Bishop’s Stortford History Society to learn about the town’s schools in the 19th century
Bishop’s Stortford History Society’s January lecture will be a lesson in educational architecture.
On Thursday January 16, Dr Chris Connell will present “The Good School Guide to 19th Century Bishop’s Stortford”.
From 1800, a range of educational institutions were built in the town to serve the needs of a growing population. Many of these still operate today, with some of the original buildings being used until the 1960s and now repurposed. Their provision reflected the religious divisions within Stortford.
The society’s December talk was by author Nathen Amin and his subject was “Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders: Shadowy Conspiracies and Murky Plots”.
Chair Tim Howard-Smith writes: “Nathen Amin is the author of five highly acclaimed books, most recently Son of Prophecy, a Tudor family biography that was a BBC History magazine Book of the Year.
“He presented his paper on Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders to a full house. This most interesting talk explored the various plots that emerged as soon as Henry took the throne by force at Bosworth.
“Mr Amin started his talk by revealing he had just seen a stained-glass window in Pizza Express containing the coat of arms of the Beauforts, Henry VII’s maternal family.
“He also prefaced his talk by stating that Henry’s victory over the Yorkists was, in essence, a pretender’s plot that succeeded and that the pretenders that followed his victory were no different, except that they all failed.
“By 1486, the Princes in the Tower were considered dead, and Edward, Earl of Warwick, the next Yorkist in line, was a 10-year-old prisoner in the Tower.
“Almost immediately, the first plot concerned a young boy, Lambert Simnel, who purported to be the Tower-bound Edward, Earl of Warwick.
“The plot gained support in Ireland, where the pretender was crowned in Dublin cathedral, but ultimately failed after a crushing defeat at the Battle of Stoke in 1487.
“Simnel was unmasked and put to work in Henry’s palace, eventually becoming trainer of the king’s hawks.
“In 1490, the Flemish Perkin Warbeck claimed to be Richard of York, the younger of the Princes in the Tower.
“With assistance from the Yorkist princess, Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy and her son-in-law, Maximilian of Austria, as well as James IV of Scotland, Perkin Warbeck led three attempts at unseating Henry.
“At the final attempt, in 1497, with the support of an army of Cornishmen, he was captured and ultimately executed.
“With a marriage between the Spanish Princess Catherine and Henry’s heir Prince Arthur being planned, the Spanish made overtures to Henry to ensure that there would be no more pretenders.
“This sealed the fate of the luckless Edward, Earl of Warwick, who in 1499, after 14 long years in the Tower, was arraigned for treason and executed, thereby ending the Plantagenet dynasty.
“This was an excellent talk by a first-class speaker and very much appreciated.”
Bishop’s Stortford History Society was formed in 1955. Meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month at the Windhill Churches Centre, Windhill, and begin at 7.30pm. Annual membership costs £15. Non-members are welcome to all meetings for a £5 fee, payable at the door. For more details see www.bishopsstortfordhistorysociety.org.uk.
