SPEAKERS

Susan Doe

Talk
Votes for women! Individual suffrage stories from Hackney
Hackney had its share of militant suffragettes, working alongside those who kept away from arson and breaking windows. The research for the Women from Hackney’s History project has uncovered their stories.

Photo of Amir Dotan

Amir Dotan

Talk
1930's Stoke Newington - Rediscovering a Decade of Profound Change
This talk explores the substantial transformation of the former Borough of Stoke Newington during the 1930s. During that decade, Stoke Newington underwent significant changes, characterised by the construction of council housing estates and municipal buildings, the widening of roads to accommodate increased traffic and much

Photo of Breda Corish

Breda Corish

Talk
When “the Irish Question” came to 1880s Hackney: Tactical voting, “lively” meetings & “monster” demonstrations!
Late nineteenth-century debate about self-government for Ireland played out not just in the corridors of Westminster but also on the streets of Hackney. At the forefront of the Liberal campaign for Home Rule was South Hackney’s Irish-born MP Charles Russell - political ally and legal defender of “the Uncrowned King of Ireland” Charles Stewart Parnell.

Andrew Whitehead

Talk
London's most sensational shoot-out: the Siege of Sidney Street
Andrew Whitehead, author of 'A Devilish Kind of Courage: Anarchists, Aliens and the Siege of Sidney Street', reveals the story of the most sensational shoot-out in London's history.

Martin Sugarman

Talk
Local Jewish war hero of SOE
A talk about a little known local Jewish war hero who served in SOE, was highly decorated and sadly betrayed and then murdered at Gross Rosen death camp in 1944.

Nigel Smith

Talk
Gainsborough Studios: Hackney’s Little Hollywood
Between 1920 and 1949, on the site of an old power station between the Regent’s Canal and Shoreditch Park, more than 170 films were made in what was then one of Britain’s most famous film studios. Now a block of flats this is where Alfred Hitchcock started his career and the plucky British film industry put up a fight against Hollywood.

Deborah Jeffries

Talk
Hoxton Entertains in the 1860s
In 1863, Hoxton Hall joined The Britannia Theatre in becoming a notable venue in Hoxton's nineteenth century entertainments' industry. Come and discover how different these venues were and what they each provided for London's amusement-seeking audiences.

Laurie Elks

Talk
Hackney's Bloody-minded Heroes
Hackney Heroes recalls the contribution by Hackney campaigners who fought to preserve some of the places we value most including De Beauvoir Town, Hackney Empire, Sutton House and Walthamstow Marshes.

Katharine Quarmby

Talk
The hidden histories of girls who lived at the Female Refuge for the Destitute, Hackney Road
In 1817 a girl called Ann Tyrell arrived at the Refuge for the Destitute in Hackney. Journalist and writer Katharine Quarmby talks about the real Hackney history behind her novel, The Low Road

Andrew Whitehead

Walk
From Houndsditch to Sidney Street: in the footsteps of anarchist gunmen
A walk in the footsteps of the Latvian anarchist desperadoes involved in the sensational Siege of Sidney Street, a six-hour shoot-out in Stepney in 1911.

Photo of Richard Yeboah

Richard Yeboah

Talk
From Hackney With Love: An Intimate History of Regeneration, Gentrification and Belonging
An exploration of the dramatic transformation of Hackney over the last few decades, explored through the demise, regeneration and gentrification of Hackney's long-standing neighbourhoods and communities.

Penelope Rafter

Walk
18th Century Hackney
A stroll along 18th century Mare Street, beginning at that ever popular place of resort, London Fields and ending at the venerable Sutton House.

Nick Higham

Talk
The Mercenary River
Private Greed versus Public Good: the sometimes shocking history of London's water from Tudor times to today.

Steven Spencer

Talk
The Salvation Army in Hackney
The Salvation Army is a church and charity founded in east London in the 1860s. From the 1880s onwards many of its most significant London locations were in Hackney, from the evangelical Clapton Congress Hall to the Mothers' Hospital. This talk will explore these locations and other, less well known, Salvation Army sites in the borough.

Sean Gubbins

Walk
Shacklewell History Walk
Tucked between Stoke Newington, Clapton and Dalston, Shacklewell with its village green is a little know part of Hackney with its own history harking black to the Middle Ages.

Stephen May

Interview
1907 - Revolutionaries in London
Award-winning novelist Stephen May discusses the background to the fascinating blend of fact and fiction behind his book Sell Us The Rope. This describes the weeks Stalin, Lenin, Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg spent in Hackney in 1907.

Linh Vu and Eithne Nightingale

Film and talk
Child Migrant Voices
Film Passing Tides of Linh Vu's journey from Vietnam in Hackney in 1970s and interview between Linh and Eithne Nightingale (researcher and author).

Kooi Chock Glendinning

Talk
The Forgotten Malaysian Heroes
Before the Colonial British gave us independence in 1953, they and the Malayan Malays constitutionalised sidelining us, Malayan Chinese and Malayan Indians. So we had to leave our country, our families and friends to come over to Britain to help the British economy.

Craig McLean

Talk
From Hackney to Hollywood: A Local Musical History
Welcome to Hackney / A place where I think somebody's been playing Jumanji / A Manor where man are like animals / An' they'll yam on you like they yam on food / Cats with claws that'll stab a yout', act bad an' catch a slap or two / We don't applaud success, all we clap are tools." His home neighbourhood has come a long way since Professor Green wrote those lyrics 14 years ago – and so has the rapper turned broadcaster, activist and entrepreneur. But musically, too, the borough has long contained multitudes. In conversation with journalist Craig McLean, Pro presents a lively history of our 'hood heroes, from Malcolm McLaren to Labrinth, Rudimental to Paloma Faith, and all points in between. .

Professor Green

Talk
From Hackney to Hollywood: A Local Musical History
Welcome to Hackney / A place where I think somebody's been playing Jumanji / A Manor where man are like animals / An' they'll yam on you like they yam on food / Cats with claws that'll stab a yout', act bad an' catch a slap or two / We don't applaud success, all we clap are tools." His home neighbourhood has come a long way since Professor Green wrote those lyrics 14 years ago – and so has the rapper turned broadcaster, activist and entrepreneur. But musically, too, the borough has long contained multitudes. In conversation with journalist Craig McLean, Pro presents a lively history of our 'hood heroes, from Malcolm McLaren to Labrinth, Rudimental to Paloma Faith, and all points in between. .

Susan Doe

Walk
The inhabitants of Hackney Church
Those buried at St John at Hackney give an insight into the history of Hackney as well as being some fascinating individuals. Your guide has been researching them and will share their stories.