WELCOME TO THE WEBSITE OF THE
BURNEY SOCIETY UK
We aim to promote the work of the writer Frances Burney (1752-1840) her family and wider circle. We are a literary Society based in the UK but membership is open to anyone with an interest in the Burney family and their work. Members receive quarterly newsletters, back editions of which are available via the menu above. We have a close connection to the North American Burney Society and the Burney Centre at McGill University, Montreal. Our members also receive their Burney Letter and Burney Journal.
LATEST NEWS
Burney Society UK 2022 Conference and AGM
URGENT – The conference venue on Sunday 12 June has been changed to the Foundling Museum as engineering works on the train line from London to Alton made the Alton venue impractical.
Friday 10 June 2022: Unveiling of the bench dedicated to Frances Burney in Chawton House rose garden. The plans are as follows:
10:40 Meet at Alton station foyer entrance Please note earlier time. We will remain at Alton House Hotel until 12 noon in case of any later arrivals. Your joining instructions will include a map showing the station & Alton House Hotel. If you are driving please give your car registration to reception, so you do not get a ticket. They have a large car park.
10:30 – 12:00 Coffee at Alton House Hotel then walk (or drive) Jane Austen Trail to Chawton House. We have arranged free garden entrance for Burney Society members. 13:00 Lunch 14:00 House entry for those who have pre-booked, others can stroll the gardens. 15:00 Assemble in first walled rose garden for unveiling of the bench and a toast to Frances Burney, followed by tea and cakes.
You are welcome to join us for as much or as little of the day as you wish, but please let us know when to expect you. Please also state if you plan to purchase lunch and if you will attend the unveiling so we can let Chawton House have numbers in advance. Please email ukburneysociety@gmail.com
2022 Conference 11-13 June: Windows on the Burneys
The conference schedule is now available on the conference page.
Venues: 11 June & 12 June – Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, London WC1 N 1AZ
13 June – St Bride Foundation, Bride Lane, Fleet Street, London EC4Y 8EQ This date is now fully subscribed. If you wish to join us for 17:00 Evensong at Westminster Abbey this may still be possible. Please email to request further information.
Please see ‘CONFERENCES’ page via Menu button above for detailed information.
We are also organising two additional visits for the week following the conference and details of these visits are also on the Conferences page. We understand the current uncertainty and therefore registration fees will be refundable until 1st May 2022, less any administrative fees. Please spread the news and we look forward to seeing you in June.
Updated Registration form
Please complete the registration form (downloadable via links above) to attend the conference OR the events open to members, to ensure we have correct numbers. Payment details will be on the registration form. Invoices and receipts can be provided.
Registration fees, including lunch & refreshments:
£130 for 3 days; £100 for 2 days; £70 for 1 day
50% reduction for Students/Precariously employed
Fees for optional events, which also need to be pre-booked via the registration form by non-delegates, and do not qualify for reductions are:
- 11 June (a.m.) AGM: Free
- 14 June to be confirmed! Pre-booked tour of Chawton House at 15:30 £15 pp (annual pass) or £10 pp (day pass)
- 15 June – visit to Hammerwood Park, Hammerwood near East Grinstead. Tour at 14:00 Burney sonata by Dr Penelope Cave at 16:00
- 16 June Visit to Weymouth and Dorchester. Contact Trudie Messent on ukburneysociety@gmail.com for further details.
We are pleased to announce a President’s Prize of £200 for the best paper from a post-graduate or early career speaker, to be awarded at the conference by Prof Peter Sabor.
The official subscription year starts on 13 June but UK membership subscriptions from 1 January 2022 will be valid until 12 June 2023. Membership details at https://burneysociety.uk/membership
Please email all forms to Trudie Messent at ukburneysociety@gmail.com
Research Project on Charles Burney Junior
We are very pleased to announce that, following the decision at the 2021 AGM to allocate society funding to the research project put forward by Sophie Coulombeau, this project has also received funding from the Burney Society of North America and the University of York. We look forward to hearing about this exciting project from Sophie and her research associate Daniel Waterfield, at our conference in June. Further details of this project are available on the ‘BURNEY SCHOLARSHIP’ page
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2021- 2022 Burney Society UK Research Bursary
We are pleased to announce our 2021 – 2022 Research Bursary of £300 has been awarded to Catherine Pocock, a PhD candidate at Sheffield University to assist her research on the publishing experience of Frances Burney.
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Previous Burney related events:
29th April 2021. Dr Cassie Ulph gave a talk (which is currently still available via Streatham Society YouTube) ‘Remembering Hester Thrale Piozzi, 200 years’. Organised by the Streatham Society. (May only be for those who enrolled – but you could try) ‘
The death of Hester Piozzi on 2 May 1821 marked the end of an era, with the loss of an intellectual and social force associated with some of the most famous names in literary London. During her years as Mrs Thrale, mistress of Streatham Park, she had hosted some of the most feted writers of her day, including Samuel Johnson and Frances Burney. As Mrs Piozzi, she embraced a new career as a writer of travel memoirs, biography, history, and more. This talk marks the bicentenary of her death by exploring the fascinating life of the woman known to many as ‘Dr Johnson’s Mrs Thrale’. As Mrs Piozzi, she often looked back on her Streatham years which represented both a period of great intellectual activity but also the restrictions of her first marriage to the brewer Henry Thrale. This talk will focus particularly on how the ‘Mrs Thrale’ we remember today was shaped by those crucial years at Streatham, and how Hester Piozzi herself would remember and retell her Streatham years in her later writing. It will also briefly touch on some of the projects taking place in Piozzi studies today, as renewed interest in her literary work sees her finally stepping out of the shadow of her illustrious guests.’
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Livestream Reading of Frances Burney’s The Woman Hater was held on Monday 25 January 2021 at 7.30pm EDT (New York) (0.30 am Tuesday 26 January in UK)
Reviewed by Miriam Al Jamil in our Spring 2021 Newsletter.
There was also an interactive discussion of the play and its themes with director, Everett Quinton, scholar Tara K. Menon, and members of the company.
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2020 Burney Society UK AGM was held online via Zoom on 3rd October 2020 at 14:00 UK time. AGM Draft Minutes and the Amended Constitution are available on the Annual General Meeting page.
Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre gave an excellent talk after the AGM. Sian has kindly allowed us to upload the text of the talk, in addition to the Studio script of her play ‘When Fanny met Germaine’ on our AGM page.
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23 November 2019 Professor Francesca Saggini Talk ‘Below and Beyond. On Re-Reading Burney’s Biographies’. Women’s Sudies Group 1558- 1837 Seminar Series at The Foundling Museum.
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5 November 2019 Dr Deborah Jones Talk ‘The Brilliant Burneys’ For an online interview related to this talk please see link: https://www.yourvalleynews.co.
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13th October 2019 Professor Jocelyn Harris: ‘Satire, Celebrity and Politics in Jane Austen’ at Chawton House, sponsored by The Burney Society UK
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30 July – 1 August 2019 Conference of the Burney Society (UK) Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln, organised by Dr. Cassie Ulph. See Conference page.
29 July 2019 AGM held after conference See AGM page