G E Street St James the Less, Pimlico, 1861 © Neil Jackson

Past Events

This page displays Victorian Society events that have already taken place.

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January

Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, January 31st, 2024
Time: 7am
Venue: Online
Location: Online

February

Ticket Price: £6
Date: Tuesday, February 6th, 2024
Time: 07:00
Venue: Online – View on map
Location: Online

Victorian Short Story Reading Group: ‘The Body Snatcher’, by Robert Louis Stevenson with June Lawrence

This Scottish short story of two grave robbers has characters based on criminals employed by the real-life surgeon Robert Knox (1791–1862).

More information
Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, February 7th, 2024
Time: 07:00
Venue: Priory Gardens, London W4 1TT – View on map
Location: In Person

Enviable Reputation: An Indian Engineer and the Construction of Victorian Bombay

This lecture will examine the role of one prominent Indian architect and engineer of the Victorian era, Khan Bahadur Muncherji Cowasji Murzban (1839-1917) concentrating on his official career to examine his meteoric rise and his role in the construction of Victorian Bombay.

More information
Ticket Price: £6
Date: Tuesday, February 13th, 2024
Time: 07:00
Venue: Online
Location: Online

Life on the Buffalo River – the Development of East London, South Africa

The river port town of East London, on the eastern seaboard of South Africa, was born in conflict in 1848, and after a long period of penury, finally commenced with more substantial development in the 1870s. The talk will provide an overview of the history and development of the town and present some of the Victorian era architecture and structures.

More information
Ticket Price: £6
Date: Tuesday, February 20th, 2024
Time: 07:00
Venue: Online
Location: Online

Eclecticism and Ornament in Malaya’s Vernacular Classicism

This lecture explores how the eclectic ornamental classicism of Victorian and Edwardian Britain came to influence Malaya’s own syncretic brand of classical architecture, resulting in a unique regional style.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, February 28th, 2024
Time: 07:00
Venue: Online
Location: Online

March

Victorian Short Story Reading Group: ‘Kidnapped’ and ‘Thrown Away’ by Rudyard Kipling

We start with stories of India. As we explore these stories, we should gain a more personal perspective of the lives lived within the colonial system than that recorded in the history books.

More information
Ticket Price: £6
Date: Tuesday, March 5th, 2024
Time: 07:00
Venue: Priory Gardens, London W4 1TT – View on map
Location: In Person
Date: Tuesday, March 5th, 2024
Venue: Sheffield Workhouse – View on map
Location: In Person | South Yorkshire

Building Better Britain: Victorian Architecture in New Zealand, 1840 – 1901

The nineteenth-century colonisation of New Zealand was seen as an opportunity to establish a new society on the far side of the world that would perpetuate British culture while avoiding the poverty, overcrowding and industrial pollution that afflicted contemporary Britain.

More information
Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, March 6th, 2024
Time: 07:00
Venue: Online
Location: Online
Ticket Price: £10 (£5 for students)
Date: Thursday, March 7th, 2024
Time: 7.00 for 7.15pm
Venue: Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester, M2 5NS. Room F13 – View on map
Location: In Person | Manchester

From Palaces of Art to the Studios of Bohemia: Artists’ Houses in Victorian Kensington and Chelsea, by Jo Banham

Successful Victorian artists, like Leighton and Luke Fildes, earned incomes that meant they were able to commission magnificent, purpose-built studio houses in the leafy suburbs of Holland Park and Kensington. The less wealthy and more unconventional, like Rossetti and Whistler, gravitated towards Chelsea, occupying picturesque old buildings in the area. This lecture reviews the two most famous artists’ colonies – Melbury Road, Kensington and Cheyne Walk and Tite Street, Chelsea – and explores the lives and interiors of the painters who lived there.

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Ticket Price: £10
Date: Tuesday, March 12th, 2024
Time: 07:00
Venue: St Mary Abbots Church, Kensington, W8 4LA – View on map
Location: In Person | London

The Architecture of ‘Greater Britain’: Style and Empire, c.1885-1915

This lecture will consider the role architecture played in responding to perceived notions of British decline in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, March 13th, 2024
Time: 07:00
Venue: Online
Location: Online

Symposium to celebrate the completion of Birmingham cathedral’s divine beauty project

A celebration of the completion of the Divine Beauty Project, which involved cleaning and renovating the magnificent Edward Burne-Jones windows at Birmingham Cathedral. Speakers include Andy Delmage, Canon Missioner at the Cathedral, Rhian Tritton, Divine Beauty Project Officer, Steve Clare who restored the windows and Peter Cormack, former director of the William Morris Gallery.

More information
Ticket Price: £40.00 (£30 concessions) including lunch and refreshments
Date: Saturday, March 16th, 2024
Time: 10:15
Venue: The Birmingham & Midland Institute, 9 Margaret Street, Birmingham, B3 3BS. – View on map
Location: Birmingham & West Midlands
Ticket Price: Members Tickets: £5
Date: Saturday, March 16th, 2024
Time: 1:30 pm – 4 pm
Venue: Meeting in front of Bootham Bar, High Petergate, York YO1 7EH – View on map
Location: In Person | West Yorkshire
Date: Wednesday, March 20th, 2024
Venue: Online
Location: In Person | Liverpool
Date: Wednesday, March 20th, 2024
Time: 6.00 for 6.30pm
Venue: Quaker Meeting House, 22 School Lane, Liverpool, L1 3BT – View on map
Location: In Person | Liverpool
Date: Friday, March 22nd, 2024
Venue: Sheffield Town Hall – View on map
Location: In Person | South Yorkshire

April

Visit: Great Malvern & Malvern College

A guided tour of Great Malvern Railway Station by Peter Clement from Malvern Civic Society; then a guided walk of Great Malvern by our Chairman, Stephen Hartland; lunch at the Mount Pleasant Hotel; then a tour of Malvern College by our Honorary Treasurer, James Fletcher, who works at the college. Malvern College was founded in 1865 and is regarded as one of England’s premier independent schools. The tour of the campus includes the main College (1865), Chapel (1899), Pavilion (1894), Music School (1862), St Edmund’s Hall (1905) and others. We will finish with refreshments in the Memorial Library (1924).

More information
Ticket Price: £23 including buffet lunch & afternoon tea/coffee.
Date: Tuesday, April 9th, 2024
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Venue: Online
Location: In Person | Birmingham & West Midlands

Victorian Short Story Reading Group: ‘The Rise of Ram Din’ by Alice Perrin.

This story provides an insight into the life of Indian servants, which is told through the voice of the Indian servant, rather than his Western master. There are many thematic contradictions such as loyalty/disloyalty; power struggle/duty; revenge and manipulation/honest labour.

More information
Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, April 10th, 2024
Time: 07:00
Venue: Priory Gardens, London W4 1TT – View on map
Location: In Person

Ernest George and large country houses

In this talk, Hilary Grainger explores the larger country houses considered to be the backbone of his practice. He designed over two dozen with Peto and seven with Yeates, in addition to altering, restoring and adding to many others. Clients were drawn from a wide spectrum – the landed gentry, the professions, trade and industry and the middle classes.

More information
Date: Tuesday, April 16th, 2024
Venue: Online
Location: South Yorkshire

Manchester’s theatre district – a walk with David Astbury

Back by popular demand! David Astbury (former Vic Soc Manchester Chair) will lead a repeat walk on the Theatres of Oxford Street and Peter Street, a walk of about two hours passing through what was once the heart of Manchester’s historic theatre district.

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Ticket Price: £10.00 – pay on the day
Date: Tuesday, April 16th, 2024
Time: 6.30pm till about 8.30pm
Venue: Oxford Road station approach on the traffic island under the ‘Oxford Road Station’ sign – View on map
Location: In Person | Manchester

Exploring Oldham’s heritage as the “cotton-spinning capital” of the world.

This magnificent Victorian town park was built by the people of Oldham during the cotton famine, sparked by the American Civil war. Now registered Grade II* it opened in 1865 and we will see its restored features, listed monuments and structures and well-maintained planting.

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Ticket Price: Come to one or both parts. Members Tickets: £5 for one, £8 both. Full notes will be provided
Date: Saturday, April 27th, 2024
Time: 11.00 am till 4.00 pm
Venue: Meet at the King Street Tram station (OL8 1EU) at 10.45 for 11.00. – View on map
Location: In Person | Manchester

Exploring Oldham’s heritage as the “cotton-spinning capital of the world.

This magnificent Victorian town park was built by the people of Oldham during the cotton famine, sparked by the American Civil war. Now registered Grade II* it opened in 1865 and we will see its restored features, listed monuments and structures and well-maintained planting.

More information
Date: Saturday, April 27th, 2024
Time: 10.15 for 11.00
Venue: King Street at the Tram station (OL8 1EU) – View on map
Location: In Person | West Yorkshire

Members’ Afternoon

Members and their guests are invited to bring a maximum of 6 images on a memory stick to explain and share.

More information
Ticket Price: £15 with light refreshments, including cakes.
Date: Saturday, April 27th, 2024
Time: 2.00 pm – 4.30 pm
Venue: The Birmingham & Midland Institute, 9 Margaret Street, Birmingham, B3 3BS. – View on map
Location: In Person | Birmingham & West Midlands

50 Years of the Liverpool Group of the The Victorian Society

Roger Hull has been an active committee member of the Liverpool Group of the The Victorian Society for many years and will tell the fascinating story of the group since its foundation in 1974.

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Date: Tuesday, April 30th, 2024
Time: 5:30pm
Venue: Liverpool Athenaeum, 12-18 Church Alley (off School Lane), Liverpool, L1 3DD – View on map
Location: In Person | Liverpool

May

Victorian Short Story Reading Group: ‘The Pipe of Mystery’ by G.A. Henty

This story involves the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857 but is told at a jovial gathering from the perspective of an adventure, with no mention of the politics or problems which led to the troubles.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, May 8th, 2024
Time: 07:00
Venue: Priory Gardens, London W4 1TT – View on map
Location: In Person

A guided tour of the graveyard of All Saints, Childwall, by Diana Goodier

The tour will highlight some of the most interesting burials from the Victorian period – the shipping magnates, local politicians, founding members of the university and a couple of architects.

More information
Ticket Price: £5 (Cash or Cheque)
Date: Saturday, May 11th, 2024
Time: 11:00am
Venue: Meet by the war memorial at 11.00. Address: Score Lane, Liverpool, L16 0JW – View on map
Location: In Person | Liverpool

June

West Norwood Cemetery

This story involves the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857 but is told at a jovial gathering from the perspective of an adventure, with no mention of the politics or problems which led to the troubles.

More information
Ticket Price: £20
Date: Saturday, June 1st, 2024
Time: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Venue: West Norwood Cemetery, West Norwood, SE27 9JU – View on map
Location: In Person

Gwrych Castle visit

Come and enjoy a guided walk around Gwrych Castle and meet the The Victorian Society’s Welsh group.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Monday, June 3rd, 2024
Time: 11 am – 1 pm
Venue: Gwrych Castle – View on map
Location: In Person | Wales

Visit: Day Trip to Stourbridge

This walking tour of Stourbridge will be led by Andy Foster and David Low and will highlight some of the town’s significant Victorian buildings. 

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Ticket Price: £30 which includes bus from St Augustine’s Birmingham, morning drink, lunch, and guided tour of the Glass Museum + donations
Date: Thursday, June 6th, 2024
Time: 9.00am to 4.00pm
Venue: 9.00 am  Bus departs from St Augustine’s Church, Edgbaston – View on map
Location: In Person | Birmingham & West Midlands

An Exploration of Surrey led by Charles O’Brien

This story involves the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857 but is told at a jovial gathering from the perspective of an adventure, with no mention of the politics or problems which led to the troubles.

More information
Date: Saturday, June 8th, 2024
Time: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Venue: Main entrance of Guildford Station – View on map
Location: In Person
Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, June 12th, 2024
Time: 7.00 – 8.30 pm
Venue: Priory Gardens, London W4 1TT – View on map
Location: In Person

Ilkley, from village Spa to Victorian resort – a walk with Alex Cockshott

Ilkley started as a village with fresh air and pure cold water. It had an increasing number of visitors in the Victorian era. With the arrival of the railway station in 1865, and the Middleton family starting land sales against a planned grid, the village expanded. We shall look at how the town centre developed, including the Grove.

More information
Ticket Price: Members £5
Date: Saturday, June 15th, 2024
Time: 3.00pm – 5.00pm
Venue: From Village Spa to Victorian Resort – View on map
Location: In Person | West Yorkshire

Visit: St John’s Church, Ranmoor, led by Mary Grover

A talk by Mary Grover about the History of the first St John’s Church in Ranmoor followed by a guided tour.

More information
Ticket Price: £5
Date: Saturday, June 15th, 2024
Time: 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Venue: St John’s Church, Ranmoor – View on map
Location: In Person

George Edmund Street Bicentenary Symposium – Day 1

G E Street (1824-1881), the bicentenary of whose birth we celebrate this year, was one of the most prolific architects of the nineteenth-century gothic revival. This symposium at St James the Less, celebrates Street’s work and achievements through a programme of talks in the morning, and visits to his works in the afternoon.

More information
Ticket Price: £30 for morning and £20 for the afternoon.
Date: Friday, June 21st, 2024
Time: 9:30 am – 6:00 pm
Venue: St James the Less church, Thorndike Street, London SW1V 2PS. – View on map
Location: In Person | London

George Edmund Street Bicentenary Symposium – Day 2

G E Street (1824-1881), the bicentenary of whose birth we celebrate this year, was one of the most prolific architects of the nineteenth-century gothic revival. This symposium at St James the Less, celebrates Street’s work and achievements through a programme of talks in the morning, and visits to his works in the afternoon.

More information
Ticket Price: £30 in the morning and £20 for the afternoon
Date: Saturday, June 22nd, 2024
Time: 9:30 am – 6:00 pm
Venue: St James the Less church, Thorndike Street, London SW1V 2PS. – View on map
Location: In Person | London
Ticket Price: £10
Date: Saturday, June 29th, 2024
Time: 1pm start
Venue: Meet in Bury Interchange at top of escalator from Metrolink platform – View on map
Location: Manchester

July

Visit: Golders Green Crematorium, led by Hilary Grainger

A unique opportunity to visit Golders Green crematorium described as ‘London’s first crematorium and England’s first purpose-designed crematorium landscape,’ (Grade II listed) designed by Sir Ernest George in 1902. Professor Hilary J Grainger, Chair of the Victorian Society. She is the leading authority on Sir Ernest George and the architecture of UK crematoria.

More information
Ticket Price: £20
Date: Saturday, July 6th, 2024
Time: 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Venue: Golders Green Crematorium, Hoop Lane, London, NW11 7NL – View on map
Location: In Person | London

Visit: Hampton Court in the 19th Century

Hampton Court Palace is renowned as the finest surviving Tudor palace in the world. The history of the Palace in the Victorian era is often overlooked, but is equally as fascinating.

More information
Ticket Price: £35 (Over 65s £30.00)
Date: Wednesday, July 10th, 2024
Time: 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Venue: Hampton Court Palace – View on map
Location: In Person | London

Visit: Coach Trip to Shropshire

A coach visit to Shropshire, taking in St Mary’s Church, Tenbury Wells; St John the Baptist at Stokesay Castle and Stokesay Court, near Craven Arms, described by Niklaus Pevsner as ‘the most grandiloquent Victorian mansion in the County’.

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Ticket Price: £56 including coach fare, lunch, donations and guided tour
Date: Saturday, July 13th, 2024
Time: 9.00am to 6.30pm
Venue: 9.00 am   Coach departs from Church Street, Birmingham City Centre 9.20 am;   2nd coach pick up from St Augustine’s Road, Edgbaston B16 9JN – View on map
Location: In Person | Birmingham & West Midlands

Visit: ‘The Cathedral of Sewage’ – Crossness Pumping Station

Discover one of London’s most extraordinary interiors in this outing where we discover the Victorian’s solution to sewage.

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Ticket Price: £28
Date: Sunday, July 14th, 2024
Time: 11:00 am – 2:30 pm
Venue: Crossness Pumping Station – View on map
Location: In Person | London
Ticket Price: £5
Date: Saturday, July 20th, 2024
Time: 2:30pm
Venue: City Road Cemetery – View on map
Location: In Person

Victorian Short Story Reading Group: ‘The Pestilence at Noonday’ by Cornelia Sorabji

The Victorian Short Story Reading Group has regular meetings to explore some of the exciting material from the golden age of the British short story, which began during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The current theme is colonial short stories, starting with stories from India.

More information
Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, July 24th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm– 8:30 pm
Venue: Priory Gardens, London W4 1TT – View on map
Location: In Person | London

Weekend Visit to G E Street’s Churches in East Yorkshire

Join members of the Victorian Society as we examine the churches commissioned by Sir Tatton Sykes II of Sledmere House, and others in the East Yorkshire area. Travelling by minibus, the weekend will include a visit to St Mary, Thixendale & vicarage (1870 & 1870), St Mary, Wansford (1868) and St Andrew, East Heslerton & vicarage (1877 & 1876).

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Ticket Price: Weekend tickets cost £230. Dinner and lunch are not included.
Date: Saturday, July 27th, 2024
Time: 09.30am
Venue: Travelodge York Layerthorpe Hotel – View on map
Location: In Person | G E Street Bicentenary 2024

August

Walk: A Day Visit to Three Stourbridge Churches – SOLD OUT

Following the Group’s walking tour in June, we have now arranged access to three significant churches in the town centre: St John the Evangelist, St Thomas & Our Lady & All Saints RC church.

More information
Ticket Price: £7.00 includes a donation to the churches, but does not include the cost of your lunch.
Date: Tuesday, August 6th, 2024
Time: 10.30am to 2.30pm
Venue: 10.30 am Meet at Stourbridge Bus Station/Rail interchange – View on map
Location: In Person | Walk | Birmingham & West Midlands
Ticket Price: £5
Date: Saturday, August 17th, 2024
Time: 10:30am
Venue: St Mary’s Church, Howard Road, Walkley S6 3RX – View on map
Location: In Person | South Yorkshire | Walk

Walk: Exploring Victorian Clapham, led by Christopher Claxton Stevens

Clapham became part of the Metropolis with the coming of the underground in 1900. This walk will cover the earlier background of the area and focus on the grander Victorian architecture that still remains

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Ticket Price: £18
Date: Saturday, August 31st, 2024
Time: 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Venue: Clapham Common Underground Station – View on map
Location: In Person | London | Walk

September

Walk: Liverpool Street Station and its Environs, led by Steven Brindle

This walk explores Liverpool Street Station and its environs, to see how the north-eastern City developed in the Victorian age, how the historic streetscape has fared in modern times, and what impact the proposed over-development of the station, which the Society strongly opposes, would have on this many layered and sensitive area.

More information
Ticket Price: £18
Date: Thursday, September 5th, 2024
Time: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Venue: Liverpool Street Station – View on map
Location: In Person | London | Walk
Ticket Price: FREE
Date: Sunday, September 8th, 2024
Time: 2:00pm
Venue: Town Hall, Sheffield – View on map
Location: In Person | South Yorkshire | Walk

Walk: Exploring Brixton’s Victorian History

In this walking tour, led by the Brixton Society, we will explore the fascinating retail heritage of Brixton.

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Ticket Price: £20
Date: Wednesday, September 11th, 2024
Time: 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Venue: Brixton Recreation Centre – View on map
Location: In Person | London | Walk

Online Talk: The Work of Horace Jones, the Architect who Designed Tower Bridge

This talk will explore the life and work of Sir Horace Jones (1819-1887), chief architect to the City of London who designed many of its most famous buildings including Tower Bridge, Smithfield, Leadenhall and Billingsgate markets, and the Temple Bar memorial.

More information
Ticket Price: £6
Date: Tuesday, September 17th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online

Walk: Merton Park, “The Original and Most Unique Garden Suburb”, led by Tony Woolfenden

Tony Woolfenden leads a walk around John Innes’ Merton Park estate, “the original and most unique garden suburb” (to quote the estate company’s advertisements).

More information
Ticket Price: £22
Date: Saturday, September 21st, 2024
Time: 2:00 pm – 5:15 pm
Venue: Merton Park Station – View on map
Location: In Person | London | Walk
Ticket Price: £15 to include fee for tour, tea/coffee and biscuits and donation to Manchester Group of the Victorian Society
Date: Saturday, September 28th, 2024
Time: 2pm-4pm
Venue: Rochdale Town Hall – View on map
Location: In Person

Talk: The History of the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, by Christina Clarke

Discover the stories of one of Liverpool’s most famous art collections in this in-person talk given by Christina Clarke.

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Ticket Price: £5
Date: Saturday, September 28th, 2024
Time: 2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Venue: The Quaker Meeting House, 22 School Lane Liverpool L1 3BT – View on map
Location: In Person | Liverpool

October

Victorian Short Story Reading Group: ‘The Postmaster’ by Rabindranath Tagore

The Victorian Short Story Reading Group has regular meetings to explore some of the exciting material from the golden age of the British short story, which began during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The current theme is colonial short stories, starting with stories from India.

More information
Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, October 2nd, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm– 8:30 pm
Venue: Priory Gardens, London W4 1TT – View on map
Location: In Person | London

AGM Weekend in Bradford

The Victorian Society AGM 2024 which will be in Bradford, West Yorkshire, on Friday 4 October, followed by a weekend of architectural tours in Bradford and the surrounding area.

More information
Ticket Price: £260
Date: Friday, October 4th, 2024
Time: 2:30pm start on Friday
Venue: Bradford – View on map
Location: In Person | West Yorkshire

Talk: Lost Gardens of London, by Todd Longstaffe-Gowan

This talk will focus on and celebrate the evanescence of the metropolis’s vast and varied garden legacy.

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Ticket Price: £10
Date: Monday, October 7th, 2024
Time: 07:00 pm – 08:30 pm
Venue: St Mary Abbots Church, Kensington, W8 4LA – View on map
Location: In Person | London | Talk
Ticket Price: £5
Date: Tuesday, October 8th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm
Venue: Showroom 5, Paternoster Row, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2BX – View on map
Location: In Person | South Yorkshire | Talk

Walk: Peter de Figueiredo: A walking tour of Liverpool’s Mercantile Architecture

The walking tour will explore how Liverpool became a great commercial city as well as an international port, and how the redevelopment of the city centre in the 19th and early 20th centuries reflects its commercial importance.

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Ticket Price: £5
Date: Saturday, October 12th, 2024
Time: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Venue: Nelson monument, Liverpool – View on map
Location: In Person | Liverpool
Ticket Price: £10. Booking not essential.
Date: Saturday, October 12th, 2024
Time: 2pm for 2.15pm
Venue: Stretford Public Hall Chester Road, Manchester, M32 0LG – View on map
Location: In Person

Online Talk: Death and the Victorians – A Dark Fascination

In Death and the Victorians, author Adrian Mackinder explores the dark side of the nineteenth century, when hunger for truth about what lies beyond the grave was matched only by the imagination and invention used to find it.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Tuesday, October 15th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online

Visit: Street’s Church, Holmbury St Mary – G E Street Bicentenary

This visit is to the church which G E Street built in in 1878-79 as a memorial to his second wife, Jessie, who died soon after their honeymoon in 1876. It is very much a personal statement which he paid for himself.

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Ticket Price: £22
Date: Saturday, October 19th, 2024
Time: 2:30 pm at the church or 1:00 pm at Royal Oak Pub
Venue: St Mary Church, Holmbury – View on map
Location: In Person | G E Street Bicentenary 2024 | Visit

Visit: RIBA Drawings Collection at the V&A

The visit will start with an introductory talk on the history of the RIBA Drawings Collection by curator, Charles Hind followed by a look at a selection of Victorian drawings from the collection, including several by Alfred Waterhouse for the Natural History Museum. We will move across to the Museum to look at the exterior and the Great Hall.

More information
Ticket Price: £20
Date: Monday, October 21st, 2024
Time: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Venue: Victoria and Albert Museum, Exhibition Road – View on map
Location: In Person | London | Visit

Online Lecture: The London Gasketeers: The Fight to Save Westminster’s Historic Gas Lamps, by Luke Honey

Luke Honey discusses the fight to save Westminster’s gas lamps, their historic importance and the story of gas lighting in London.

More information
Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, October 23rd, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online

Talk: Day School on Gas, Water and Sewage

How the Victorians improved life for people in the West Midlands

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Ticket Price: £40 including lunch & all refreshments. Reduced rate of £25 for full-time students & Young Victorians.
Date: Saturday, October 26th, 2024
Time: 10.15 am to 4.00 pm
Venue: The Birmingham & Midland Institute, 9 Margaret Street, Birmingham, B3 3BU. – View on map
Location: In Person | Birmingham & West Midlands

Online Lecture: A W N Pugin – Victorian Tile Designer Par Excellence, by Hans van Lemmen

This lecture will look at the floor and wall tiles designed by the Gothic Revival architect A.W.N Pugin.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Tuesday, October 29th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online | Autumn Online Lecture Series 2024

Autumn Online Lecture Series 2024: Crossing Boundaries-Victorian Art, Design and Architecture-7 talks for 6

The 2024 Autumn Lecture Series discusses how 19th century architects conceived of the decorative and fine arts as part of an architectural whole. Our seven expert speakers will boldly break down disciplinary boundaries in a discussion of the use of colour and texture across the whole range of Victorian design and analyses of the important roles played by mosaic, stained glass, embroidery and three-dimensional wall coverings.

More information
Ticket Price: £36
Date: Tuesday, October 29th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online | Autumn Online Lecture Series 2024

November

Visit: All Saints’ church, Putney Common – G E Street Bicentenary

All Saints’ church, Putney, was opened as a chapel of ease in 1874. The interior is richly polychromatic and the many Morris & Co windows are of outstanding quality. This visit is our final look at a church by G E Street.

More information
Ticket Price: £15
Date: Saturday, November 2nd, 2024
Time: 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm
Venue: All Saints, Putney – View on map
Location: In Person | London | G E Street Bicentenary 2024 | Visit
Ticket Price: £5-£8
Date: Monday, November 4th, 2024
Time: 6:00pm
Venue: The Adelphi, 1-3 Hunslet Road, Leeds LS10 1JQ – View on map
Location: In Person | West Yorkshire
Ticket Price: £5
Date: Tuesday, November 5th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm
Venue: Showroom 5, Paternoster Row, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2BX – View on map
Location: In Person | South Yorkshire

Visit: St Mary’s at West Tofts

A unique opportunity to visit a small medieval church transformed by A W Pugin and his son in the 1840s and 1850s.

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Ticket Price: £29
Date: Tuesday, November 5th, 2024
Time: 12:00 pm at Thetford Station
Venue: Meet at Thetford Station – View on map
Location: In Person | Visit

Online Lecture: Colour Revolution: Victorian Art, Fashion & Design, by Matthew Winterbottom

Matthew Winterbottom talks about the recent Ashmolean Exhibition Colour Revolution: Victorian Art, Fashion & Design that sought to challenge widely held perceptions that the Victorian age was dark and gloomy.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, November 6th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online | Autumn Online Lecture Series 2024

Online Lecture: ‘Fair and Beautiful to Behold’ – Ecclesiastical Embroideries, by Mary Schoeser

This lecture discusses the neo-Gothic in relation to textiles and wallpapers, which focuses on ecclesiastical embroideries in particular. The title, Fair and Beautiful to Behold is after a quotation from G.E. Street. The lecture spills into the Edwardian period to include a Pankhurst banner and Ann Macbeth frontal, to bring out the double meaning of ‘fair’ (in social/political terms).

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Tuesday, November 12th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online | Autumn Online Lecture Series 2024

Victorian Short Story Reading Group: ‘The Salt Inspector’ (Namak ka Daroga) by Munshi Premchand

The Victorian Short Story Reading Group has regular meetings to explore some of the exciting material from the golden age of the British short story, which began during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The current theme is colonial short stories, starting with stories from India.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, November 13th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm– 8:30 pm
Venue: Priory Gardens, London W4 1TT – View on map
Location: In Person | London

Walk: Westminster by Gaslight Walk, led by Elan Walks

Discover the magical gas lamps of Westminster and marvel at their fascinating history and world-changing legacy.

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Ticket Price: £26
Date: Thursday, November 14th, 2024
Time: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Venue: Green Park Underground Station – View on map
Location: In Person | London | Walk
Ticket Price: £10. Booking not essential
Date: Sunday, November 17th, 2024
Time: 2pm for 2.15pm
Venue: Stretford Public Hall Chester Road, Manchester, M32 0LG – View on map
Location: In Person

Online Lecture: Owen Jones and the V&A, by Olivia Horsfall Turner

This talk will examine each of the projects that linked Victorian designer Owen Jones and the early V&A: his famous illustrated publication The Grammar of Ornament (1856), his decorative scheme for the so-called ‘Oriental Court’, and his relatively little-known book Examples of Chinese Ornament (1867).

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, November 20th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online | Autumn Online Lecture Series 2024

Talk: More Wallpaper, Vicar? A Talk by Rowena Beighton-Dykes

Rowena will explore the socio-economic and political context of wallpaper purchases by members of the Anglican Church in the 19th century.

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Ticket Price: £5
Date: Saturday, November 23rd, 2024
Time: 2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Venue: The Quaker Meeting House, 22 School Lane Liverpool L1 3BT – View on map
Location: In Person | Liverpool

Online Lecture: The Mosaics of Westminster Cathedral, by Peter Howell

This talk will examine the decorative interior of Westminster Cathedral, particularly the mosaics. J F Bentley intended that the interior should be covered in marble revetment and mosaics but he never had any mosaics installed. However, he approved the designs for the Holy Souls Chapel by his friend William Christian Symons.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Tuesday, November 26th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online | Autumn Online Lecture Series 2024
Ticket Price: £26 or £15 for members of BMAG, Art Fund or holders of the Birmingham Museums Card
Date: Wednesday, November 27th, 2024
Time: 10.45 am and 11.45 am start – two sessions
Venue: Gas Hall, Birmingham & Museum & Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3DH – View on map
Location: In Person | Birmingham & West Midlands

December

Ticket Price: £5
Date: Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm
Venue: Showroom 5, Paternoster Row, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2BX – View on map
Location: In Person | South Yorkshire | Talk

Visit: Palace of Westminster

Join us on a crisp winter morning as we discover one of London’s best known buildings.

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Ticket Price: £30
Date: Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024
Time: 8:45 am – 10:30 am
Venue: Palace of Westminster – View on map
Location: In Person | London | Visit

Online Lecture: Innovations in the Art and Craft of Stained Glass in the 19th Century

The quest for materials that would evoke the chromatic and textural qualities of early medieval stained glass inspired the work of manufacturers, artists and architects during the Victorian era. This illustrated lecture examines how the art form evolved alongside new technical developments.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online | Autumn Online Lecture Series 2024
Ticket Price: £10 per person Booking essential by calling [email protected] indicate if you wish to have lunch afterwards. Closing date for bookings: 30 November.
Date: Saturday, December 7th, 2024
Time: 11am
Venue: Werneth Grange, Grange Avenue (off Manchester Road), Oldham, OL8 4EL. – View on map
Location: In Person | Manchester

Online Lecture: Alfred Stevens: Master of Design, 1817-1875, by Teresa Sladen

When Alfred Stevens was waiting to hear who would finally be given the commission to design the Wellington Monument he said “They must give it to me. No one else knows anything about ornament”. What he meant by this is the subject of this lecture.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Tuesday, December 10th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online | Autumn Online Lecture Series 2024

Victorian Short Story Reading Group: ‘The Dâk Bungalow at Dakor’ by B. M. Croker

The Victorian Short Story Reading Group has regular meetings to explore some of the exciting material from the golden age of the British short story, which began during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The current theme is colonial short stories, starting with stories from India.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, December 11th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm– 8:30 pm
Venue: Priory Gardens, London W4 1TT – View on map
Location: In Person | London

Online Lecture: Street Closure: A Discussion about Recent Visits to Buildings by G E Street

Join Neil Jackson as he examines the themes that have been raised from these visits.

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Ticket Price: £6/£10
Date: Tuesday, December 17th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Venue: Online or Head Office at Priory Gardens, London – View on map
Location: Online | In Person | London | G E Street Bicentenary 2024

January

Online Lecture: Victorian Colonial Short Stories 2: Dominions, Colonies & Protectorates

This lecture will survey short stories of colonial voyagers, squatters and settlers in Africa, Australia, British Malaya, Canada and New Zealand.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Tuesday, January 7th, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online

Online Lecture: London’s Lost Victorian Interiors, by Steven Brindle

Steven Brindle takes us through the wealth of Victorian interior design, most of which is long vanished.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Tuesday, January 14th, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online

Visit: An 1890s House in Clapham

This is a rare opportunity to see the colourful and atmospheric candlelit interiors of this house in Clapham.

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Ticket Price: £20
Date: Thursday, January 16th, 2025
Time: 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Address available closer to the date. – View on map
Location: In Person | London | Visit

60th Anniversary AGM inc. Lecture ‘Liverpool Scottish’, by Joseph Sharples

The Liverpool Regional Group of the Victorian Society welcomes all to our 60th anniversary AGM and lecture presented by Joseph Sharples.

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Ticket Price: £10
Date: Saturday, January 18th, 2025
Time: 2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Venue: Liverpool Medical Institution & Conference Centre – View on map
Location: In Person | Liverpool

Victorian Short Story Reading Group: ‘The Ghost upon the Rail’ by John Lang

The Victorian Short Story Reading Group has regular meetings to explore some of the exciting material from the golden age of the British short story, which began during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The current theme is colonial short stories, with stories from Australia.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, January 22nd, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm– 8:30 pm
Venue: Priory Gardens, London W4 1TT – View on map
Location: In Person | London
Ticket Price: Free
Date: Saturday, January 25th, 2025
Time: 2pm AGM followed by talk at 3pm
Venue: Stretford Public Hall M32 0LG – View on map
Location: In Person
Ticket Price: £28.00
Date: Sunday, January 26th, 2025
Time: 12.30 pm for 1.00 pm
Venue: Bistrot Pierre, 46 Gas Street, Birmingham, B1 2JT – View on map
Location: In Person | Birmingham & West Midlands

Online Lecture: Victorian and Edwardian Women in Architecture, by Lynne Walker

Lynne Walker introduces a series of lectures that will extend our knowledge of women in architecture and the Victorian period.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Wednesday, January 29th, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online | Winter Online Lecture Series 2025

Visit: Old Bailey

Discover the architecture of the Old Bailey.

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Ticket Price: £30
Date: Thursday, January 30th, 2025
Time: 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Venue: Old Bailey – View on map
Location: In Person | London | Visit

February

Online Lecture: Rhoda and Agnes Garrett, ‘House Decorators’: the History of a Business, 1874–1905 by Elizabeth Crawford

Elizabeth Crawford discusses the first women to run a professional interior design business.

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Ticket Price: £6
Date: Tuesday, February 4th, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Online
Location: Online | Winter Online Lecture Series 2025