Part of our Celebration of Makers talks series, discover how making and mending shaped Victorian Britain and why these skills still matter today.

The research team behind UKRI project ‘The Victorian Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity – Past and Present’ will showcase new Victorian voices based on discoveries in archives and museum collections.

Victorian material culture was the work of many hands – artisans, householders, soldiers, sailors, prisoners and patients. These crafts were often introduced as a form of soft discipline and social control and giving historians new insight into social mobility, pride, trauma, and dissent – themes which still shape British identity.

Using these histories, we will explore how, in our own time of unprecedented technological acceleration, we might reclaim the best of Victorian handwork to improve our own collective wellbeing.

Professor Joanne Begiato is Professor of History and Material Culture Studies, London College of Fashion, UAL. She has published widely on the history of emotions, bodies, material culture, masculinities, family, parenting, and marriage from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries.

Dr Michael Brown is Lecturer in Modern British History at Lancaster University. He has published extensively on the history of medicine, surgery, asylums, emotions, bodies and war in the long nineteenth century.

Dr Ross Cameron is a Public Engagement Fellow at London College of Fashion, UAL. He has published extensively on travel writing and the social, cultural and political connections between Britain and Southeastern Europe in the nineteenth century. He is currently researching the sense of touch in travel literature.

Dr Helen Victoria Murray is Research Associate in Victorian Cultural and Material History at Lancaster University. Her research interests include Neo-Victorianism, Photographic History and Artists’ Celebrity. She is an experienced heritage professional and unites academic research with creative writing through core themes of temporality, materiality and embodiment.

Doors open from 6.30pm. Talk starts 7pm. The talk will last around 90 minutes including time for questions.

Limited spaces available, booking essential. Tickets are available on a ‘pay what you can’ basis. Please choose the tier of ticket that is best suited to you. If the ticket price presents difficulty, please get in touch with us at info@twotempleplace.org.

Please join the waitlist if the event is sold out. Purchase tickets through the checkout portal below. If you experience difficulty with the portal, you can purchase tickets on the Eventbrite page here, or book directly by emailing info@twotempleplace.org or phoning 0207 836 3715.

This talk is programmed as part of our Celebration of Makers. To see other events at Two Temple Place, please visit the ‘What’s On’ page.

For information on how to plan your visit, please check the ‘Visit Us‘ page.

*Please note that we are a small organisation. If you want to cancel your ticket within 1 week of the event, we can’t offer a refund but will try to transfer your ticket to a similar event in the future. If cancelling 48 hours before the event, we are unable to offer a refund or transfer your ticket. If you request a refund at any time, you will be charged a fee by Eventbrite.