JUNE 2023 LECTURE (175th ANNIVERSARY): LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE IN 1848: A NEW SOCIETY IN A FAST-CHANGING WORLD
Another chance to see Dr Alan Crosby's lecture marking the 175th anniversary of our Society. While across Europe 1848 was the 'Year of Revolutions' there was no popular uprising in Lancashire and Cheshire but a quieter yet even more fundamental revolution in society, economy and landscape was taking place in the two counties. Was the founding of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire in that year perhaps a counter-reaction to this revolution?
Lecture by Dr Alan Crosby (independent historian)
Wednesday 21 June 2023
Across Europe, 1848 was ‘The Year of Revolutions’. While in Lancashire and Cheshire there was no insurrection or popular uprising, a quieter yet even more fundamental revolution in society, economy and landscape was taking place. The rapidly evolving transport infrastructure, the social reshaping resulting from large-scale migration, the demographic and physical impact of unprecedented urbanisation, the emergence of new structures of government and administration … all these and much more contributed to a world which was changing at awesome speed. The founding of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire in that year was perhaps a counter-reaction to this revolution: as the old-established frameworks of society seemed to crumble, and as the familiar sights gave way to the radically new and different, some felt a growing nostalgia for the past. The HSLC was a child of its time. In this 175th anniversary lecture we explore some aspects of that turbulent time across the two counties.
Alan Crosby MA DPhil FRHistS is an independent scholar specialising in the local and regional history of North West England. He is editor of The Local Historian, chair of the Lancashire Local History Federation, and a council member of the Record Society of Lancashire & Cheshire, the Chetham Society and the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society.