November- December 2010

On 11 November, Professor Frank Turner suddenly passed away. Frank had taught at Yale since 1970 and rose to become John Hay Whitney Professor of History and Director of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. In September, he took on the challenge of a five-year appointment as University Librarian. In addition to his stellar career at Yale, Frank was a Member of The British Scholar Society’s Advisory Board and a constant friend over the past four years. At the 2010 British Scholar Conference, Frank delivered the Conference Opening Lecture entitled “Religious Paths to Unbelief in the Nineteenth Century”. Just days before his death, Frank finished the article version of his lecture, “Christian Sources of the Secular”, which will appear in the March 2011 issue of our journal Britain and the World. With Frank’s passing British history has lost one of its leading advocates. As you will see from his Featured Scholar profile. Frank worked tirelessly to promote the importance of British history to the discipline as a whole and he never missed an opportunity to inspire others towards these same ends. This inspiration will continue to drive us in our mission to increase awareness about the importance of studying British history in academia and beyond. He will be greatly missed.

The British Scholar Society Inaugural Lecture took place on Tuesday evening, 9 November at the University of Edinburgh. The lecture was given by Dr. Catriona MacDonald and entitled “Diasporic Imaginings: Twentieth-Century Scottish Culture in an International Context”. Professor T. M. Devine of the University of Edinburgh, who is the Chairman of The British Scholar Society’s Advisory Board, chaired the lecture. The audio recording of the lecture is available by visiting our new Lecture Series webpage. Please note that the audio recording of the lecture may not work if you are using Google Chrome as your web browser. The British Scholar Society Lecture Series will continue in 2011 with events planned around the United Kingdom. The 2011 schedule will be revealed in the January newsletter. Additionally, reminders will be available on the British Scholar website. If you live in Britain or are planning to be there when the Lecture Series is taking place, we encourage you to attend these free events.