Talk - The PPL: A Local History

Thursday 9th May at 2pm. (Note the change of date)

£4 for members. £8 for non-members.

The Plymouth Proprietary Library only moved to St Barnabas Terrace in 2018 but what is the history of the area of which it is now part?

Join local historian Richard Fisher for an illustrated exploration of the local area.

Image: Hotham Place c.1900.

Talk - Burrator Reservoir and its Social Impact

Tuesday 21st May at 2pm.

£4 for members. £8 for non-members.

The building of Burrator reservoir, which opened in September 1898, had a direct impact on the people and the farms of Sheepstor, a Dartmoor village which grew and declined during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Paul Rendell, also known as 'Dartmoor Paul' returns to the PPL following his talk last December on tales of winter on Dartmoor. Paul has been a Dartmoor National Park guide for over 20 years.

Talk - The Rules of Murder: The Golden Age of Detective Stories

Wednesday 12th June at 2pm.

£4 for members. £8 for non-members

A talk by Elaine Henderson. 

Emerging in the gloomy, sooty streets of the mid-Victorian period, the British detective story quickly developed a life of its own, adapting to changing times, changing tastes, until the post-First World War eruption of new writers, including Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Anthony Berkeley, who established the 'rules' of detective fiction and created what is known as the Golden Age of Detective Stories.

Come and join us as we investigate this enduringly popular literary genre - and take the opportunity to explore the PPL's own unique collection of Golden Age novels. 

Talk - Trials and Tribulations of the Brunel Family

Thursday 27th June at 7pm [note the date and time]

£4 for members. £8 for non-members.

Gloria Dixon is the secretary of the Old Plymouth Society. Her illustrated presentation will tell the story of the amazingly talented Brunel family; not just Isambard, but also his father Marc Brunel [pictured]. We will discover that not everything they did was a success, but through tireless endeavour they achieved some world class achievements, some of which are still in existence today.

Talk - Lost Plymouth

Wednesday 12th July at 2pm.

£4 for members. £8 for non-members.

Felicity Goodall brings to life some of lost stories from Plymouth's past: the first man to sail around the world in both directions; the shocking image which helped end the slave trade; and the Plymouth man who navigated over 3,000 miles in an open boat with only the stars to guide him.

Talk - Emancipation and Plymouth

Thursday 22nd August at 7pm [note the date and time]

£4 for members. £8 for non-members.

Emancipation was a milestone in Britain’s efforts to end slavery in the Empire. A mass of records was generated by this legislation and they allow us to understand Plymouth’s role in slave ownership which differed from other parts of Devon.This lecture by Dr Todd Gray MBE is firmly based on the historical evidence and will dispel some of the assumptions which are commonly held.

Talk - Thompson's Seat (Mount Edgcumbe)

Wednesday 11th September at 2pm.

Free for all (Heritage Open Days event)

Join Father Gregory, President of the Plymouth Proprietary Library, for his illustrated talk: 'Thompson's Seat and other artefacts at Mount Edgcumbe as examples of emerging British identity in the eighteenth century'.

Talk - Harassment from Heaven: Wills and Probate in Two Cornish Parishes, c 1750-1850

Wednesday 25th September at 2pm.

£4 for members. £8 for non-members.

Revolutions in America and France, war against Napoleon, the start of the Industrial Revolution and a rapid growth in population – these were indeed turbulent times in Britain. But history is not just about momentous events, it is about the ordinary individuals who make up this history. This talk, compiled from the original wills that people in St Stephen-in-Brannel and Launceston made so long ago, gives us fascinating insights into their wishes and hopes for their families, their (sometimes difficult) relationships and their love for even the simplest of possessions. Far more personal than our wills today, these documents offer us a privileged insight into lives long gone.

A talk by Elaine Henderson.

Talk - Vice Admiral Bligh and the Breadfruit Mutiny

Wednesday 9th October at 2pm.

£4 for members. £8 for non-members.

The tale of the mutiny on the Bounty is well known. This illustrated talk by David Elliott takes us from Cornwall and Plymouth to the South Sea Islands and examines who the characters were, why they mutinied, where they hid, and where their descendants are today.

A story of leadership, determination, suspect judgement, devotion to duty, and contrary minds.

Talk - The Power of Three: the Story of Thomas Fowler

Wednesday 23rd October at 2pm. 

Cost £4 for members, £8 for non-members.

'Local Man invents Computer'. A startling headline for a local Devon paper, and one that begged the question, 'Who was Thomas Fowler?'

Thomas Fowler was a mathematical genius who had the potential to turn the history of computing upside down. Modern assessments have even claimed that computers could have been invented a century earlier because of his work. So why are so few people aware of this humble, self-taught genius from a small market town in Devon. Tragically bad fortune and prejudice dogged his footsteps and his ground-breaking work lapsed into obscurity. Until now.