Online Event: Shirley – Charlotte Brontë and the Industrial Novel
onlineCharlotte Brontë is a giant of Victorian literature and the much-loved author of the classic Jane Eyre but what of her lesser-read second novel, Shirley, written in the grief and sadness of family loss? Brontë’s Shirley was set amongst the tumultuous times of the Napoleonic Wars and Luddite machine breakers. Her strong female characters and […]
Manchester Meeting – Elizabeth Gaskell in the Train and on the Omnibus
Cross Street Chapel Cross Street,, Manchester, United KingdomWe're delighted to welcome back committee member and one of our favourite speakers, Anthony Burton. He'll be offering a tempting taster for our 2024 Conference, which explores the theme of travel. Anthony was intrigued by paintings featuring railway stations and omnibuses in the Dining Room at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House. He has explored the background of […]
How Manchester Made Shakespeare Modern – Rosa Grindon, the Suffragist Shakespearean Scholar
Manchester Central Library St Peter's Square, ManchesterDr Ian Nickson (Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham) and Dr. Monika Smialkowska (Northumbria University) will talk about the largely overlooked career of Rosa Grindon. They will chart her journey from modest beginnings in a Derbyshire village to becoming a leading figure in literary and theatrical circles in Manchester, a ground-breaking Shakespearean scholar and, as a […]
Online Tour of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House
onlineUsing 360-degree photography, expert guides will bring Manchester’s literary heritage to life via an online tour of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House. From the Morning Room and Study, to the Drawing and Dining Rooms, you’ll learn about Elizabeth’s family life; how William, her husband, supported her, and how her life in Manchester influenced the books she wrote […]
Can we Devise a Gaskell Brand? – with Anthony Burton
Francis Holland School 39 Graham Terrace, London, United KingdomAs anyone who has attended Gaskell Society conferences, or joined any of the Gaskell House’s online events, will know, Anthony has a vast and wide-ranging amount of knowledge about Elizabeth Gaskell, her life, times and contemporaries. He will use Gaskell, Dickens, Austen and the Brontës to look at how writers have been promoted (or promoted […]
Online ‘Knutsford’ Meeting – November 2023
onlineOur Chair, Dr Diane Duffy will be discussing Sylvia's Lovers for the 2023-24 Knutsford season. Gaskell’s only historical novel, Sylvia’s Lovers is set in the fictional coastal town of Monkshaven, against a backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. Sylvia Robson lives a simple enough life on the farm, when she meets Charlie Kinraid, a dashing seaman. […]
Online Event: North and South – The Preston Lockouts Anniversary
online2023 marks the 170th anniversary of the Preston Lockouts – the historical strikes that informed the plot and themes of Elizabeth Gaskell’s classic romantic novel North and South and provided inspiration for Charles Dickens in Hard Times. When workers demanded a 10% wage increase in Preston in 1853, the factory owners simply locked the gates and left 18,000 people […]
Manchester Meeting – Gaskell and the Fairy Tale
Cross Street Chapel Cross Street,, Manchester, United KingdomElizabeth Gaskell’s interest in the fairy tale and her use of fairy-tale motifs throughout her writing have been curiously neglected by scholars. The fairy tale, like the Gothic and the ghostly, operates in a world of magic realism, its conventions straddling two worlds in which the supernatural is accepted as normal in an apparently realistic […]
Online Talk: Victorian Christmas in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Manchester
onlineAt the start of Queen Victoria’s reign, Christmas meant little to commercial Manchester but during the 1840s-1860s the city came to share in an upsurge of enthusiasm for the festive season. Elizabeth Gaskell’s Manchester saw a boom in the Christmas trade in food, wine and gifts, the expansion of seasonal entertainments like pantomime and the […]
New Year Lunch, 2024
Cottons Hotel and Spa Manchester Road, Knutsford, United KingdomWe're thrilled to welcome back members and friends for our wonderfully convivial New Year lunch - a firm favourite in our society's calendar. Join us at the the Cottons Hotel, Knutsford for a three-course lunch, including coffee and after-lunch entertainment. Members old and new, non-members and guests are all most welcome to join us. Tuesday […]
Knutsford Meeting – January 2024
Brook Street Chapel Adam's Hill,, Knutsford, United KingdomOur Chair, Dr Diane Duffy will be discussing Sylvia's Lovers for the 2023-24 Knutsford season.Gaskell’s only historical novel, Sylvia’s Lovers is set in the fictional coastal town of Monkshaven, against a backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars.Sylvia Robson lives a simple enough life on the farm, when she meets Charlie Kinraid, a dashing seaman. After their […]
The Victorian House: Elizabeth Gaskell’s House in Context
Cross Street Chapel Cross Street,, Manchester, United KingdomIs Elizabeth Gaskell's House a 'typical' Victorian house? Surely houses changed a lot over Victoria's 63-year-long reign? Anthony Burton examines various aspects of Victorian domestic architecture, in order to show how Elizabeth Gaskell's House fits in. Doors open at 1pm and the talk begins at 1.30pm. We'll make a recording available for online viewing after the […]
Knutsford Meeting – February 2024
Brook Street Chapel Adam's Hill,, Knutsford, United KingdomOur Chair, Dr Diane Duffy will be discussing Sylvia's Lovers for the 2023-24 Knutsford season. Gaskell’s only historical novel, Sylvia’s Lovers is set in the fictional coastal town of Monkshaven, against a backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. Sylvia Robson lives a simple enough life on the farm, when she meets Charlie Kinraid, a dashing seaman. […]
Manchester Meeting – Elizabeth Gaskell in the Digital World
Cross Street Chapel Cross Street,, Manchester, United KingdomWe're thrilled to welcome Jessica Smith, Creative Arts Archivist at the John Ryland Research Institute and Library. As you may know, the John Rylands Library holds a collection of Elizabeth Gaskell's printed works and letters. They hold the original manuscripts for 'The Grey Woman', Wives and Daughters, The Life of Charlotte Brontë and 'The Crooked […]
Knutsford Meeting – March 2024
Brook Street Chapel Adam's Hill,, Knutsford, United KingdomOur Chair, Dr Diane Duffy will be discussing Sylvia's Lovers for the 2023-24 Knutsford season. Gaskell’s only historical novel, Sylvia’s Lovers is set in the fictional coastal town of Monkshaven, against a backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. Sylvia Robson lives a simple enough life on the farm, when she meets Charlie Kinraid, a dashing seaman. […]
The Gaskell Society Annual General Meeting 2024
Cross Street Chapel Cross Street,, Manchester, United KingdomOur Annual General Meeting takes place at Cross Street Chapel in Manchester 10.00 Tea and Coffee 10.30 Annual General Meeting 11.45 The Daphne Carrick Memorial Lecture - Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell Dr Emma Probett is a writer, researcher and podcaster. She has a PhD in Victorian Studies and is currently writing a book on Jane […]
Knutsford Meeting – April 2024
Brook Street Chapel Adam's Hill,, Knutsford, United KingdomOur Chair, Dr Diane Duffy will be discussing Sylvia's Lovers for the 2023-24 Knutsford season. Gaskell’s only historical novel, Sylvia’s Lovers is set in the fictional coastal town of Monkshaven, against a backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. Sylvia Robson lives a simple enough life on the farm, when she meets Charlie Kinraid, a dashing seaman. […]
The Alliance of Literary Societies AGM Weekend, Bowness
Various Venues, Bowness-on-Windermere Bowness-on-Windermere, United KingdomThe Gaskell Society is a member of the Alliance of Literary Societies (ALS), so our members are most welcome to attend the Alliance's Gathering and AGM. This year, it's hosted by the Arthur Ransome Society, so it's in a wonderful setting! Booking for the weekend in Bowness-on-Windermere is now open. Friday 17 May – Two […]
Exploring the Brontë Sisters in the Vicarage
The Vicarage Parkgate Road, Chester, United KingdomOur friend, Professor Deborah Wynne, is hosting a study day at the University of Chester, focusing on the work of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë. There will be a reading group discussion as part of the event 10:00am: Arrival and welcome 10:15am: Alison Newbold on the work of Emily Brontë 10:35am: Professor Melissa Fegan on […]
Second-Hand Book Sale
Elizabeth Gaskell's House 84 Plymouth Grove,, Manchester, United KingdomNamed as ‘Manchester’s best second-hand book sale‘ the Elizabeth Gaskell’s House second-hand book sale is a must visit for book lovers. Held within Manchester’s very own literary house, there are two rooms packed full of second-hand books of all genres. You can browse a wide variety of good quality contemporary fiction, crime, thrillers, classics, OS maps, biographies, […]
Cynthia V Molly: ‘Love me as I am, sweet one, for I shall never be better.’
onlineMolly is the moral heart of classic novel Wives and Daughters but it is her flawed step-sister Cynthia who may appeal to readers more. The two girls are a study in comparisons. Molly is concerned with goodness while Cynthia’s relationship with her ghastly mother Mrs Gibson echoes that of Lizzy and Mrs Bennet in Jane […]
Villette V Ruth: Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Gaskell
onlineCharlotte Brontë is a giant of Victorian literature and the much-loved author of the classic Jane Eyre, but what of her last novel to be published during her lifetime, Villette, about the passion and pain of unrequited love? Brontë’s semi-autobiographical book Villette tells the story of Lucy Snowe as she flees England for a Belgian […]
Gaskell Society Conference 2024
Sketchley Grange Hotel Sketchley Ln,, Burbage, Hinckley, Leicestershire, United KingdomA Passport to freedom: Women Travellers in the 19th Century We're delighted to announce that our next conference, on the theme of Travel, will take place between 5 and 8 July 2024 at the Sketchley Grange Hotel & Spa, a 4-star country house hotel on the borders of Leicestershire and Warwickshire. We've gathering together an […]
As Seen on Screen – Costume in TV Adaptations
onlineJoin Curator Elinor Camille-Wood as she takes you on a riotous journey through the fabulously outrageous fashions of the 1830s, the time Elizabeth Gaskell set her novel, Wives and Daughters. Discover what the characters would have worn from large sleeves to intricate hairstyles in a period of flamboyant ladies and fashionable gentleman. The talk will […]
Second-Hand Book Sale
Elizabeth Gaskell's House 84 Plymouth Grove,, Manchester, United KingdomNamed as ‘Manchester’s best second-hand book sale‘ the Elizabeth Gaskell’s House second-hand book sale is a must visit for book lovers. Held within Manchester’s very own literary house, there are two rooms packed full of second-hand books of all genres. You can browse a wide variety of good quality contemporary fiction, crime, thrillers, classics, OS maps, biographies, […]