Events

Richard Holmes Memorial Lecture 2025: Atrocity, justice and reconciliation in the English Civil War

Saturday 15th November 2025

Location: National Army Museum, London, SW3 4HT

Time: 14:00-16:30

Presented by Dr. Ismini Pells

The English Civil War caused unprecedented casualties and suffering, deeply dividing communities and leaving a lasting legacy that parallels modern conflicts. Research has mainly focused on the Civil Wars' effects on victims, rarely addressing those who perpetrated acts of violence, many of which exceeded the limits of what was acceptable to contemporary society. This period was marked not only by violence but also by the early codification and enforcement of laws of war, with a variety of legal proceedings used to address breaches of conduct. Examining the interaction between perpetrators and justice processes highlights how individuals narrated their actions for public audiences, how legal mechanisms are developed to bring them to justice, and how these dynamics affected reintegration, collective memory, and post-conflict reconciliation. This talk will explore these themes by using a case study drawn from the New Model Army’s occupation of Dundee during the 1650s.

Biography

Ismini Pells is a Lecturer at the University of Oxford’s Department for Continuing Education. She is an historian of the early modern period, specialising the British Civil Wars. She is the author of Philip Skippon, Philip Skippon and the British Civil Wars: The "Christian Centurion" and has published articles and chapters on various military and medical topics relating to the Civil Wars. She was Project Manager of the Civil War Petitions project (www.civilwarpetitions.ac.uk). Ismini is President of the Cromwell Association, a trustee of the Battlefields Trust, sits on the Council of the Army Records Society and is a judge for the Society for Army Historical Research’s Templer Medal.

Tickets

Two types of ticket are available for this talk: one for in-person attendance at the National Army Museum costing £17.50 per person, and one for remote viewing via Zoom costing £10.00 per computer connected.  These can be purchased from Ticket Tailor here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/thebattlefieldstrust/1847616