New Folkestone Society Talk about Samuel Plimsoll: 25th October at 2pm

I’ll be giving an illustrated talk about Samuel Plimsoll in Folkestone for the New Folkestone Society on Saturday 25 October at 2pm at the Cornerstone Centre, Castle Hill Avenue CT20 2QR (see poster).

In the second half of the nineteenth century, a remarkable campaign stirred a nation to save the lives of the hundreds of British sailors a year who drowned for preventable reasons. Overloaded and poorly maintained ships set sail, their doomed crews sacrificed while greedy shipowners profited from insurance. Samuel Plimsoll exposed these scandals, became a national hero, and led a dramatic social and political movement for maritime reform which still resonates today. Nicolette Jones’s illustrated talk chronicles the campaign of the man who spent his later years in Folkestone and was laid to rest at St Martin’s Church, Cheriton.

Copies of Nicolette Jones’s award-winning book The Plimsoll Sensation, which was a Radio 4 Book of the Week, will be available at a special discount. And there will be cakes.