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May Forum: Returning colonials at home

15th May @ 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm

Free

‘Fix your tent’: Returning colonials at home in England, Bedford and other habitats c1870-1914

Presented by Dr Denise McHugh

A British Colonial family outside their house in India. A white woman is sitting in an open carriage attached to a white house. There are two Indian servants by the horse's head. Many in a bowler hat poses in front of the carriage and another man in a bowler had stands behind the carriage.
Image: British family in India in front of their house: https://www.oldindianphotos.in/2011_06_26_archive.html via Wikimedia Commons

This talk explores the households and habits of British colonisers returning home from India at the height of the British ‘Raj’. The self-identified ‘Anglo-Indians’ were mainly middle-class professionals seeking very particular environments to accommodate their extended families, occupational interests and community networks. We will look at some households and discover how to house-hunt, what to consider and how to live in England when it is a ‘home’ you do not know.

About the Presenter

Denise researched the county towns of Bedford and Lincoln for her doctorate in urban history. She came across a community of returned colonisers in Bedford and after her PhD found out more about why they chose to live Bedford and other selected towns around England.

More recently, Denise has been researching the history of the everyday experience of provincial town and city centre. She has co-authored several articles on the topic and is currently working on a book. Denise is a former Vaughan tutor and teaches history at the Open University.

Event details

This is an in-person forum. There will be tea and cake before the Forum. The talk will start at 6.30pm and finish by 7.45pm. Venue TBC.

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May Forum: Returning colonials at home