Meetings
Harpenden Public Halls - the Southdown Room is on the left
John Marlow, 2011
Programme of meetings for 2018, and links to reports of recent meetings
The Society normally meets at 8 pm on the fourth Tuesday of the month in the Southdown Room of Harpenden Public Halls. Please check the programme and posters for any changes to this.
There is ample parking at the rear of the Halls - but you need apply for a permit at the reception desk on arrival.
The next meeting is on:
September 25
"Life and Death During World War I -
"Stories of William and Leonard Fisher, Mesopotamia and The Somme"
Speaker: Jonathan Sinfield
“Boys from the Mill”
Will & Len Fisher were born in the Thatched Cottage at Batford Mill in the early 1890s ….. follow their personal stories, hear about life for the common man in Harpenden & the surrounding villages. Then to the ‘Great War’, one son to the battle fields of Flanders & the Somme the other to the Biblical lands of Mesopotamia, modern day Iraq. Perhaps a timely reminder of sacrifice as we commemorate the centenary of the end of World War 1 in a few weeks’ time. Jonathan Sinfield will talk you through these two local lads experiences recreated through research, memoires and a personal account captured on video.
Visitors are welcome at our meetings which are free of charge (but donations of £3 are gratefully accepted!). There is a book and information stall.
Programme Secretary: Margaret Pratt
Tel: 01582 713107 or
enquiries@harpenden-history.org.uk - FOA M Pratt
The programme for 2018
October 23: "The Banana Republic of Elizabethan England" or “A Tour of the Badlands of England's Fiscal Frontier" – Speaker: Dr Simon Healy
November 27 Short papers by Members and refreshments
The programme for 2019 is in preparation
Reports of Recent meetings and visits -
26 June, 2018: "Rothamsted's Contribution to Pest Control during the 20th Century" – Speaker: Dr Andrew Farnham
22 May 2018 "Winston S. Churchill and Frank O. Salisbury"- Speaker: Nigel McMurray
24 April, AGM followed by "My 300 Years of Harpenden Ancestry - Part II : 1823 onwards" - Speaker: Peter Wilson
27 March 2018: "Orchids" Speaker: Professor Ian Denholm
27 February 2018: "The curious disappearance of Glenn Miller" by Tony Eaton
23 January 2018: "Salisbury Hall and the de Havilland Aircraft Company" by : Alistair Hodgson, curator of the De Havilland Aircraft Museum
28 November 2017 Members' contributions: "St Mary's Chapel, Childwickbury" by Christine Aitken; "How Harpenden has changed since I moved here 30 years ago" by Mary Maynard
24 October 2017: "Remembering the Coronation, 1953", Speaker John Seabrook, followed by films ‘Harpenden Carnival, 1953’ and ‘Coronation Revels on Redbourn Common’, shown by Pauline and John Ridgwell of Redbourn Museum
26 September 2017: "Life in Another World: Electron microscopes at Rothamsted" by Roy Woods, Former Head of Electron Microscopy and Jean Devonshire, Rothamsted Research
27 June 2017 "Lawes & Gilbert :an unlikely Victorian Agricultural Partnership" by Prof. Roger Plumb, voluntary archivist, Rothamsted Research
23 May 2017: "My dream Job as a Producer with the BBC Natural History Unit - Growing up in Harpenden from 1945 to the 1970s and beyond" by Mike Salisbury, OBE
25 April 2017: "Treasures of the Hertfordshire Archives" by Diana Hodgson, Archivist at HALS
21 March 2017: "The Impeachment of Francis Bacon, 1621" by Simon Healy, History of Parliament Trust
28 February 2017: "The Flora of Harpenden" by Professor Ian Denholm
17 January 2017 : "Gorhambury through the Ages - 1777 to 2017" by Viscountess Grimston
22 November 2016: "The role of maritime literature in history" by Julian Parker OBE
25 October 2016 : Short contributions by members - "Marianne Sherman's Dance Manuscripts : a Glimpse into gentry life in Harpenden at the time of Jane Austen" - Rosemary Ross and Alison Macfarlane; "A Harpenden Connection to the Sinking of HMS Royal Oak at Scapa Flow" - Margaret Pratt; "The Festival of Britain" - Dr Brian Ray
20 September 2016: " Living on the Common : a landscape history of Harpenden" by Anne Rowe
4 September 2016 Visit to the Shuttleworth collection
28 June 2016: "The Clinton-Baker Pinetum - a surprising Heritage Site in Hertfordshire" by Dr Edward Eastwood, Curator
24 May 2016: "Sex, crime, punishment & philanthropy : everyday stories from the life of Sir John Bennet Lawes as revealed by his diaries" by Dr John Jenkyn (Rothamsted Archivist)
26 April 2016: "F. H. Crittall - Metal windows and modernism" by Adam Smith
16 April 2016: Visit to Medieval Churches in North Bedfordshire
22 March 2016: "Harpenden, Batford and the Danelaw boundary, including an archaeological survey of Batford Farm", by Alexander Thomas, PhD student in Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Bristol
23 February 2016: "Being prepared in Harpenden & Hertfordshire: a selective history of our Scouts" by Dr Richard Harrington
26 January 2016: "Before the developers got at it: Harpenden, 1945 - 1960", by John Seabrook
24 November: Members' Evening - short talks on Mike Westmacott, the other Harpenden Everest Hero; Pat Wilson and the WEA Class of the 1970s; The Harpenden Sign; Diseases in Victorian times.
27 October: "The Great War: Rothamsted's Contribution" by Professor Roger Plumb - the link is to a report of a similar talk by Roger Plumb.
22 September: "Time flies at Old Warden - history of the Shuttleworth Collection" by Debbie Lang
23 June 2015 "The spy who is buried in St Nicholas churchyard - comments on the Dreyfus affair" by Dr John Versey. Follow the links to pages about Esterhazy
26 May 2015 "The Dirty Diggers - The story of South Harpenden Allotment Society (SHAGS)" by Richard White
April 28 2015: "Recording people's memories - The Smallford Project" by Sarah Lloyd and Jeff Lewis
March 31 2015: "Dr Griffith Pugh and the Everest Story : the man who made it possible" by Harriet Tuckey
24 February 2015: "Historic Churches in Herts & Beds, with local examples", by Meric Jenkins
January 27 2015: "The Rothamsted Insect Survey, a National Asset with a local history", by Dr Richard Harrington
25 November 2014: "From Tiller Girl to Vermont Girl", by Sheila Parker; followed by a selection of slides of Old Harpenden from the Society's archives.
28 October 2014 : “Front Line Kent – Coastal Defences of the Kent Coast" by Peter Webster
23 September 2014 : "Cottage Style, 1780 onwards - Hertfordshire and beyond" by Dr Sarah Lloyd (University of Hertforddshire)
24 June 2014 : “Luton’s Market and Fairs” by John Newbury
27 May 2014 : “The Nickey Line” by David Abernethy
29 April 2014 : “Dr Edward Wilson, Captain Scott’s Confidante and Friend” by Dr Isobel Williams
1 April 2014 : “Framing St Albans - pictures in the Collection of St Albans City Museum” Catherine Newley (curator of the post-medieval collections)
25 February 2014: “A Personal Contribution to the History of Harpenden - My Father Charles Hill” by Susan Fairbairn
28 January 2014: “Luton Hoo Estate”by Len Fowler
26 November 2013: "Films of Old Harpenden” made by John Heather in the 1940s and 1950s and presented by Pauline Ridgewell of Redbourn Village Museum.
Tuesday, 22 October 2013 "The Stained Glass of Frank O. Salisbury" by Nigel McMurray, biographer of Frank Salisbury
24 September 2013 "From Pint Pot to Coffee Pot - Breweries and the Temperance Movement in St Albans" by Jon Mein
25 June: "Delving into Harpenden Shops" by Geoff Woodward
28 May 2013 “The Coin Hoard from St Albans" by David Thorold
23 April 2013 “Bells, Bells, Bells” by Amy Coburn - (the link is to an article already published on the website).
26 March 2013 "Water Colours in the Harpenden & District Local History Society Collection” by Patricia Yates - many of these can be seen in our Picture Gallery.
26 February 2013 “The Second Battle of St Albans” by Peter Burley and Harvey Watson.
29 January 2013 "The History of Elmfield School, from its beginning as a Sanatorium, about 1910, through until the 1970s" by Judy Hamblin and Margaret Hewitt
30 October 2012: "Frank Salisbury: Harpenden's Portrait painter" by Nigel McMurray
25 September 2012: "Batford Springs Nature Reserve" by Oliver Randall
26 June 2012 : "From Arkwright to Mayor" by Michael Weaver
29 May 2012 : "Wittewronge connections in the seventeenth century" by Roger Plumb
24 April 2012 "Geology and landscape of Hertfordshire" by John Catt (preceded by AGM)
3 April 2012: "Looking at Theodora - her life and times”by Amy Coburn
28 February 2012: "The First Battle of St Albans, 1455" by Peter Burley and Harvey Watson
31st January 2012 : "My ancestor made swords in 1685" by Tony Scott
25 October 2011 : "The College of Arms" by John Tunesi
27 September 2011 : "Hertfordshire and the English Civil War" by Dr Alan Thompson
28 June 2011 : "Luton Hoo - Past, Present and Future" by Zena Dickinson
24 May 2011 : "The History of Childwickbury" by Christine Aitken
26 April 2011 : AGM, followed by "Hertfordshire Maps over 300 years" by Alan Ruston
29 March 2011 : "St Albans and the Peasants' Revolt" by Revd P Wadsworth
22 February 2011 : "The Time Team at Norman Cross" by Paul Chamberlain
8 February 2011 : "Building the St Albans By-pass (now 50 years old" by Peter Fellis