participation in events that have passed into our history almost first hand through media coverage at the time.

More than 40 years on from the conflict, this is the first time Chris has spoken publicly about his experiences during the war. It will present a unique opportunity to hear about what when on from someone who was there in a very much hands on role.

This promises to be one of our unique “you had to be there” meetings, where someone with genuine, close up knowledge of what went on is coming to talk to us. Not to be missed.

Tickets FOR PERSONAL ATTENDANCE ONLY are available on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-falklands-war-a-personal-perspective-tickets-582132432777.

The talk is free to fully paid up members. Non-members can attend for £5.00, payable when you book your ticket. If you join on the night (£20 single membership, £30 for family) this will be deducted from your fee. Memberships taken out at the event cover the meeting and the rest of 2023.

Tea and coffee will be available in the Salon before the meeting. This is being arranged by the Delapre Abbey volunteers, and a donation box for payments will be provided.

Members attending by Zoom do not need to book a ticket.

23rd February 2023

2nd St Albans, fought on the 17th February 1461, was one of the largest battles of the Wars of the Roses. Following their defeat at Northampton the year before and the capture of Henry VI, the Lancastrians counterattacked with their victory at Wakefield in December 1460. Early the following year a large army, put together by Queen Margaret , headed south from the Lancastrian heartlands to capture London and free the King. They would be confronted by the Earl of Warwick in one of the largest battles of the Wars of the Roses.

Mike Elliot is the co-author of the “Battleground” book on the battles of St Albans. He is a member of the Battlefields Trust and an experienced battlefield guide for the area. Having walked the ground many times, Mike will offer a real insight in to what actually happened at one of the Kingmaker’s biggest defeats.

Tickets are now available from Eventbrite. Tickets are free to paid up members, £5 for non-members.

Please note members intending to attend by Zoom do not need to book a ticket.

Because Social Media is what it is you never know who is going to contact you. So I suppose I should expect the odd message asking if I’m “that Graham Evans”. Well, in respect of our book about Edgcote in 1469, I am. In this case I was also asked if I’d go a bit of an introduction for a wargame video for a refight of Edgcote using model figures. Well, I had some free time, so why not. The result is posted below. It might amuse some of you. It made me laugh.

And please don’t tell me that our American friend can’t pronounce Warwick correctly. He knows now.

Our first talk of the year visits a subject at the centre of military history in all periods – what do commanders do and how do they lead?

How did medieval military leaders communicate with their troops in the midst of battle? Did commanders always lead from the front? Did poor leadership ensure defeat? This talk will address these questions and more, as it explores the vital influences of leaders in battle – as tacticians, inspirational figures, and fighters – throughout the medieval period.

Dr Rachael Whitbread is a writer, historian, and educator. She researches and writes about various aspects of conflict in medieval and early Tudor England. Her first book, ‘Battle: Understanding Conflict from Hastings to Helmand’ was released in September 2022.

The talk is free to fully paid up members. Non-members can attend for £5.00, payable when you book your ticket. If you join on the night (£20 single membership, £30 for a family) this will be deducted from your membership fee. Memberships taken out at the event cover the meeting and the rest of 2023.

Tea and coffee will be available in the Salon before the meeting. This is being arranged by the Delapre Abbey volunteers, and a donation box for payments will be provided.

To book your ticket for personal attendance at Delapre Abbey ONLY, go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-the-battles-won-and-lost-leadership-in-medieval-battles-1066-1485-tickets-515535038177

Here’s a look at our programme leaflet for 2023 A wide range of speakers and subjects means we’re looking forwards to another excellent year. Details of how to join the Society and get access to all of these for free, either in person or on Zoom, are given below.

John Bassett OBE returns to give us another more modern talk. His previous forays into Allied WW2 covert operations and the Cuban missile crisis have passed into Society legend as not to be missed events. This talk will look at the county’s links to the British union of Fascists in the inter war years, and also the English speaking elements of the Brandenburger group, operated by German intelligence during WW2, and looks to be equally enthralling.

Tickets are now available on Eventbrite on this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/truth-lies-and-nazi-spies-tickets-462515515357.

These tickets are for entry to the meeting at Delapre Abbey. They are free to paid up members, and £5 to non-members. In a change to previous meetings, non-members must pay through the Eventbrite website, and tickets are non-refundable.

For members unable to attend in person a Zoom link has been sent out with the notification email.

The Society is now taking membership subscriptions for the year 2023. Any new memberships taken out before our meeting in November will also allow admission to that event.

The membership form is available on the membership tab above. A single membership is £20, and a family (2 adults, 2 children) is £30.

As Hallowe’en approaches, Gemma Hollman, who runs the “Just History” website comes to talk to us about Royalty and Witchcraft.

NB This meeting will be preceded by the Society’s AGM, which will commence at 7pm. This should last for about 30 minutes before we hand over to our speaker

Gemma published her debut book, “Royal Witches”, in 2019. The book covers four women of Royal Blood who in the 15th century were accused of witchcraft. Two of these women, Jacquetta and Luxembourg and Elizabeth Woodville, have a close Northamptonshire connection. Gemma will be sharing their stories and explaining the importance and the relevance of the accusations made against them in this earlier, more superstitious time.

Tickets available from Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/royal-witches-tickets-438932507947