FUTURE EVENTS
Upcoming Talk
Wednesday 28th October 2026: Talk by Miriam Al Jamil on General D’Arblay’s Legacy.
Venue: Good Shepherd Church Hall, Station Approach, 1 The Avenue, Tadworth, KT20 5AS
Organiser: Walton on the Hill History Society
Doors open 7.30 pm for 8 pm lecture. Event end c. 9:30 pm
Refreshments available. Ticket price is £4 on the door.
(Members of this History Society have free entry).
Talk abstract.
Frances Burney is celebrated as one of the great novelists of the eighteenth century, her husband, General Alexandre D’Arblay, was himself a local celebrity in the Box Hill area, where French émigrés found refuge following the Revolution. In this fascinating talk, Miriam Al Jamil explores the General’s later life and the legacy he sought to leave after the Napoleonic Wars. Following his return to Paris in 1817, D’Arblay commissioned a portrait by the renowned artist Horace Vernet and created a detailed panorama map of the Waterloo battlefield, despite not having fought there. Why were these works so important to him, and what do they reveal about memory, reputation and identity in post-Napoleonic Europe? This promises to be an engaging talk for anyone interested in local history, literary history, the French Revolution and the legacy of the Napoleonic era.
Sunday 17 January 2027: Similar Talk by Miriam Al Jamil on General D’Arblay’s Legacy.
This talk differs from her previous talk as it includes an introduction on Samuel Johnson, as this talk is part of a series for the Lichfield Johnson Society.
Further information on this talk will be available closer to the date.
PAST EVENTS
2026 – March 12 on Radio 3 at 21:45 Dr Sophie Coulombeau gave a 14 minute ‘Essay’ on Dr Charles Burney. (Also available later on iPlayer)
2026 – 18 April at WSG Workshop ‘Anonymity and Identity’ at the Foundling Museum, Brunswick Square, London WC1N, Dr Lucy-Anne Katgely (St John’s College, University of Oxford) gave the Keynote ‘By a Lady: Branding, Collective Authorship, and the Politics of Mediocrity’ at 10:30. Registration fee was £20 (waged) and £15 (unwaged/students) to include lunch. After lunch delegates were invited to give a 5-minute presentation on their area of interest.
2026 – Monday 20 April Dr Penelope Cave LRAM GRSM ARAM gave a free talk on behalf of the Burney Society UK to celebrate the tercentenary of the birth of Dr Charles Burney. Her title is ‘Dr Charles Burney (1726-1814): Man of Letters/Teacher of Notes.’
2026 – 11 to 13 June Burney Society UK Conference at St John’s College Oxford.
The Conference prize of £100 for the best paper given at the Conference, judged by Dr Lucy-Anne Katgely of St John’s College, Oxford, was awarded to Valentina Daughton, who was studying for an MSt at University College, Oxford.
The registration fee was £110 for all three days or £50 for one day, to include lunch and refreshments. There was a 50% reduction to students who were unable to claim conference expenses from their institution.
We arranged an optional Conference Dinner at St John’s College at 19:15 for an additional £40, which proved very popular. A conference report is included in the Fall 2026 Burney Letter, which will be emailed to UK members in the near future. The draft schedule is still available on the Conference page for reference.
2026 – Saturday 13 June The Burney Society UK Annual General Meeting was held in the New Seminar room, St John’s College, University of Oxford. All Members were welcome. Please see AGM page of this website for further details.
On 9 July 2025 a Burney Society UK Symposium was held at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton
2024 – Burney Society UK Conference was held at St Anne’s Building, Greenwich Heritage Site, Greenwich, London
2019 – Sunday 13th October: Jocelyn Harris: ‘Satire, Celebrity and Politics in Jane Austen’
This talk by Professor Jocelyn Harris was held at Chawton House. It included a consideration of the influence of Frances Burney on Jane Austen. Questions raised in include : Why did the young Jane Austen subscribe to Frances Burney’s ‘Camilla’ (1796)? And how many of the 1058 people on that list did she know?
This very successful event was held at Chawton House, Chawton, Hampshire, sponsored by the Burney Society UK.