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Richard Holmes Memorial Lecture 2025: Atrocity, justice and reconciliation in the English Civil War
The English Civil War caused unprecedented casualties and suffering, deeply dividing communities and leaving a lasting legacy that parallels modern conflicts. Research has mainly focused on the Civil Wars’ effects on victims, rarely addressing those who perpetrated acts of violence, many of which exceeded the limits of what was acceptable to contemporary society. This period was marked not only by violence but also by the early codification and enforcement of laws of war, with a variety of legal proceedings used to address breaches of conduct. Examining the interaction between perpetrators and justice processes highlights how individuals narrated their actions for public audiences, how legal mechanisms are developed to bring them to justice, and how these dynamics affected reintegration, collective memory, and post-conflict reconciliation. This talk will explore these themes by using a case study drawn from the New Model Army’s occupation of Dundee during the 1650s.
Ismini Pells is a Lecturer at the University of Oxford’s Department for Continuing Education. She is an historian of the early modern period, specialising the British Civil Wars. She is the author of Philip Skippon, Philip Skippon and the British Civil Wars: The “Christian Centurion” and has published articles and chapters on various military and medical topics relating to the Civil Wars. She was Project Manager of the Civil War Petitions project (www.civilwarpetitions.ac.uk). Ismini is President of the Cromwell Association, a trustee of the Battlefields Trust, sits on the Council of the Army Records Society and is a judge for the Society for Army Historical Research’s Templer Medal.
Please use the booking link below to register for in-person and remote attendance.
Date:
15 November 2025, 14:00
Venue:
National Army Museum, London SW3 4HT
Speaker:
Dr Ismini Pells (Oxford)
Booking required?:
Required
Booking url:
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/thebattlefieldstrust/1847616
Cost:
In-person attendance £17.50 / Remote viewing £10 per computer connected
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Belinda Clark
