The William Cobbett Society
Past Events
For those interested in knowing more about the Cobbett Society and what it does, below is a list of previous events.
2025 Cobbett Themed Visit to London
On 6 October 2025, the Cobbett Society held a visit to London to see some of the places associated with Cobbett, including a visit to the National Portrait Gallery.
The day featured a guided walking tour around parts of Central London in the Piccadilly and St James area where Cobbett lived for a time, as did others such as Sir Francis Burdett, and where there were (and still are) a number of booksellers and print dealers. In the afternoon, members convened for a visit to the recently renovated National Portrait Gallery to see pictures connected with Cobbett, including The House of Commons, 1833, an extraordinary painting by George Hayter. The visit concluded with a special presentation in the Public Study Room where members were shown some extra material from the archives including Gilray cartoons and sketches by Doyle.
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Rural Ride 2025 to Alresford and Kingston Lacy
The traditional ‘Rural Ride’, a coach trip enlivened by Cobbett readings relevant to the journey, went this year to the historic National Trust house and estate at Kingston Lacy near Wimborne in Dorset, featured in the BBC series ‘Hidden Treasures’. Travellers boarded their trusty coach at Farnham and were delivered back tired but stimulated at the end of the day. There was a stop for coffee on the way in beautiful Alresford. The trip was blessed by beautiful sunshine and a gentle breeze – a perfect English summer’s day!
William Cobbett Society Annual Memorial Lecture 2025
Growing Solo - in the Steps of William Cobbett, Friday 10th January 2025
Inspired by William Cobbett’s Cottage Economy, retired BBC political journalist Mas Cotton spent a year living only off the food produced on his Somerset smallholding. The experiment was turned into a Radio 4 series Growing Solo, and this was the basis of his illustrated lecture.
William Cobbett Society Rural Ride 2024
On Tuesday 2nd July 2024, the Cobbett Society went on its annual Rural Ride, this year to Dorking and Polesdon Lacey. It was attended by 29 people, 12 of whom were not members of the William Cobbett Society (most of whom are members of the Farnham Society who responded to an advert of the Rural Ride by that Society).
William Cobbett Society Annual Memorial Lecture 2024
William Cobbett & James Gillray, 12th January 2024.
How Gillray’s caricatures and satirical cartoons, including those attacking Cobbett, illuminated the politics (and the scandals) of the early 19th century. By Tim Clayton, author of James Gillray: A Revolution in Satire, described as ‘comprehensive’, ‘nuanced’ and ‘convincing’ by the Guardian.
William Cobbett Society Rural Ride 2024
9th June 2023, Romsey and Mottisfont (with roses in bloom). The Cobbett Society Rural Ride 2023 took place on a gorgeously hot sunny day in June. For the first time since the disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic, this annual event took the familiar form of a coach ride.