The Retford and District Historical and Archaeological Society’s new season could not have got off to a better start. The group has welcomed some new members and visitors, and it was nice to see some younger people attend the October meeting. The club needs new members and welcome all ages so come along and pay us a visit and make some new friends.
At the November meeting Michael Parkin gave a most enjoyable and informative talk all about the ‘The Pentrich Revolution’, which took place in 1817, when around 360 men set out to march to London in protest at the lack of work, hunger and starvation. There were farm workers, labourers, frame work knitters, foundry men and farm workers but they were attacked by the militia in Nottinghamshire, so never reached their intended destination. A certain William Oliver, paid spy and provocateur, betrayed them. Part of the Government’s response to social and political problems was hanging or a voyage to Australia, so on 7th November 1817 Jeremiah Brandreth, William Turner and Isaac Ludlam were taken to the scaffold of the County Goal in Derby. They were hanged by the neck for half an hour before being beheaded. A crowd of 6,000 people had assembled to watch the executions, the bodies of the three men were buried in St Werburgh’s churchyard in Derby. They were amongst the last men to be publicly beheaded by the axe in Britain.
On 13th December, the society’s speaker, Mike Ogden, will be giving a talk on ‘The Essence of a Georgian Gentleman’, followed by refreshments. The society starts 2018 with the following lectures:
- 14th February — ‘Our Part in POW Camp History’
- 14th March — ‘Ice Age Journeys: Volunteer Research into our Past 14,000 years’
Lectures are held in Chapelgate Hall, behind Grove Street Methodist Church, Retford, on the second Wednesday of each month from September to May inclusive, and commence at 7.30pm. For more information contact Janet Gamble on 01777 248297 or Janetgamble95@gmail.com, or Jean Martin on 01777 70590 or Marleyjean6@gmail.com.