The Society’s Lectures are held in the Old Town Hall, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond, beginning at 8pm, with coffee available from 7.30. Visitors are welcome: admission £1.

NB The November meeting (see below) is an exception: it will begin at 7.30 (no coffee!); it is by ticket only, even for members.

Monday 8 October
‘Horses, women and great houses: William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle, 1593-1676’
Lucy Worsley

William Cavendish was the grandson of the celebrated Bess of Hardwick, and his three obsessions were horses, women and architecture.  He had a roller-coaster life, commissioning some of the seventeenth century’s most spectacular country houses and tutoring the young Prince Charles at the Palace of Richmond before riding unsuccessfully into battle in the English Civil War. This lecture, exploring Cavendish’s life, architectural patronage and residence in Richmond, ties in with Lucy Worsley’s biography Cavalier: a tale of chivalry, passion and great houses, published by Faber and Faber in September 2007. 

Dr Lucy Worsley is Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces. She was previously an Inspector of Ancient Monuments for English Heritage, guardians of William Cavendish’s celebrated mock-medieval castle at Bolsover in Derbyshire.

Monday 12th November
‘Tea on the Dot of Four: Richmond in the 20s & 30s’
Bryan Govett
The Richmond Local History Society Lecture for Book Now!

Bryan Govett, painter, poet and former university English lecturer, has put together a fascinating collage of the social life of Richmond's gentry between the wars, in a book based on his mother's reminiscences. Betty Govett (née Bruce), who is in her 97th year, has remarkable recall of detail and dialogue.  Bryan - himself a long time Richmond resident - will describe how he came to tape-record, edit and publish her story, with readings, photos and recordings of her voice.

NB The Society has been invited to contribute this talk to Richmond’s Book Now! Festival. 60 tickets are reserved for members at a special price (£2.50 rather than £8), but members must apply before 28 October (with s.a.e) to our Membership Secretary, Johanna Coombes, 10 Courtlands Ave, Hampton TW12 3NT. Cheques: Richmond Local History Society.

Monday 10 December
‘Prince Frederick and his family at Kew’
Susanne Groom

Prince Frederick, father of George III and pioneer of the Royal Botanic Gardens, was a colourful character - following a riotous Hanoverian youth with a surprising transformation into a English country gent, with all the requisite passion for sport, gambling and country walks with his dog. Domestically there was a mixture of family feuds and fun, with unexpected friendships with the local poets. This year marks the 300th anniversary of his birth.

Susanne Groom has been Curator, Works of Art, Historic Royal Palaces since 1990, and played a major role in the restoration and representation of Kew Palace. She is joint author with Lee Prosser of Kew Palace, the official illustrated history, and has an exceptional knowledge of the pictures and social life of the royal family in Kew.

The evening will conclude with the Christmas party.

Monday 14 January
‘The Onslows of Clandon Park and Richmond’
June Davey

June Davey has had two careers. She was originally trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and subsequently ran a theatre company in North London for five years. While her family was young, a love of history led her to study for a BA in History and Sociology and Main European History. During the 11 years she spent in the Far East she took a course in Chinese and South East Asia History and Culture and worked as a museum guide and lecturer in National Museums in Singapore and Hong Kong. On returning to live in Surrey she became a room steward and more recently a lecturer at Clandon Park.

Monday 11 February
‘Henrietta Howard: an 18th century "It" Girl’
Tracy Borman

Dr Tracy Borman is Learning Director at English Heritage and the author of Henrietta Howard: King's Mistress, Queen's Servant, a new biography about Henrietta Howard, long-term mistress of George II.  Described by Swift as a consummate courtier who packed away her ‘private virtues... like cloaths in a chest’, and by the world at large as ‘the Swiss’ (due to her apparent neutrality), Henrietta remains as fascinating and perplexing today as she was for her contemporaries. As well as providing a fascinating insight into the dynamics of the Georgian court, this talk will reveal a woman who was far more than the mistress to the King: a dedicated patron of the arts; a lively and talented intellectual in her own right; a victim of violence and adultery; a passionate advocate for the rights of women long before the dawn of feminism. The mark that this enigmatic and largely forgotten royal mistress left on early Georgian England can still be felt today.

Monday 10 March
‘Riverside royal palaces and religious houses of west London’
Bob Cowie
A joint meeting with Richmond Archaeological Society.

Bob’s lecture will focus on archaeological work on and near the sites of Shene/Richmond Palace and Syon Abbey. It will draw together the results of various types of archaeological fieldwork mostly undertaken since the mid 1990s, which have pieced together major elements of what may be described as a late and Tudor medieval royal and monastic landscape. In their heyday these great institutions witnessed many events that shaped the nation's history.

Monday 14 April
‘Heathrow from Iron Age to Jet Age’
Nick Pollard

Nick Pollard combines expertise in both local history and the aircraft industry. He is Chairman of Spelthorne Museum Trustees and also of Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society. For a living, he says, he ‘designs bits of aircraft’.

In this talk Nick looks at the history of Heathrow and the surrounding area, from an Iron Age settlement through to the village of Heathrow, and on to the world's busiest international airport which replaced it. The origin of the Ordnance Survey plays a part in the story, as do the other airfields which preceded Heathrow Airport. The early days of the airport are examined, and the story is brought up to date to show how the airport has expanded to its present size.

Monday 12 May
Annual General Meeting and Party

We plan to back up the AGM this year with brief reports from members currently pursuing research of their own. It will give us a rare opportunity to learn from one another. The committee would welcome offers from members prepared to give brief descriptions – no longer than ten minutes – of the objects and methods of their research. Suggestions please to the Secretary, Liz Velluet, tel. 8891 3825