Our Historians at the Gloucester History Festival

The Gloucester History Festival took place in September with a whole host of historians, journalists and authors presenting on various topics, including Janina Ramirez, David Olusoga, Kehinde Andrews, Alice Roberts, and Alice Loxton. It was a special Festival this year as our own staff and students also took part in the proceedings as part of a longstanding collaboration between the Festival and our course.

In the first of these events on Wednesday 17th September, I took part in a panel discussion on the Gloucester-born evangelical preacher George Whitefield. This famous son of Gloucester is often celebrated as one of the most influential people of the 18th century in spreading his particular brand of evangelical Protestantism in Britain and the American colonies. However, this discussion revolved around the broader project which has examined Gloucester’s hidden and forgotten connections to broader imperial history, and more specifically the history of slavery.

The panel discussed the launch of a new permanent exhibition in St Mary de Crypt Church – where Whitefield delivered his first sermon – which explores the ways this story has often ignored Whitefield’s problematic relationship with slavery. In particular, while initially appalled at the treatment of enslaved people in the colonies, Whitefield eventually changed his views and campaigned to legalize slavery in Georgia. The exhibition encourages people to consider the ways in which prominent stories are often told to meet particular ends. The exhibition at St Mary’s relates to a wider initiative in Gloucester which has involved a monuments a review and numerous projects and exhibitions the city’s hidden and forgotten connections to the transatlantic slave trade. To read more about this project and how it relates to other initiatives in the City, take a look at the Legacies of Slavery in Gloucester project.

In the second event, second year History students Izzy, Kaitlin and Anya took part in a Q&A with the Festival audience on their research project exploring the story behind a wedding dress held by the Museum of Gloucester. This project was part of the student’s work for the Cotswold Centre for History & Heritage, where students take part in local research every year and collaborate with external organizations to public exhibitions. This project used a 200 year old wedding dress to uncover the hidden story of Ann Neilson, the hidden lives of women and change in fashion in the 19th century, and the hidden connections to slavery in Caribbean. They discussed their work and findings very confidently and responded well to audience questions. The students also had the opportunity to exhibit their work in the beautiful Scriptorium building at Blackfriars Priory. The work will be made available soon on the Centre website.