Events
Victorian Society events are first publicised to members in the 'Blue Sheet' with our mailings in February, June and October before appearing below. Some require booking, others you can just turn up on the day. A ballot is held for oversubscribed events with first preference for members.
For events organised by our regional groups, please see the regional group pages:
Birmingham & West Midlands; Leicester; Liverpool; Manchester; South Yorkshire and Wales.
We're always looking for volunteers to put on events for us. Please contact our Events Administrator for more information.
1817 Visit to The Stained Glass Museum and Ely Cathedral
Saturday 04 August 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM
This visit to Ely Cathedral, the ‘ship of the Fens’, led by Dr Jasmine Allen, Curator, The Stained Glass Museum, Ely will include a guided tour of The Stained Glass Museum, housed in the south triforium of Ely Cathedral. The museum collection, founded in the 1970s to rescue stained glass windows under threat from loss or destruction, today includes panels...
Price for single delegate: £35.00
Sold out1816 60th Anniversary 2018 AGM Weekend in London
Friday 20 July 7:00 PM to Sunday 22 July 4:30 PM
Our celebratory 60th anniversary AGM weekend will explore the Victorian and Edwardian architecture of London.
The weekend will begin on Friday evening with our 60th Anniversary Dinner at the Reform Club in Pall Mall (1841 Sir Charles Barry). This is a separate optional event.
The annual general meeting beginning at 11am on Saturday morning will be held at...
Price for single delegate: £283.00
Booking available1819 Fantasias on the Fringes: Bushey, Harrow Weald and Stanmore
Tuesday 07 August 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Following our successful visit to Mill Hill last year, Geoff Brandwood and Maya Donelan uncover some little known and sometimes
extraordinary buildings on the north-west edges of the capital. There is something of a WS Gilbert theme, including the 1849 church
of St John the Evangelist, Stanmore, where he lies at rest, and his own home. We shall visit Bentley Priory (now the RAF...
Price for single delegate: £65.00
Booking available1820 Villas in Roehampton: a tour of two of the former aristocratically owned villas, now in academic use
Friday 31 August 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Led by Gilly King, History and Heritage Advisor, University of Roehampton. In the morning we will visit Whitelands College (Parkstead House) which can be described as a tour of ‘Two Histories’: Parkstead House was built for the 2nd Earl of Bessborough by the royal architect William Chambers circa 1760 to house the Earl’s celebrated collection of classical artefacts from Italy, Greece and Turkey. In 1860 the Jesuits purchased Parkstead...
Price for single delegate: £30.00
Booking available1899 W Troup, Joseph King and the Peasant Arts Movement in Haslemere
Saturday 15 September 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Led by Neil Jackson, author of FW Troup, Architect (1985), and Haslemere resident Catherine Eyre. Soon after Maude and Joseph King moved to Witley, a small village outside Haslemere, Surrey, in 1894, they were joined by Maud’s sister Ethel, and her artist husband Godfrey Blount. Maude was a hand weaver, teaching the art to local girls in her house in Witley, while the Blounts set up an appliqué tapestry...
Price for single delegate: £75.00
Booking available1821 Stoicism to Specialisation: Victorian and Edwardian Developments in Medicine and Surgery: a day at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading
Saturday 13 October 10:30 AM to 5:15 PM
In May 1839 a 15-year-old Great Western Railway navvy, run over by a cart, was the first patient admitted to the Royal Berkshire Hospital. His arm was amputated through the shoulder without anaesthesia (only available from 1847). The proximity of Reading to London and Oxford has led to the Royal Berkshire Hospital being associated with a series of important developments. In 1997 a Medical Museum was established, initially of anaesthetic...
Price for single delegate: £50.00
Booking available1822 Cutting-edge Victorians lecture series
Monday 15 October 6:30 PM to Wednesday 28 November 8:00 PM
For the Society’s sixtieth anniversary, we explore the future of research into Victorian architecture and design in the hands of a new generation. Six scholars at the outset of their academic careers - either studying for a higher degree or recently in receipt of one - will talk to us about their research and its place in the current development...
Price for single delegate: £77.00
Booking available1823 Study Day: John Betjeman and the Victorians
Saturday 20 October 10:30 AM to 4:45 PM
A Study Day organised by Maya Donelan for the Victorian Society and by Lance Pierson for the Betjeman Society. The Victorian era was central to John Betjeman’s interests. In this symposium, held in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the Betjeman Society and the sixtieth anniversary of the Victorian Society, a wide range of scholars will examine the place played...
Price for single delegate: £55.00
Booking available1824 Conference: Courts and Capitals V 1815-1914
Saturday 10 November 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
The century before the Great War, far from being a period of decline for monarchies, witnessed a resurgence of court life around the world. New monarchies appeared while long-established dynasties sought to consolidate their power. Monarchies reshaped their capital cities: new, larger palaces were constructed; royal avenues, squares and parks were created; public ceremonies reached levels of elaboration and participation...
Price for single delegate: £60.00
Booking available1825 Fleet Street pubs revisited
Monday 03 December 6:30 PM to 8:45 PM
Geoff Brandwood repeats a crawl through some of Fleet Street’s remarkable pubs in the run-up to the festive season. We start at a fine
conversion of a Victorian bank (Old Bank of England) before proceeding to an 1890s Irish pub (Tipperary), the nearest thing we have
left to an old tavern (Old Cheshire Cheese), a stunning piece of re-Victorianisation (Crown & Sugar Loaf), before...
Price for single delegate: £11.00
Booking available