Union and Disunion in the Nineteenth Century
International Conference
University of Plymouth, England
22 – 23 June 2017
The first international conference hosted by Plymouth Nineteenth Century Studies (PUNCS) began on the day of the Brexit referendum, and commentators have seen that event in the context of other signs of anti-globalisation and in a landscape of violent disintegrations or forcible integrations in the Twenty-first century. This interdisciplinary conference in June 2017, exploring acts of union and disunion in local, national and international nineteenth-century settings, from Plymouth to the United States, takes place on the first anniversary of this momentous decision.
Programme and registration details and links are provided on this page
Programme
A pdf version can be downloaded here:Union and Disunion 27 February 2017 programme
Please note all sessions take place on the main campus of the University of Plymouth
Day One: 22 June 2017
9.00 – 9.30 Registration / Tea and Coffee
9.30 – 9. 45 Welcome
9.45 – 10.45 Keynote Gordon Pentland, Reader, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh
10.45 – 12.15 Parallel Session 1
Europe
Edmund Flood Lancashire Business School, University of Central Lancashire
‘Two Unions in the Rise of Nineteenth Century Germany: the Zollverein (Customs Union) and the Vereins Deutscher Eisenbahn-Verwaltungen (the Association of German Railway Administrations)’
John R. Davis School of Humanities, University of Kingston
‘The Zollverein: disunion and union in German economic affairs 1815–1871’
Rachel Egloff Department of English and Modern Languages, Oxford Brookes University
‘Rose Blaze de Bury: A Case-Study in Uniting a Female Signature with Unfeminine German and European Politics of (Dis–)Union’
Ireland
Claire Fitzpatrick Department of History, University of Plymouth
‘Ireland and the Postal Service’
Paul Huddie
‘The Crimean War: the pinnacle of Anglo-Irish relations during the union period’
David Blaazer School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales Canberra
‘Union, disunion, or something in between: the strange life and death of the Anglo-Irish monetary union’
12.15 – 1.00 Lunch
1.00 – 2.30 Parallel Session 2
Legal Strand: Agency of the Law
Kelly Ann Couzens University of Western Australia
‘ “Barely possible, though highly improbable”?: Divided Responses to Defining the Offence of Rape within Nineteenth-Century Britain’
David J. Cox School of Social, Historical and Political Studies, University of Wolverhampton
‘Union and disunion: the role of King’s Messengers in suppressing political union and sedition 1780–1820’
Craig Newbery-Jones School of Law, Criminology and Government, University of Plymouth
‘A Blackleg Union: Barrister’s Discipline in Victorian England’
USA strand: European views
Brian Schoen Department of History, Ohio University
‘The European Search for Sovereignty in the US Secession Crisis’
Simon Rennie Department of English, University of Exeter
‘ “This ’Merikay War”: Lancastrian poetic commentary on the American Civil War during the Cotton Famine’
Michael J. Turner Department of History, Appalachian State University
‘ “The Union is gone forever”: Beresford Hope and British Sympathy for the South during the American Civil War’
2.30 – 2.45 Tea
2.45 – 4.15 Parallel Session 3
Unity and Disunity
James Gregory Department of History, University of Plymouth
‘The English Visit to Paris: April 1849 and Popular Efforts to Forge Union’
Ann Lyon School of Law, Criminology and Government, University of Plymouth
‘India and the White Mutiny of 1857’
John Laurence Busch Independent scholar
‘More Perfect Unions: Forging Closer Ties Using the First Generation of Steam-Powered Vessels’
Religion Strand
Margaret Markwick School of English, University of Exeter
‘Antidisestablishmentarianism and Margaret Oliphant’s Salem’s Chapel’
Matthew Kidd Department of History, University of Gloucestershire
‘Class, Religion and Ideology in the “Bradlaugh case”, 1868–1886’
Daniel Grey Department of History, University of Plymouth
‘An uncomfortable union: creating Anglo-Muhammadan Law’
4.15 – 5.35 Plymouth: A Case Study of Unity and Disunity
Judith Rowbotham School of Law, Criminology and Government, University of Plymouth
‘Presenting a (Dis)United Front: Jealousy, Zeal and Obstinacy in Plymouth 1850–1914’
Kim Stevenson School of Law, Criminology and Government, University of Plymouth
‘The Significance of Union Street in the Unification of Plymouth’s Three Towns’
Rob Giles and Craig Newbery-Jones School of Law, Criminology and Government, University of Plymouth
‘A Unification of Narrative Threads: Transmedia Storytelling – Perspectives from Plymouth’
5.35 – 6. 30 Wine Reception
7.00 Dinner (Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club, Madeira Road, Plymouth)
Day Two: 23 June
8.45 Coffee
9.00 – 10.00 Keynote Lucy Riall Professor of Comparative History of Europe, European University Institute
10.00 – 11:30 Parallel Session 4
USA strand: the US view
Emily West Department of History, University of Reading
‘The Union of Enslaved Couples during the Disunion of the Nation: Love, Discord, and Separations at the ending of US slavery’
Pearl T. Ponce Department of History, Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York
‘Attempting Disunion: Mutable Borders and the Mormon Experience with the United States, 1846–1858’
Lawrence T. McDonell Department of History, Iowa State University
‘The South Carolina Jeremiad: Reinterpreting John C. Calhoun’s Legacy in the 1850s’
Cartels and Trade Union strand
Daniel Renshaw
‘Unionising the “other”– the attitudes of the metropolitan Jewish and Catholic hierarchies towards trade union organisation in Jewish and Irish communities, 1889 to 1914’
Michael Knies University of Scranton, Pennsylvania
‘The creation and dissolution of the type founders’ cartel’
Alex Rowe School of Tourism and Hospitality, University of Plymouth
‘ “One and All”? The Absence of Trade Unionism in Late 19th Century Cornwall’
11.30 – 11.45 Break
11.45 – 12.45 Keynote Laura Schwartz, Department of History, University of Warwick
12.45-1.30 Lunch
1.30 – 3.00 Parallel Strand 5
Ireland and Scotland
James Ford Curator’s Office, Palace of Westminster
‘To “purchase union thus cheaply”: The controversial statue of an Irish archbishop in the United Kingdom Houses of Parliament’
Sonny Kandola School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University
‘ “[W]e may fall slowly, we may fall bravely, but fall we must”: insurrection, Union and the limits of cultural nationalism in Charles Robert Maturin’s The Milesian Chief (1812)’
Gary Hutchison School of History, Classics and Archaeology University of Edinburgh
‘An “illegal Union of Lawyers, and Writers, and Political Baronets”: The Conservative Party and Scottish Governance in the Mid-Nineteenth Century’
Legal strand: the family unit
Helen Rutherford School of Law, Northumbria University
‘United in Matrimony; United in Acrimony; United in Death; United in Condemnation … or not. Dis-union in the jury room. Regina v John William Anderson, Newcastle Winter Assizes 1875’
Alison Pedley Department of Humanities, Roehampton University
‘ “The authorities would feel nothing but pleasure in discharging her, if it be done with safety”. Going home: the importance and relevance of family unity in the discharge and pardon of married mothers who had murdered their children and been committed as criminal lunatics’
Karen Rothery University of Hertfordshire
‘Establishing the Poor Law Unions – The role of the Assistant Commissioner’
3.00pm Conference closes
6.00pm Informal Dinner at RockFish, Sutton Harbour, 3 Rope Walk, Plymouth
Registration
Follow the link to our estore, where you can register for the conference.
For more information about Plymouth University estore, go to
There is an ‘early bird’ conference rate of £110, after 27 April 2017 the late delegate rate is £170 (and the last booking date will be 8 June 2017).
Location
The conference takes place in rooms on the main campus in the University of Plymouth, in the Babbage Building and Roland Levinsky Building.
There is an interactive University campus map here:
https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/your-university/visit
Accommodation
This is booked by participants separately: areas for ‘bed and breakfasts’ within walking distance of the University campus include the Plymouth Hoe area, by the sea but still only a 10 minutes’ walk from the University campus.
The conference estore site has details about accommodation, at discounted rate to PUNCS conference participants, in Jurys Inn Plymouth (a 5-10 minute walk from campus).
Sight-seeing
If you are wishing to combine tourism with the visit, the official site for Plymouth, ‘Britain’s Ocean City,’ is:
http://www.visitplymouth.co.uk/
Contacts
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to the conference organisers.
Conference Administrator
Libby Chapman-Lane: elizabeth.chapman-lane@plymouth.ac.uk | t. 01752 585 051
Conference Organisers
Annika Bautz: annika.bautz@plymouth.ac.uk
James Gregory: james.r.gregory@plymouth.ac.uk
Daniel Grey: daniel.grey@plymouth.ac.uk
Kim Stevenson: kim.stevenson@plymouth.ac.uk
PUNCS: Plymouth University Nineteenth Century Studies 