Come along to our friendly talks for adults, every first Friday of the month. Drop in, no need to book. Please note, these talks are sometimes busy - entry is on a first come first served basis. Refreshments provided.
Leeds City Museum is a Give What You Can venue. We don't want price to be a barrier to a great experience. Simply pick the price you can give when you arrive at the museum, and enjoy your visit.
See below a list of speakers and topics for our upcoming sessions.
Friday 6 February
The Leeds horror, Walter Lewis Turner .....guilty or not guilty
Barbara Waterhouse disappeared from Horsforth on Saturday 6 June 1891, she would be found by a policeman in Alexander St. a few days later having been murdered in a style similar to Jack the Ripper's victims. Had the ripper come to Leeds? Walter Turner and his mother were arrested for the murder.
Friday 6 March
Yorkshire Battles
Yorkshire has been the battleground for some of the bloodiest, treacherous and most vicious battles ever fought in Britain. In this talk Josh Flint will explore two of these infamous Yorkshire Battles, The Battle of Wakefield, 1460, during the Wars of the Roses and the Battle of Marston Moor, 1644, during the English Civil War and see how these extraordinary events are represented in the Leeds Libraries Collection. There will also be an opportunity to browse items from the Yorkshire Battles Leeds Libraries Collection.
Friday 10 April
Frank Kidson: Leeds’ Pioneer of Folk Song Collecting Bryony Griffith & Alice Jones
Discover the remarkable life and legacy of Frank Kidson (1855–1926), the Leeds-born antiquarian, music scholar, journalist, and one of England’s earliest and most influential folk song collectors.
In this engaging talk, renowned Yorkshire folk musicians Bryony Griffith & Alice Jones will explore Kidson’s collecting trips around Yorkshire, his relationship with his source singers, his collaboration with his mother Mary and later his niece Ethel Kidson, and will highlight his pivotal publication—Traditional Tunes (1891) —which preserved countless songs that might otherwise have been lost.
From his conversations with singers and musicians in Yorkshire pubs to his correspondence with composers, folklorists, and fellow collectors, Kidson emerges as a vivid, sometimes cantankerous, always dedicated figure whose work pre-dated and shaped the later folk-song revival.
Join us as we rediscover and celebrate a quiet pioneer whose passion and diligence helped keep our musical heritage alive.
Friday 2 October
Ralph and John Went To Church: Ralph Thoresby and John Lewis, the first recorded Black person in Leeds
On the 1st February 1708 a remarkable thing happened, Ralph and John went to church. Ralph was Ralph Thoresby, the Leeds antiquarian and diarist. John was John Lewis, a servant and the first recorded Black person in Leeds. How were the two linked? What brought John to Leeds? And what connections did Ralph have to the Caribbean? In this talk Danny Friar answers those questions and more when he tells the story of when Ralph and John went to church.
