Lost treasures of Strawberry Hill: an exclusive guided tour on Monday 22 October

For the first time in over 170 years, masterpieces from a once famous collection at Strawberry Hill House will be temporarily reunited and displayed in their original positions. In 1842, after Horace Walpole’s death, his collection was dispersed worldwide.  In October, many will return home, including Joshua Reynolds’ painting of Walpole’s nieces which will be rehung in the Great Parlour.

The Society has organised a private guided tour for this once-in-a-lifetime experience at 10.30am on Monday 22 October, just three days after the exhibition opens. To book a place email visits@richmondhistory.org.uk and send a cheque for £15 payable to the Richmond Local History Society to Rose Constantine, 6 Ormond Road, Richmond TW10 6TH. No tickets will be issued, but Rose will confirm attendance by email.

Another opportunity to celebrate local history with afternoon tea at Pembroke Lodge

On Sunday 4 November there will be another chance for members and their guests to celebrate local history in our borough with short talks and afternoon tea at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park. Numbers are limited, so please apply as soon as possible. Find out more

Our next talk, on Monday 12 November, is on VAD nurses in the First World War

The Nursing Memorial Appeal is seeking funds for a permanent memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum to commemorate all the nurses who died in service during both World Wars, as well as scholarships for today’s student nurses researching or training in the fields of conflict or humanitarian need.

John Drewry’s talk to us on 12 November will include a special focus on the extraordinary story of the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), with particular reference to Richmond borough, including details and pictures of all the buildings requisitioned locally as VAD hospitals during the First World War as well as local residents who became VAD nurses.

There will be a collection after the talk for voluntary donations to the appeal.

Coming up: the Museum of Richmond’s 30th anniversary

See our calendar of forthcoming events and our list of forthcoming talks

Our forthcoming talks include:

• in December, Rebecca Arnott on the history of the Museum of Richmond, which first opened 30 years ago
• in January 2019, Stephen Bartlett on Royston House and the building of Victorian Kew (this will be a joint event with The Kew Society)
• in February, Dr Steven Woodbridge on the League of Nations Union in Richmond
• in March, Jill Lamb on the oral history project Ham is Where the Heart is
• in May, Sir David Williams on Ham in the early 20th century

Reports of previous talks

More than 100 people attended our AGM in May 2018, which was followed by a talk by Jack Andrews on Marianne North, the Victorian botanical artist. Read more and see some pictures taken at the event.

Our website also has reports of some of our previous talks. Find out more 

Our Richmond History journal has a new look, and we’ve updated the free index

Richmond History 39, the 2018 issue of our annual journal, has a new design and features a painting by Ron Berryman, a Society member, on the front cover. Copies are available from The Open Book in King Street, Richmond, the Museum of Richmond, The National Archives’ bookshop, Kew Bookshop,  Lloyds of Kew Bookshop and our online bookshop.

Our free index to our annual journal Richmond History now includes all issues up to and including no. 39 (2018). You can view the index or download it as a PDF.

Great benefits when you join us!

Members receive three newsletters a year, are admitted free to our scheduled talks in 2018, and can buy most of our publications at a discount. See a sample newsletter and find out more about membership.

Oh deer, another Richmond Park myth…

It is sometimes suggested that the “deer leap” or “freebord“, the strip of land immediately outside Richmond Park’s wall, was designed so that if a deer managed to escape its hunters and get beyond the deer leap, it was then free from capture. That’s unlikely, says Richmond Park historian Robert Wood, in an article about the freebord’s history. Find out more

Women in leadership roles at the Vineyard Church

On our Resources pages, Peter Flower, archivist at the Vineyard Church in Richmond, tells us about the history of women in leadership roles in our local Congregational Church. Find out more

You can also find a timeline on Richmond Park and read about the Selwyn family and the development of Richmond. And, to complement John Govett’s piece on Richmond’s Old Burial Ground, we’ve added Stephen Orr’s timeline on Vineyard Passage Burial Ground.