Manchester was Britain’s first industrial city and in 2017 became a  UNESCO’s City of Literature. It has, for nearly 200 years, been a place where art and science, culture and industry have become intrinsically linked: at its centre, we find Elizabeth Gaskell. This fascinating talk explores Gaskell’s social circle, where Dr Diane Duffy finds some very illustrious Mancunian residents, including Sir Charle Halle, John Dalton, James Nasmyth, Annie Swynnerton and the Kay Shuttleworths.  There are also cameos from Felix Mendelssohn, Jenny Lind, Frederic Chopin, John Ruskin, William Thackeray, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charlotte Brontë and Charles Dickens

This talk was delivered over Zoom on 14 July 2020.
© Dr Diane Duffy, the Gaskell Society