| 17th September | Kate Anderson | ||||||||||||||||
| Reframing King James VI & I | |||||||||||||||||
| 15th October | Tom Addyman | ||||||||||||||||
| Researching Historic Houses and Estates in Fife and Beyond | |||||||||||||||||
| 19th November | Nicola Dibley | ||||||||||||||||
| Ella Grew-The Japanese Garden, Cowden | |||||||||||||||||
| 10th December | DHS Social Evening | ||||||||||||||||
| An Evening of Music and Song | |||||||||||||||||
| 14th January | Dr David Caldwell | ||||||||||||||||
| Note this is the 2nd Thursday of Jan. | The Lewis Chessmen | ||||||||||||||||
| 18th February | AGM; Ian Chalmers | ||||||||||||||||
| Slavery in Scottish Mines, 1606- 1799 | |||||||||||||||||
| 18th March | Sharron McColl | ||||||||||||||||
| The Unsung Heroes and Faces Behind the Man, Carnegie | |||||||||||||||||
| 15th April | Eddie Taylor | ||||||||||||||||
| West Fife Railways | |||||||||||||||||
| 20th May | Dr. Amy Blakeway | ||||||||||||||||
| The Women of the Wars of Mary Queen of Scots’ Childhood | |||||||||||||||||
Secessionist Rev. Ralph Erskine
Wed 6th November 2019
12:30 pm, Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries, £3.00
Hon. President George Robertson will discuss the story of the Rev Ralph Erskine’s life as a Minister in Dunfermline and his struggle with the Established Church in Scotland, and how, with other Ministers, he seceded from that Church. His "miraculous birth" after the "death" of his mother will be discussed as will his marriage to a "lassie from Lassodie".
October 2019 Meeting
17th October 2019
Ian Scott, "James Watt"
7:30 pm in the Abbey Church Halls, Dunfermline.
2019 is the 200th Anniversary of the death of James Watt, one of the most influential of the pioneering engineers of the industrial revolution. Those of you who were on the DHS outing to Kinneil House in 2016 will remember the brief biography we were given then, by James Watt himself, apparently, so we are very lucky to have a historian from Falkirk visiting to tell us more about him.
Ian Scott was Assistant Principal at Falkirk College where he taught history for a number of years. He has been both Director and national Chairman of the Saltire Society. Ian’s main interest is the history of the Falkirk area and he has written several books on the subject including Falkirk: a History published in 2006. He has written over 400 historical articles for the Falkirk Herald and was a founder member of Falkirk Local History Society in 1981.
September 2019 Meeting
19th September 2019
Dunfermline Historical Society, 7:30pm
Professor Sir Geoff Palmer, "Scotland and the Slave Trade"
Sir Godfrey Henry Palmer OBE is Professor Emeritus in the School of Life Sciences at Heriot-Watt University and a human rights activist. In his academic career as a botanist, he specialised in grain science and brewing and has been honoured with multiple honorary degrees and scientific awards.
Sir Geoff is also deeply involved in charity work and the promotion of human rights. He has written many newspaper articles on education and race relations and a book on the history of slavery, The Enlightenment Abolished: Citizens of Britishness. He is the Honorary President of the Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council. In 1989, he became the first black professor in Scotland, becoming a professor emeritus after he retired in 2005. He was knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours List.
As usual we meet in the Abbey Church Halls for the first meeting of our new session, and welcome all members, new members and visitors.
May 2019 Meeting
16th May 2019
Dunfermline Historical Society, 7:30pm
Sam Foster, Dunfermline Town Planning
Sam is an architect in Dunfermline specialising in contemporary ecological architecture. As a member of "Friends of Dunfermline" he is involved in work to regenerate the former Pilmuir Works and the town centre more generally. It should be fascinating to hear about the history of Dunfermline from Sam's perspective.
As usual we meet in the Abbey Church Halls for our last meeting of this session, and welcome all members and visitors.
April 2019 Meeting
18th April 2019
Dunfermline Historical Society, 7:30 pm
Prof. Richard Oram, "Quite Happy - The Diary of James Fyffe a Cattle Dealer 1836 - 40"
Professor Oram is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and Professor of Medieval and Environmental history at the University of Stirling. A graduate of St Andrews University, he worked in commercial property before returning to academia as an honorary lecturer in History at Aberdeen. His research interests include; Environmental History of the North Atlantic region, epidemic disease and its associated social impacts in medieval and early modern Scotland, lordship and landscape in medieval Britain and Ireland and Monastic landscapes in northern Europe c.1100-c.1350. In 2008 he was appointed to the Historic Environment Advisory Council for Scotland, which provides advice to Scottish Ministers on aspects of policy and public engagement in the sector.
We meet at the Abbey Church Halls as usual and all visitors are warmly welcome.