The W G Hoskins Lecture 1998

‘Learning to See’ presented by Joan Thirsk

The ninth Hoskins lecture

30 May 1998

The ninth W.G. Hoskins lecture on the 30th May 1998 was given by Dr. Joan Thirsk C.B.E. and entitled ‘Learning to see’. Dr Thirsk was warmly welcomed back to the department to which, in 1951, she had applied for and won a Senior Research Fellowship to study agrarian history in Lincolnshire. Although initially her appointment was for three years, she was to remain in the department for fourteen years, during which time she was the general editor of, and major contributor to, that invaluable work –The Agrarian History of England and Wales – which occupies 27 inches of shelving in so many libraries.

During her career Dr Thirsk has also been involved in the establishment of the Agricultural History Review, whose first issue was in 1953. Next year will see the publication of her next book the Oxford Illustrated History of the English Landscape, which will contain contributions from Alan Everitt, Charles Phythian-Adams, Harold Fox, Christopher Taylor, Christopher Dyer and Margaret Spufford, amongst others. Her most recent publication is Altemative Agriculture and she used the content of this to illustrate the theme of her lecture. Dr Thirsk spoke of the establishment of local history as a university subject in its own right. When she joined the English Local History Department at Leicester University College it had only recently been set up by the Principal, F.L. Attenborough, with W.G. Hoskins as the only member. From 1931 to 1941 Hoskins had been a member of the Department of Geography and Commerce teaching economics – local history was his ‘academic hobby’ during evenings and weekends! Fortunately Attenborough realised that here was a new and distinctive approach which it was very worthwhile to promote.

Some thoughts on the possible influences that had helped Hoskins to ‘learn to see’ and guided him towards a new area of knowledge, a subject that ‘fires the imagination of ordinary people and can transform their lives’, were volunteered. She mentioned the School Histories of the Counties, aimed at 12 to 14 year olds, the first volume on Berkshire appearing in 1908 the year of Hoskins’ birth. In this book C.R.L. Fletcher had advocated learning history by actually going out on foot, or by bicycle, and observing the local environment with imagination. Other volumes alerted readers to parish boundaries, the importance of well-known families within those parishes, and the destruction of the traditional landscape, all themes which were to appear later in Hoskins’ work.

Whatever the influences that were brought to bear on Hoskins, Dr Thirsk stressed our indebtedness to him for establishing a subject that spans a vast field of learning, that expands the mind in a most exhilarating way, where one linkage can open up a whole new world. There are no rules of learning in Local History and serendipity is the key that unlocks the door. One can work for years on specific projects and fail to make connections that are staring one in the face, and it is important for us to look for them as we burrow into what may be tedious detail.

Much of Dr Thirsk’s lecture was taken up with an example of an important connection that she had made after many years of research in her specialist field of agrarian history. Volume 5 of her Agrarian History of England and Wales with the period 1640 to 1750, a time of depression in agriculture due to decline, even reversal, of population growth. This followed a period of agricultural boom from about 1500 during a period of high population growth leading to eventual over-production and subsequent decline. During the depression years farmers sought alternatives as the demand for mainstream produce diminished. There was a tendency to change arable to pasture and to experiment with new crops like hops, oil- seed rape, madder, flax and herbs. It was many years before she realised that there were similarities between the periods 1640-1750 and post-1980, both depression periods when alternatives were being introduced or rather re- introduced. The gaudy yellow of oil-seed rape is not in fact a new feature destroying the traditional landscape, for the crop was commonly produced in the past in eastern England.

Having seen the connection between the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and today, Dr Thirsk realised that there were other agrarian depressions in history, for example after the Black Death and from 1879 to 1939, when alternative land use was tried. There is in fact a cyclical pattern and the lessons of the past can help us to plan future strategies. The most important lesson is the need for diversity during a time of agricultural recession, whereas present government subsidies may encourage a too narow range of alternatives. Diversity is also what is needed in our approaches to Local History, and we were encouraged to celebrate our differences, giving more chances for all to ‘learn and see.’

Following the warm applause of a rapt audience and the vote of thanks by Vernon Davis, the assembled throng went to Marc Fitch House for another memorable tea and the opportunity to purchase items in the book sale which raised the sum of £365 for the Friends. All-in-all a most successful and enjoyable event to mark the start of our Jubilee year.

From an original report by Alan Fox.