The Plume Lecture was established in 1975 by the Trustees of the Library, at the instigation of the Rev. Arthur Dunlop, to commemorate the life of Dr. Thomas Plume (1630 -1704) with a public lecture, held annually in the month of November. Speakers have been drawn from a wide range of disciplines, such as medicine, art, history, science and astronomy to reflect Plume’s own broad interests and the varied nature of the Library.
2019 – Nineteenth and twentieth century first edition literature.
by Neil Pearson President of the Independent Libraries Association.
2018 – Setting up libraries in the long seventeenth century
by Giles Mandelbrote, Librarian and Archivist, Lambeth Palace Library.
2017 – Seventeenth-Century Saturday Kitchen, or Hanna Woolley’s Recipes for Queen-Like Living Every Day
by Dr Lisa Smith, Lecturer, Department of History at the University of Essex, Co-editor, The Recipes Project
2016 – The Idea of a University in the Age of Thomas Plume
by Dr Richard Serjeantson, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge University
2015 – The Church of England and the Home Front 1914 – 1918: Civilians, Soldiers and Religion in Wartime Colchester
Dr Robert Beaken parish priest of St Mary the Virgin, Great Bardfield and St Katharine, Little Bardfield in Essex
2014 – Cancelled
2013 – The Hidden Universe Revealed
Robert C. Kennicutt, Jr. FRS, Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy and Head, School of the Physical Sciences, University of Cambridge.
2012 – The Libraries of the National Trust
Mark Purcell, Libraries Curator, the National Trust
2011 – Censuses and surveys and the rise of the Information State, 1500-2011
Professor Edward Higgs, Graduate Director of the History Department, Director of the Centre for Historical Census and Survey Research, University of Essex
2010 – Witchcraft and Witchcraft Beliefs in England During the Lifetime of Thomas Plume, 1630-1704
Dr. Alison Rowlands, Senior lecturer in European history and Director of the Centre for Local and Regional History The University of Essex
2009 – Why do we need so many old books? The value of the Plume Library in the modern world
Dr David Pearson, Director of Libraries, Archives & Guildhall Art Gallery, City of London
2008 – “The Culture of Place-Making” – The Role of the Arts in Shaping Identity and Building Communities
Roy Clare CBE, Chief Executive of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
2007 – John Evelyn: Living for Ingenuity
Gillian Darley
2006 – By Permission of Heaven: The Story of the Great Fire of London
Adrian Tinniswood
2005 – Time Team St. Osyth Revisited: Documents and Buildings
Dr Christopher Thornton and Brenda Watkin
2004 – The Two Pepys
Claire Tomalin
2003 – Nautical tales from the archives: exploration and charting in the 16th and 17th centuries
Sarah Tyacke, Chief Executive of the National Archives
2002 – Mad about Travel
Michael Palin
2001 – Survival in Solitude
Terry Waite
2000 – No Lecture.
1999 – The Radical Tradition
Rt Hon. Tony Benn, M.P.
1998 – The 17th Century Time Machine: antiquarians and the discovery of the past
Professor Graham Parry
1997 – The Essex World of Thomas Plume
John Walter, Director of the Local History Centre, University of Essex
1996 – Robert Boyle and the Origins of Modern Science
Professor M. Hunter, Birkbeck College
1995 – Painting in Britain in Thomas Plume’s Day
Professor L. Herrmann
1994 – The Excavations at the Roman Town Heybridge
M. Atkinson
1993 – A Peculiar Collection: the Library of Westminster Abbey
Dr Tony Trowles, Librarian
1992 – 3rd Lord Rayleigh, Victorian Scientific Genius
B. Gruhn & A. Humphrey
1991 – To the Edge of the Universe
Professor A. Boksenberg, Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory
1990 – Dr Plume & the World of Collecting
Frank Herrmann
1989 – Medical Practice in 17th & 18th Century Essex
Dr M. Neave
1988 – If Books could speak: Tales of the Old Town Library
Dr J. Blatchly, Librarian, Ipswich Town Library
1987 – Behind the Scenes at the BBC
Derek Robinson, BBC Engineering Information Department
1986 – Thomas Hooker: Father of American Democracy
Revd Deryck Collingwood
1985 – Pepys the Collector
R. Latham, Librarian, Pepys Library
1984 – The World of Books
Miss Christina Foyle
1983 – Exploring the Universe
Professor James Ring, Imperial College
1982 – Honey & Wormwood: the voice from the Pulpit in Dr Plume’s Day
V. Gray, Essex County Archivist
1981 – The Intentions of Thomas Plume
Dr W. J. Petchey
1980 – Dr Plume’s World of Science
Dr Ludmilla Jordonova, Essex University
1979 – Facts at your Fingertips
John Laidlaw, Librarian, Post Office Research Centre
1978 – Life without Gravity – Man’s Future in Space
Dr Heinz Wolff
1977 – Aircraft, Birdflight & Radar
Sir Eric Eastwoood
1976 – Stars & the Universe
Professor Martin Rees, Plumian Professor
1975 – Radio Waves
George Millington, FRS