WILLIAM HONE AND THE CULTURE OF PROTEST

Organizers: Dr. David Taylor, Prof. Mark Knights, Prof. Mark Philp (University of Warwick)

In December 2017 it will be 200 years since the publisher and satirist William Hone was tried for blasphemous libel for published three liturgical parodies that satirized the Prince Regent and his Tory government. Tried separately for each publication across three consecutive days, his acquittal was a major victory for the freedoms of speech and press. We are marking this important anniversary with an academic workshop and pubic reenactment.

**WORKSHOP**
FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE, WARWICK
SATURDAY 25TH NOVEMBER 2017, 11AM – 3PM
Free, and includes lunch, but pre-registration is required (email d.f.taylor@warwick.ac.uk)

This workshop will reconsider Hone’s position within and significance to the culture of protest in the late 1810s. It will seek to bring past and present into conversation at a moment when – in light of the Brexit vote and Trump presidency – questions about the efficacy of protest and the limits of anti-government satire are highly resonant. We will have five speakers:

• Jason McElligott (Marsh Library, Dublin): “Hone and the Civil War of 1819-20”
• John Gardner (Anglia Ruskin): “Hone and the Spy System”
• Joanna Innes (Oxford): “A Friend in the Government? Hone and George Rose”
• Brian Maidment (Liverpool JM): “Hone and Cruikshank”
• David Taylor (Warwick): “Hone and the Functions of Parody”

**RESTAGING HONE’S TRIALS**
BALLROOM, THE COURTHOUSE, WARWICK,
SATURDAY 25TH NOVEMBER 2017, 4 – 5PM
TICKETS: £6.
To book, call the Warwick Words Festival Box Office: 01926 334 418

Within the space of Warwick’s eighteenth-century courthouse, student performers from the University of Warwick will stage a one-hour version of Hone’s trials using verbatim testimony.