Assessing Georgian Britain: As Viewed at the Time and by Posterity

How do historians assess a long and intricate period of history, like that known by the label of Georgian Britain? This talk will approach the question by considering two different sets of evidence. The first is provided by people living at the time; the number of people who exclaimed ‘It is an age of this …’ or ‘a century of that’ was surprisingly large, encouraged by the spread of literacy. Second are the retrospective views, such as that from the Victorian artist who found the entire eighteenth century ‘as dull as a wet Saturday afternoon’. Contrasting these highly varied verdicts shows that there was no consensus, either then or later. Penelope Corfield concludes by offering her own view of the era – and invites others to come and share the debate.

Penelope Corfield is an expert on Georgian urban, social and cultural history; and is currently researching the dynamics of inter-personal greetings in the long eighteenth century. She is Professor Emeritus at Royal Holloway, London University; Research Fellow at Newcastle University; and President of the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies.

The talks starts at 6.30pm, doors open from 6.15pm.