Writing and Radicalism: Samuel Bamford and the Victorian Literary Scene – An Evening with Robert Poole

Samuel Bamford is surely one of the most interesting nineteenth-century figures you’ve (maybe) never heard of. A Lancashire weaver, warehouseman, and witness to some of the century’s most significant political events Bamford’s Passages in the Life of a Radical details his trial for sedition after the Peterloo massacre of 1819. Inspired by the Iliad and the poems of John Milton to write poetry himself, Bamford sometimes wrote in his native Lancastrian dialect. Join Robert Poole (author of Peterloo) as he explores some of Bamford’s most interesting works.

Robert Poole is Professor of History at the University of Central Lancashire and author of Peterloo: the English Uprising (2019), an acclaimed account of one of the UK’s most significant historical events. As historical consultant to the Peterloo bicentenary programme in Manchester in 2019, he spoke at over 100 public events and supported dozens of museums, libraries, galleries, film makers, animators, artists, youth & community groups, as well as the designers of the Peterloo memorial and the makers of the film Peterloo. Before that he supported the 400th anniversary commemoration of the Pendle witches, writing the standard history of England’s biggest peacetime witch trial, The Wonderful Discovery of Witches in the County of Lancaster. He is also co-author of the verbatim graphic novel Peterloo: Witnesses to a Massacre.

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Tickets for this event start at £8 for online access.

In-person tickets start at £11.