Name: Guido van Meersbergen: The Making of an Imperial Icon: Richard Hakluyt and the Commemorative Culture
Start: 2025-10-11T10:30:00+01:00
Location: Unitarian Chapel, Warwick

Guido van Meersbergen: The Making of an Imperial Icon: Richard Hakluyt and the Commemorative Culture

In the rollcall of Elizabethan individuals inscribed into the Victorian vision of Britain’s imperial past, clergyman Richard Hakluyt (1552-1616) occupies a unique place. Neither explorer nor colonist, Hakluyt owed his reputation as a pioneer of the British Empire to his extensive labours in collecting, editing and publishing accounts of pioneering travel.
This talk by Guido van Meersbergen will examine the ways in which Hakluyt was portrayed in late imperial Britain, particularly by individuals associated with the Hakluyt Society, founded in 1846. The elevation of Hakluyt to the status of imperial icon sheds light not just on the creation of an imperial origin story but also on a new understanding of archival and editorial practice as foundational to the building and continuation of Britain’s global power.
Tickets £10.00
includes refreshments
In association with The University of Warwick