Speaker: Dr John Mcaleer, Associate Professor in History, the University of Southampton, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and council member of the Hakluyt Society

11.30 – 12.30 pm Jane Austen’s East India Company

Connections ‘It is a little-known fact that the fortunes of the Austen family were intimately linked to the career of Warren Hastings, the controversial first Governor-General in India.

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Speaker: Professor Emma Clery, Professor of English, the University of Southampton, author of Jane Austen: The Banker’s Sister, member of the Southampton Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies

1.30 – 2.30 pmThe East India Company at Home

The impact of the East India Company Families on Southampton: landscape, politics and architecture. In the eighteenth century Pear Tree Church and its parish were transformed by an influx of new moneyed parishioners, ‘Company Men’

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Speaker: Dr Cheryl Butler, Hon Fellow the University of Winchester, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, member of the editorial committee for the Southampton Records Series

2.30 – 3.30 pm The Lewins: A Peartree East India Company Family

With unique access to the Lewin Family archive, this talk will tell the story of one company family and their life at Ridgeway Castle.

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Speaker: Sarah Lewin, Principal Archivist (Records and Research), The Hampshire Record Office. A descendant of Thomas Lewin of Ridgeway.

This is a Pear Tree 400 ONLINE Study Day 2021 

(Please note if appropriate we will also be offering a live conference, details to follow as covid restrictions are lifted)

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Saturday 19th June 2021

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Jane Austen, The East India Company & Pear Tree Church in the Fashionable Eighteenth Century

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10.15 – 10.30 am Log-in, Housekeeping & Welcome

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10.30 -11.30 am The East India Company: The corporation that changed the world

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The East India Company played a crucial role in creating the British Empire in Asia. From its modest origins as a small Elizabethan trading venture, it grew into a global empire which controlled Britain’s trade with Asia for nearly 250 years. Its story is one of wealth, power and the pursuit of fortune. But it is also one of conflict, conquest and piracy on the high seas; policy, politics and intrigue on land. And, by introducing a whole host of coveted commodities to British consumers, the scale and impact of the Company’s activities changed the lives of millions of people in two continents.

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Please Note: This event location depends on Government COVID-19 guidelines in place and may have to be changed

 to an online event. Places are being limited for social distancing purposes.

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Saturday 3rd July 2021

   The Religious Landscape of Peartree Green from the 16th – 19th Centuries

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10.15 am – 10.30 am Housekeeping & Welcome

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10.30 am – 11.30 am Catholics & Puritans: Francis Mylles of Pear Tree House

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11.30 am -12.30 pm Lancelot Andrewes & Pear Tree Church

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12.30 pm - 1.30 pm   LUNCH (Please bring a packed lunch with you)

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1.30 pm – 2.00 pm    Visit of Pear Tree Church

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2.00 pm - 3.00 pm     The Dissenters on the Green

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3.00 pm - 4.00 pm     Visit to the Congregational Church

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Francis Mylles was the builder of Pear Tree House, and his daughter and her husband were responsible for the building of the Jesus Chapel. Mylles was at the centre of Elizabethan politics, particularly the religious turmoil that grew after the excommunication of Elizabeth I by the Pope.

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Speaker: Dr Cheryl Butler, Hon Fellow the University of Winchester, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, member of the editorial committee for the Southampton Records Series

The Life & Works of Lancelot Andrewes, author of the service of consecration for the Jesus Chapel, St Mary Extra in 1620

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Speaker: Professor Peter McCullough, Lincoln College Oxford University. Sohmer Fellow, Tutor in English Literature, Sub-Rector & Fellow Archivist. Currently working on a full-scale biography of Andrewes.

On Wednesday 16 September 1840 a second place of worship was opened on the Green. As reported at the time, ‘This little structure rears its head opposite to the ancient Church on Pear Tree Green, and has been erected by voluntary contribution’ (Hampshire Telegraph, 21 September 1840). Owing its origins to the evangelistic enterprise of the prestigious Above Bar Independent (later Congregational) Chapel in Southampton, how the ‘little structure’ fared during the first 130 years of its existence will be assessed.

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Speaker: Dr Roger Ottewill, from The Hampshire Field Club is an Independent Researcher with a specialist in modern church history, particularly Congregationalism