UK Talk: Latham’s War by Historian Dr. Steven Bednarski

Event poster designed by Gillian Wagenaar, PhD Candidate.

Location: Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex UK

Historian Dr. Steven Bednarski returns to Herstmonceux to tell the tale of Sir Paul Latham’s experience in the 70th Sussex Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery. Prof. Bednarski draws on the regimental war diaries to explain how Latham and his contemporaries experienced domestic warfare. The castle, its owner, and its staff were all caught up in coastal defence and, though Latham’s 1941 court martial marked an extraordinary moment for the regiment, the everyday entries in the war diaries prove equally fascinating.

Dr. Steven Bednarski is Professor of History at the University of Waterloo and holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of History at Queen’s University, Canada. He is an award-winning social historian of microhistory, crime, gender, and the natural environment. Since 2011, he has researched the medieval and modern history of Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, UK.

In his forthcoming book, Reconstruction: The Life and Times of Sir Herbert Paul Latham of Herstmonceux Castle, Prof. Bednarski explores the hitherto unknown private life of Paul Latham.

Please join Prof. Bednarski as he leads us through a careful examination of archival and photographic evidence to weave a lively tale of spies, aerial attacks, and daily life under enemy assault.