Website of Amanda J. Thomas

Talk

Who was Isaac Newell and Why is his Legacy so Important for Medway?

AGM, The Friends of Guildhall Museums, Rochester, Kent

Friday, 1 November 2024

Following Amanda’s talk at the 2023 Medway Archives Centre Lecture Series (see below), interest in Isaac Newell has increased. The Isaac Newell Heritage Group was formed in Kent in December 2023 by Amanda and others keen to perpetuate the memory of Isaac, Strood’s most famous son. Building on the extraordinary work of Adrian Pope, the group’s main aim is to see a statue of Isaac erected on the Strood waterfront. The project is endorsed by the Newell family and in May 2024, the Group was given ‘approval in principle’ by Medway Council for the statue.

Talk

The Real Oliver Twist:
The Story of Charles Dickens and the Infant Pauper Asylum at Tooting.

The Friends of Guildhall Museums, Rochester, Kent

Wednesday, 22 May 2024

A repeat of the talk below.

Talk

Medieval Harpenden, The Plague and its Consequences

Harpenden Local History Day, Harpenden, Hertfordshire

Saturday, 20 April 2024

In mid-14th century England, the plague killed around half the population. Known as the Black Death, it is the origin of folklore and myths, one of the greatest of which has only recently been debunked - rats did not transmit the pestilence. Harpenden was not spared from this medieval apocalypse but fared better than other Hertfordshire villages. Whilst the town did not emerge unscathed, the Black Death created some unexpected opportunities.

Talk

The Real Oliver Twist: The Story of Charles Dickens and the Infant Pauper Asylum at Tooting

The Medway Archives Lecture Series 2024
Medway Archives Centre, Strood, Kent

Wednesday, 10 April 2024

On 20 January 1849, a moving article was published in the weekly journal, The Examiner. Entitled, ‘The Paradise at Tooting’, its author, Charles Dickens, gave a damning account of the running of the Infant Pauper Asylum at Tooting, south-west London:

‘The parish authorities who sent these children to such a place, and, seeing them in it, left them there, and showed no resolute determination to reform it altogether, are culpable in the highest degree … it was brutally conducted, vilely kept, preposterously inspected, dishonestly defended, a disgrace to a Christian community, and a stain upon a civilised land.’

The children’s workhouse was established in 1804 and the horrors that took place there during the 1848-9 cholera outbreak were revealed some ten years after Dickens had published Oliver Twist. The talk explored what went on at Tooting, how Dickens helped bring the scandal to the public’s attention, but also how the research for the presentation had uncovered the little-known scandal concerning the trafficking of pauper children.

Talk

The Story of Isaac Newell: From Strood to Argentina and the Seeds of Modern Football

The Medway Archives Lecture Series 2023
Medway Archives Centre, Strood, Kent

Tuesday, 20 June 2023

Isaac Newell was born in 1853 in Taylors Lane, Strood. One of the founding fathers of the modern football game, following his emigration to Argentina in 1869, Isaac and his wife Margretha founded the Colegio Comercial Anglicano Argentino. Later, Isaac and his son Claudio started Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys, which has become one of the world’s most iconic clubs and home to some of football’s greatest players. Isaac’s legacy is his extraordinary vision of combining education with sport continues to be used in youth academies worldwide. His is a true rags to riches story and an inspiration for everyone.

Talk

The Nonconformist Revolution: How Dissenting Thought Contributed to Britain’s Industrial Revolution

Kent Family History Society, Deal Branch

Tuesday, 13 June 2023

A repeat of the talk below.

Talk

The Nonconformist Revolution: How Dissenting Thought Contributed to Britain’s Industrial Revolution

Kent Family History Society, Medway Branch

Thursday, 29 September 2022

The Nonconformism Revolution explores the evolution of dissenting thought and how Nonconformity shaped the transformation of England from a rural to an urban, industrialised society.

The foundations for the Industrial Revolution were in place from the late Middle Ages when the early development of manufacturing processes and changes in the structure of rural communities began to provide opportunities for economic and social advancement. Successive waves of Huguenot migrants and the influence of Northern European religious ideology also played an important role in this process. The Civil Wars would provide a catalyst for the dissemination of new ideas and help shape the emergence of a new English Protestantism and divergent dissident sects. The persecution which followed strengthened the Nonconformist cause, and for the early Quakers it intensified their unity and resilience, qualities which would prove to be invaluable for business.

In the years following the Restoration, Nonconformist ideas fuelled enlightened thought creating an environment for enterprise but also a desire for more radical change. Reformers seized on the plight of a working poor alienated by innovation and frustrated by false promises. The vision which was at first the spark for innovation would ignite revolution.

Talks

The Friends of Medway Archives Centre
Christmas Event,
The Medway Archives Centre, Strood, Kent

Diseases in Victorian Times
First Session: Thursday, 16 December 2021

From Pagan Merriment to Puritan Misery: The Banning of Christmas in the English Civil Wars
Second Session: Thursday 16 December 2021

During the period when Covid restrictions were still in place, Amanda gave two talks and compiled a medley of forgotten medieval carols for the Friends of Medway Archives Christmas Event in December 2021.

The first talk, entitled Diseases in Victorian Times – with a footnote on Covid-19 explored the causes and effects of the most common diseases of the Victorian era. This included a discussion of the possible causes of the Covid-19 pandemic and how lessons could have been learnt from the past.

The second talk, From Pagan Merriment to Puritan Misery. The Banning of Christmas in the English Civil Wars discussed the ancient celebration of Christmas – including the astonishing evidence emerging from the recent archaeological project at Stonehenge - and how the development of Protestantism caused it to be banned at the height of the English Civil Wars.

Tuesday, 30 June 2020

The Nonconformist Revolution launches! The book explores how Nonconformity shaped our modern world both in terms of industrial innovation and radical insurrection - plus the extraordinary role played by nonconformist women - the driving force behind it all! Thank you to everyone who has supported me in this monumental endeavour – especially Pen & Sword publisher Jonathan Wright.

Monday, 1 June 2020

The Lambeth Cholera Outbreak of 1848-1849 is book of the week on the Brixton Blog . Huge thanks to the Blog's Alan Slingsby. There is so much interest in pandemics at the moment - for obvious reasons - and so much to learn from the mistakes of the past!

Friday, 29 May 2020

The second edition of Cholera the Victorian Plague is out! Thank you Pen and Sword.

Wednesday, 26 February 2020

With the fabulous Simon Elliott at another "Working in Writing and Publishing" evening at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Hosted by the School of European Culture and Languages (SECL) and the School of English, this was the last public event before lockdown.

Talk

Secrets of the Industrial Revolution

The City of Rochester Society, Rochester, Kent

Tuesday, 16 April 2019.

Talk

Huguenots and the Industrial Revolution

Huguenot Museum, Rochester,

Saturday 28 October 2:00-3:30pm

“During the Industrial Revolution, Britain was at the forefront of innovation, an achievement in which Huguenot migrants and their descendants played a significant part.”

Talk

The Nonconformist Revolution

The City of Rochester Society, Rochester, Kent

7 March 2017.

11 March 2016

At the "Working in Publishing" careers event at the University of Kent at Canterbury. A great evening - I met lots of aspiring young writers and some wonderful people including (pictured) Emily Cook from Doctor Who Magazine and Dr Jeremy Scott, Senior lecturer at UKC in English Language & Linguistics.

Thursday 6 October 2016

Tonight I gave my talk Cholera: Soho's Victorian Plague for The Museum of Soho at Blacks Club in London’s Soho. Here I am just before the talk started. A lot of people came, in fact so overwhelming was the interest, Blacks had to move us to a bigger room - and people were still standing at the back! And what a room it was – a wooden-panelled time capsule, lit by candlelight and overlooking Dean Street. The setting was the most atmospheric I had ever spoken in and could not have been more perfect to describe how cholera had killed so many in Soho during the Victorian period. I would not have been surprised if Dr John Snow had walked in to explain to us all how he had fought (and failed - read the book and you'll discover why) to prove cholera is a waterborne disease. There was much discussion about the cholera currently raging in Haiti, of course, and so many interesting questions. We retired to Blacks' bar where the conversation continued for a very long time ...

I am thrilled to have begun this association with the Museum of Soho and have been invited on to Soho Radio later in the month. Heritage is bloody wonderful!