Events

Battlefields Trust online lecture: The human cost of the Civil Wars.

Thursday 20th October 2022

The British and Irish Civil Wars (1638–1652) are now taking centre stage as a critical event in the welfare history of Europe. During these conflicts, the Long Parliament implemented a national pension scheme for those who had suffered ‘in the State’s service’. Maimed soldiers no longer able to work, bereaved war widows and orphans too could petition Justices of the Peace for a pension on a local level, through the county quarter sessions courts. For the very first time, this signified the state’s acceptance of a duty of care to both its servicemen and their families. The impact of war-related deprivation was widespread, given that civil-war population loss in England and Wales was around 3%, with even higher percentage losses in Scotland and Ireland. This lecture will showcase evidence from the Civil War Petitions Project’s website in order to assess how this system of military welfare operated, how claimants fashioned themselves as deserving recipients of relief, and how the victims of the war looked back on their experiences.

Andrew is Professor of Local and Social History in the Department for Continuing Education at Rewley House, University of Oxford. He was formerly Director of the Centre for English Local History at the University of Leicester. Andrew is best known for his two monographs ‘Black Tom’: Sir Thomas Fairfax and the English Revolution (Manchester University Press, 2007) and Turncoats and Renegadoes: Changing Sides in the English Civil Wars (Oxford University Press, 2012). He is currently working on his third monograph Widowhood and Bereavement in the English Civil Wars under contract with Oxford University Press, which is based on the AHRC-funded Civil War Petitions Project (2017-2022) www.civilwarpetitions.ac.uk for which he is Principal Investigator. He is also chair of the editorial board of Midland History, a patron of the Naseby Battlefield Project, and Academic Advisor of the National Civil War Centre, where he was co-curator of the ‘Battle-Scarred’ exhibition of 2016-19.

 

This presentation is exclusive to Battlefields Trust members. It starts at 8pm and booking will be online in response to a Mailchimp invitation sent to all members.

 

 
 

For further information.

 

Constable's Gate at Dover Castle Dover Castle
Saturday 12th July 2025
Read More

Photo: John Kliene Tewkesbury Medieval Festival
Saturday 12th July and Sunday 13th July 2025
Read More

Edgcote battlefield Battle of Edgcote 1469
Thursday 24th July 2025
Read More

Battle of Tewkesbury 1471
Thursday 7th August 2025
Read More

Castle Dore Battle of Lostwithiel 1644
Sunday 31st August 2025
Read More

Big Battlefield Walks Weekends
7th, 13th, 14th and 21st September 2025
Read More

Battle of Tewkesbury 1471
Sunday 7th September 2024
Read More

Battle of Otterburn 1388
Saturday 13th September 2025
Read More

Bevil Grenville memorial Lansdown Hill - Photo: Julian Humphrys Battle of Lansdown Hill 1643
Saturday 13th September 2025
Read More

Edgcote battlefield Battle of Edgcote 1469
Saturday 13th September 2025
Read More

The Eleanor Cross at Northampton where the battle was viewed by the Papal legate Battle of Northampton 1460
Saturday 13th September 2025
Read More

Battle of Maldon 991
Saturday 13th September 2025
Read More

Hopton Heath 1643
Saturday 13th September 2025
Read More

Battle of Winwick 1648
Sunday 14th September 2025
Read More

The Clock Tower in St Albans Second battle of St Albans 1461
Sunday 14th September 2025
Read More

Rowton Heath battlefield memorial Battle of Rowton Heath 1645
Sunday 21st September 2025
Read More

Battle of Ethandun [Edington] 876
Sunday 21st September 2025
Read More

Battle of Myton 1319
Sunday 21st September 2025
Read More

Battle of Newbury 1643
Sunday 21st September 2025
Read More

East Anglia Regional Study Day
Saturday 4th October 2025
Read More

Winceby Memorial Battle of Winceby 1643
Sunday 12th October 2025
Read More

Tangmere Aviation Museum - Image H J Mitchell Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license Visit to Tangmere Air Museum
Sunday 26th October 2025
Read More

The Battlefields Resource Centre