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Life in 18th-century England is often imagined as static, parochial and grim - a world of unquestioned hierarchies, limited diets and little social movement. But how much of that picture is grounded in evidence, and how much is modern myth-making?This talk examines Georgian daily life through an unusually rich primary source: the decades-long diary of James Woodforde, a Winchester-educated country parson who recorded, in meticulous detail, what he ate and drank, how he travelled, what he spent, who he encountered, and how he practised charity.
Taking a sceptical, evidence-led approach, we use Woodforde’s own data to test common assumptions about the period. The results reveal a society far more mobile, socially nuanced and materially varied than popular history suggests - and expose how easily narratives harden when we fail to return to the sources.
Wry, occasionally eyebrow-raising, and grounded firmly in contemporary records, this is Georgian England not as we imagine it, but as it can be observed.
Professor Edward Rochead is a mathematical engineer by profession and an historian of science and society by inclination, with a particular interest in how historical narratives are formed, simplified, and sometimes distorted over time. Drawing on primary sources, institutional records and personal archives, Edward’s work explores how everyday lives and overlooked individuals can challenge comfortable assumptions about the past. Recent talks have focused on Georgian England and on the lives of Hertha Ayrton and Amy Johnson, using biography as a lens to examine how class, gender, religion and institutional power shape what history chooses to remember - and what it quietly forgets. Edward is especially interested in sceptical approaches to history: asking what the evidence actually shows, how stories harden into “truths”, and why revisiting original sources can still surprise us.
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Event venue
The Winchester Club, Highfield Lodge, Worthy Lane, Winchester, SO23 7AB, United Kingdom
Tickets
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