NEWS - OUT AND ABOUT

Keeping up with the Joneses in the 18th century

Study day for The Centre for the Study of the Country House on 24 November

Issued on 18 November 2009

The last in this year’s highly popular series of Study Days held by the University of Leicester’s Centre for the Study of the Country House will be on Tuesday 24th November, and will take a look at ‘The Fashionables: London’s Beau Monde in the Eighteenth Century’.

Dr Hannah Greig, broadcaster, historical adviser and lecturer at the University of York on the 18th century, promises a lively look at what it took to break into the London fashionable world some 300 years ago.

It was not, it appears, a straightforward process. She writes: “To be fashionable in the 1700s demanded more than a savvy knowledge of modish trends. It was an accolade that could not be purchased or inherited. Instead, contemporary commentators claimed it was determined by a baffling 'je ne sais quoi' attributed to members of the beau monde.” To be ‘cool’ in the eighteenth century was clearly as hard then as it is now!

During the course of what promises to be a fascinating day, Dr Greig will throw light on the requirements of the new elite culture that emerged from the Revolution of 1688, looking at the interpretation of that elite status, its sociability, exclusivity and its pursuit of pleasure.

The Study Day takes place at Lamport Hall, which has the rare distinction of having been in the hands of a single family – the Ishams – from 1560-1976 – and remains intact with its contents complete.

“The result is that those attending study days there have the feeling of being guests of the household,” said Dr Phillip Lindley, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Country House.

The Study Day on Tuesday 24th November runs from 10am to 3.15pm. Dr Greig will give three lectures, interspersed with tea, coffee and lunch.

For more information and to find out about other study days by the Centre for the Study of the Country House see the website: http://www.le.ac.uk/ha/countryhouse/news.html or contact Carol Charles on tel 0116 252 2866, e-mail cec7@le.ac.uk, or fill in the online booking form.

Notes to Editors: Further information follows. For more details on this please contact Carol Charles on tel 0116 252 2866, e-mail cec7@le.ac.uk

The Centre for the Study of the Country House is an innovative joint venture between the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust and the University of Leicester. It exists to promote all aspects of the study of great historic houses and their surroundings, their design, construction and conservation.

The Centre offers a highly successful MA course, taking full advantage of unique access to Lamport Hall and its architecture, art, contents, landscape and estate, as well as visits to other country houses and to London museums, houses and galleries.

Studies include: the architecture of country houses and their gardens; their landscapes and literature; art collections and furnishings; their artistic representations; the technologies employed to build and service the houses and their surrounding estates; their histories and the histories of those who lived in them; their funding, administration and conservation, and a vocational module focussing on management, preservation and education.

The Centre has developed an external programme of annual guest lectures and individual study days at Lamport Hall. For details of all the Centre’s activities, see: http://www.le.ac.uk/ha/countryhouse/ In developing our teaching and research programme, the Centre also collaborates with other country houses and specialised research institutions.

Situated in the heart of the Northamptonshire countryside, Lamport Hall was the home of the Isham family from 1560 to 1976 and is one of the finest examples of Grade I Listed Houses. It is open to the public on specified days, which can be found on: http://www.lamporthall.co.uk/.

Dr Hannah Greig is currently a lecturer in the History Department at the University of York and a member of the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies. She has been a Junior Research Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, and has studied and taught at the University of Bristol, Royal Holloway University of London and the Royal College of Art.