Dr Anthony Annakin-Smith: The little-known and moving story of the eighteenth century hospital at Chester which took in London’s unwanted children (more detailed information to follow).

Anthony is a local historian with a diverse range of interests often focused on maritime and industrial history in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Particular specialisms include the history of the former port of Parkgate (Cheshire) and contemporary shipping in the Dee Estuary, early industry in the Neston and Parkgate areas, local links to the slave trade, and the evolution of the British landscape with particular focus on the Wirral peninsula and Cheshire.

He based his PhD and book on the early Neston collieries, a subject he first investigated as part of Master’s degree in ‘Landscape Heritage and Society’ awarded with distinction by the University of Chester in 2005. He had previously studied for a ‘Diploma in Landscape Interpretation’ at the University of Liverpool.

He is a popular speaker and walk-leader and has recorded for both TV and radio on aspects of local history.

This talk will take place in CRV016 (the Music Room) at the Wheeler Building – all welcome. Host: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Society (FHMS) Historical Society. Admission free, but booking encouraged for refreshment and seating purposes. Please contact fhsc.histsoc@chester.ac.uk or call 01244 512126 to confirm your place.

The University of Chester Riverside Museum will also be open from 1-4pm on this date and all welcome to visit (no booking needed).