| Programme
The workshop
will take place in MC415, fourth floor, Millennium City Building, City
campus.
1400-1420h:
Introduction and introductions
1420-1520h: Formal presentations
1520-1600h:
Discussion
Formal presentations: further details
Dr
David Humphrey (Deputy Director, Centre
for Jewellery Research, Royal College of Art)
‘A
Necessary Partner’: The
Alps and its role as a partner in the precious commodities
trade between Northern and Southern Europe in the Early Renaissance
period
Like it or
not those trading between Northern and Southern European in Late Medieval
and Early Renaissance Europe had to carefully consider the influence that
trans-Alpine travel would, or might have, on their business. The nature of
the terrain and the climatic conditions dictated a range of circumstances
under which trade would be carried out – and therefore demanded forward
planning by everyone involved in the trading cycle. Furthermore those
commonly used access routes which evolved through the Alps came, in part,
to influence the location of centres of production and finance.
The Alps came
to be viewed by many as an unwanted, but necessary, foreign partner
element in their business operations. If it could not be got round then it
must be got over in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
This paper
will examine how the precious commodities trade engaged with the Alps as a
trading partner and in its relationship with other non-Alpine routes
between the two regions. It will also consider how the Alps impacted on
customers as well as traders and the generic nature of ownership of
precious commodities.
Key
words: Foreign; Alps; precious;
trade; partner
Professor Panikos Panayi
(Professor of European History, De Montfort
University)
'Foreign
Food Shops in Victorian and Edwardian London'
In the decades leading up to the First World War, four distinct
ethnic minorities, with their own food communities, had developed in
London. While the Jews, Germans, Italians and Chinese varied in size, each
of them had, by the outbreak of the First World War, opened up shops which
sold products originally obtained in their lands of origin. This paper
will have four main aims. First, it will introduce the communities
concerned, paying particular attention to their size, geographical focus
and ethnic identities. Second, the paper will describe the products sold
in the shops opened by the four minorities, focusing upon their origins
and asking whether transformation had occurred in the London environment.
The paper will then examine what the availability of
foreign products tells us about the ethnic communities under
consideration, focusing especially upon concepts of identity maintenance
for four groups of considerably different sizes. Finally, the paper will
examine the interaction of wider society with the shops owned by migrants,
asking whether they emphasized the separateness of the communities
concerned, as could be argued with Jewish shops, whether they became the
focus of a racist gaze, in the case of the Chinese, or whether, on the
other hand, they acted as a factor leading to interaction, in the case of
German butchers, bakers, delicatessens and patisseries.
Key words: London; foreign food; Victorian
and Edwardian London; migrant communities
Ms Alison Toplis
(Doctoral student,
Wolverhampton)
‘Scotch’ Drapers in Early 19th century
Herefordshire and Worcestershire
By the second
half of the 19th century, ‘scotch’ draper or ‘scotchman’ were
terms used along with ‘tally man’ to label travelling drapers who moved
around the country in pursuit of sales, particularly targeting women with
cheap but fashionable clothing, fabric and accessories.
This paper will examine if the terminology had any origin in ethnic
basis and whether this in turn had any effect of the distribution of
textile goods across the country. By examining the 1841
census records, place of birth and therefore to a certain degree, ethnic
origin can be ascertained. With a focus on areas such
as Hereford and Dudley, where large numbers of travelling drapers were by
this period listed in trade directories, census material can help
determine whether these men were of Scottish origin and so were literally
‘scotch’ drapers but working in Hereford and Worcestershire, or of a more
local origin.
The paper
will then investigate whether such traders remained ethnic outsiders or if
and how they integrated into the local community and thus how the
terminology fell into more general usage. It will
therefore touch on themes common to the migration of workers including the
need for economic migrants in newly industrialised areas, as well as the
integration of new key workers into old established communities and the
attendant criticism of this by the residents.
Key
words: Scotch draper;
Scotchman; Tally man; Dudley; Hereford
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