Britain and the making of Global Order after 1919

Tuesday 9th July 2019, 6:30 p.m.

Edmond J. Safra Lecture Theatre, King’s College London, Strand, London

Patricia Clavin is Professor of International History at the University of Oxford, and Zeitlyn Fellow and Tutor at Jesus College. Her books include Securing the World Economy. The Reinvention of the League of Nations (Oxford, 2013), and Internationalisms. A Twentieth-Century History (edited with Glenda Sluga, Cambridge, 2017).

On the centenary of the Paris Peace, Patricia Clavin (Oxford University) explores Britain’s pivotal role in the development of a rules-based global order. The lecture reveals how Britons fashioned the practices and norms of new international institutions, including the League of Nations, to manage relations between states, markets and civil society. Drawing on the correspondence of key internationalists – including women usually excluded from the canon of international thought – it uncovers how economic, social and even environmental issues took on as much
importance as the more familiar concerns of border protection and weapons’ control as Britain searched for security in its relations with the Empire, Europe and the USA.

All Welcome
Free Admission, but booking is essential
Reception to Follow

About the Ben Pimlott Memorial Lecture

The Ben Pimlott Memorial Lecture is hosted by Twentieth Century British History, OUP Journals and King’s Contemporary British History. This lecture series was established in 2006 in honour of the late Ben Pimlott and in association with the Institute of Contemporary British History, with which Ben had close ties. Each lecture is published in the journal and is available free online.

For more information see:

https://academic.oup.com/tcbh/pages/pimlott

About the KCBH 2019 Annual Conference

This event is taking place alongside the King’s Contemporary British History annual conference, this year on the theme of ‘Britain’s Futures’.

For more information and registration see:

https://kcbh.kcl.ac.uk/2019/03/27/kcbh-conference-2019/

Please note it is not necessary to register for the conference in order to attend the Pimlott lecture. However, all those who do register for the conference will also be automatically registered for the lecture.

On the evening of 9 July, KCBH will co-host the Ben Pimlott Memorial Lecture 2019, with Twentieth Century British History and OUP Journals. Professor Patricia Clavin will deliver the lecture,  entitled, ‘Britain and the making of Global Order after 1919’.

On the centenary of the Paris Peace, Patricia Clavin (Oxford University) explores Britain’s pivotal role in the development of a rules-based global order. The lecture reveals how Britons fashioned the practices and norms of new international institutions, including the League of Nations, to manage relations between states, markets and civil society.  Drawing on the correspondence of key internationalists – including women usually excluded from the canon of international thought – it uncovers how economic, social and even environmental issues took on as much importance as the more familiar concerns of border protection and weapons’ control as Britain’s searched for security in its relations with the Empire, Europe and the USA.

This event is free, but booking is essential

KCBH are delighted to host an event, ‘The New Urban Political History’, which will take place in the River Room, KCL on 10 July, from 11.00am-1.00pm. (The morning after the KCBH conference).

Details below:

“The New Urban Political History”

This event announces the debuts of three important new books. These innovative works tackle major historical problems through a distinctively urban lens. The result is urban history as political history, promising fresh insights for both.

Chair: Erika Hanna, University of Bristol

Simon Gunn, University of Leicester, and Susan Townsend, University of Nottingham: Automobility and the City in Twentieth-Century Britain and Japan (Bloomsbury, 2019).

Guy Ortolano, New York University: Thatcher’s Progress: From Social Democracy to Market Liberalism through an English New Town (Cambridge University Press, 2019).

Otto Saumarez Smith, University of Warwick: Boom Cities: Architect Planners and the Politics of Radical Urban Renewal in 1960s Britain (Oxford University Press, 2019).

Each of the authors will briefly introduce a book other than their own. We will then invite a wider discussion of what this ‘new urban history’ can tell us about the emerging economic, social, and political histories of 20th century Britain.

This event is free, but booking is essential: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-new-urban-political-history-book-launch-roundtable-tickets-61734876678

This is the third annual KCBH conference. This year our theme will Britain’s Futures – the ways in which hoped for or feared futures were articulated. Our expectation is that a discussion focused on the projects, promises and plans of the past will enrich our collective understanding of both British history and how it has been written.

Our four themed discussions, on National and Imperial futures, Social futures, Economic futures, and Political futures, will be led by, among others:

Clarisse Berthezène, Lise Butler, Sabine Clarke, Alana Harris, Kit Kowol, Helen McCarthy, Helen Parr, Charlotte Lydia Riley, Emily Robinson, Catherine Schenk, Bill Schwarz, Peter Sloman, and Richard Toye.

PIMLOTT LECTURE: On the evening of 9 July, KCBH will co-host the Ben Pimlott Memorial Lecture 2019, with Twentieth Century British History and OUP Journals. Professor Patricia Clavin will deliver the lecture, which will be entitled, ‘Britain and the making of Global Order after 1919’. Anyone who signs up for the KCBH conference is free to attend the Pimlott Lecture

This event is free, but booking is essential.

England on the Verge of Brexit: Brexit was made in England; but will England be re-made by Brexit?

Lecture by John Denham

19 March, 6.30-8pm / Nash Lecture Theatre, King’s College London, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS

Brexit was a very English decision. Yet England was barely mentioned in the referendum campaign nor in its fractious aftermath. It remains a nation whose name is unspoken. 

This lecture will explore the roots of England’s discontent in its governance and constitutional status and the failure to tackle the nation’s economic and social divides. John Denham will argue that, unless these challenges are addressed during Brexit and its aftermath, the underlying tensions will only grow.

Prof John Denham is Director of the Centre for English Identity and Politics at the University of Winchester. He is a former Labour MP and Cabinet Minister.

The lecture is jointly hosted by King’s Contemporary British history and English Labour Network. It is the inaugural event in KCBH’s England series.

To attend, please register at Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/england-on-the-verge-of-brexit-john-denham-tickets-57032846780

King’s Contemporary British History and the Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War will host a book launch for Fighting the People’s War: the British and Commonwealth Armies and the Second World War, by Dr Jonathan Fennell, on Thursday 28 February 2019, at 6.00pm. 

For details, including registration, see here.

Professor David Edgerton, director of KCBH, will speak at the Institute of Historical Research on 28 January. His topic will be ‘The rise and fall of the British Nation: some reflections’. More information here.

KCBH is delighted to announce that it will co-host the Ben Pimlott Memorial Lecture 2019, with Twentieth Century British History and OUP Journals. Professor Patricia Clavin will deliver the lecture, which will be entitled, ‘Britain and the making of Global Order after 1919’.

Tuesday 9th July 2019, 6:30 p.m.
King’s College London

Location: TBA

Please watch this space for Eventbrite registration

For more information, see here.

King’s Contemporary British History and the Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War will co-host an event to celebrate the publication of Blunder: Britain’s War in Iraq by Professor Patrick Porter (University of Birmingham), in the KCL History Department on Friday 14 December 2018. Talk by the author, followed by a Q&A, and wine reception. All welcome, but booking required: see here.