The Department of English is home to the College's longstanding Centre for Victorian Studies, one of the leading national and international Centres for Victorian Studies. The Centre is directed by Dr Briony Wickes, currently assisted by Adrianna Chmielewska.
In 2009, Royal Holloway’s Centre for Victorian Studies was the venue for the first summit meeting bringing together all staff belonging to Victorian Studies Centres in the UK. Today, this well-established Centre at Royal Holloway hosts dynamic lectures from UK and international scholars, diverse symposia, research and training activities, and events with leading cultural partners. The residential London Nineteenth-Century Postgraduate Conference, held biennially by the CVS, provides a particularly lively forum for postgraduate students, early career researchers and established scholars from the UK and internationally to meet and exchange ideas.
Our events take place in one of the most flamboyant and beautiful buildings of Victorian Britain, the Founder’s Building, which in turn houses one of the finest private collections of Victorian art. The Centre is a unique place for the meeting of academic scholars, artists, writers, students and the public, where we can enjoy a true immersion in a vibrant nineteenth century atmosphere. While the CVS works to celebrate the rich Victorian art and architecture of Royal Holloway, it is not simply a dramatic C19th backdrop to our activities: from 2019, we have collaborated richly on events and on jointly hosting speakers with the curators of our Art Collections.
The CVS has a particularly strong scholarly base in nineteenth-century literature and art, and its work extends across disciplines, including with colleagues in English, History, Drama, Music, Geography, Creative Writing, Psychology and the Sciences.
The CVS also draws inspiration from Royal Holloway’s distinctive history of women’s education and intellectual life. Bedford College opened in central London in 1849 as the first higher education college for women in the UK, with early students including the novelist George Eliot and physician Elizabeth Blackwell. Royal Holloway College was opened by Queen Victoria in 1886; both institutions later became part of the University of London before merging in 1985. The Centre continues this legacy by supporting ambitious and inclusive scholarship, creating opportunities for emerging researchers, and fostering conversations about the nineteenth century, and the aspects of Victorian life and culture that structure the present.
The Centre is directed by Dr Briony Wickes, currently assisted by Adrianna Chmielewska.
To join our mailing list, or enquire about the Centre please contact victorianstudiesrhul@gmail.com.
