David Livingstone talk to launch Armitstead Lectures 2014
Published On Mon 29 Sep 2014 by Grant Hill
The 127th series of Armitstead Lectures will begin at the University of Dundee next month when historian Professor John MacKenzie examines David Livingstone’s legacy, more than 200 years after the birth of the explorer and missionary.
This year’s inaugural event takes place at 7.30pm on Friday, 10th October at the D’Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre and will be followed by a further five talks in consecutive weeks.
Professor MacKenzie is a respected historian of imperialism who pioneered the study of popular and cultural imperialism, as well as aspects of environmental history. He has also written about Scottish migration and edited the 1997 book, ‘David Livingstone and the Victorian Encounter with Africa’.
Armitstead Trust Secretary George Hay, said, “Professor MacKenzie’s lecture will be a fascinating and entertaining start to this year’s exciting and varied Armitstead Lecture programme.”
The Armitstead Lecture series is named after George Armitstead. Born in Latvia, he was educated in Germany before settling in Dundee. There, he developed his father's trading firm and married into the influential Baxter textile family.
Armitstead became extremely wealthy and influential, twice being elected as a Liberal MP and becoming a close friend of then-Prime Minister Gladstone. He donated money to a wide range of charitable organisations and also established the Armitstead Illustrated Lectures, which continue today 127 years after they began.
The Armitstead Trustees seek to carry out the aims of the founder, who wished to improve the breadth and depth of knowledge of the people who live in the Dundee area and entertain them in the process. The Trustees offer a programme of lectures each autumn in Dundee to carry on the tradition initiated by Armitstead.
Other events in the 2014 series are:
• 17th October – ‘Dundee’s Involvement in the First World War’ (Dr Billy Kenefick)
• 24th October – Dundee X-Ray Pioneers (Dr Roderick Cameron)
• 31st October – Whaleback City (Bill Herbert and Andy Jackson)
• 7th November – The Tay Estuary: No other river in the world has got scenery more fine, only I am told the beautiful Rhine ….. (Professor Rob Duck)
• 14th November – The Gas Man Cometh (Dr Charles Allison)
There will be a short opportunity for questions after each lecture, and tickets for all six events can be bought for just £5 from Henderson Loggie CA, Panmure Street while admission for a single lecture cost £1.50 at the door on the evening.
More information about the Armitstead Lectures can be found at www.armitstead.org.uk.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277