Hakluyt Society - old news and past events

Past News and Events

Annual General Meeting and Reception, 24 June 2009

The Annual General Meeting of the Hakluyt Society took place on Wednesday, 24th June at the House of the Royal Geographical Society. The President of the Hakluyt Society, Professor Will Ryan, was in the chair and began the proceedings by welcoming members and their guests. The meeting approved the minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting and the Statement of Accounts for 2008, following which the President presented his report on the developments of the past year. Mr David Darbyshire was re-elected as Honorary Treasurer and presented his annual report on the Society's financial situation. A proposal of the Council to raise the annual subscription to £60 ($110), and to remove the surcharge on payment by credit card, was carried by vote and will take effect on 1 January 2010.

On the proposal of council the meeting re-elected a number of officers into their existing positions, and elected to Council Professor Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Professor Peter Hulme and Professor Suzanne Schwarz and Ms Catherine Scheybeler (co-opted 2008), replacing retiring members Captain Richard Campbell, Professor Peter Rivière and Professor Tim Youngs. The meeting was followed by the Annual Lecture for 2009, 'Great British Journeys', delivered by the well-known writer, traveller and broadcaster Nicholas Crane. After conveying his thanks to Mr Crane, the retiring President brought the meeting to a close and invited members and guests to a reception in the hall adjacent.

Will Ryan, our new President, with Professor and Mrs Bridges

Annual General Meeting and Reception 2008

The Society's 2008 Annual General Meeting took place on Wednesday, 2nd July at the House of the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7. The occasion marked the retirement of Professor Roy Bridges as President and the election of his successor, Professor Will Ryan. The annual lecture was delivered by Dr Daniel Carey of the National University of Ireland whose topic was 'Continental Travel and Journeys beyond Europe in the Early Modern Period: an Overlooked Connection'.

For full details of the AGM, together with photographs and a tribute to Professor Bridges, please click here.

Annual General Meeting 2007

The one hundred and sixty-first Annual General Meeting of the Hakluyt Society took place at the House of the Royal Geographical Society, London, on Wednesday, 27th June 2007. The chair was taken by Professor Roy Bridges, President of the Society, who welcomed our guest speaker, Dame Anne Salmond, Distinguished Professor of Maori Studies and Anthropology at the University of Auckland (both pictured alongside).

For further details of the meeting and its proceedings, please click here.

Visit by Sarah Tyacke, CB, Trustee of the Hakluyt Society, to North America

As part of a campaign to promote the Hakluyt Society to potential supporters in North America and elsewhere, the Council of the Hakluyt Society sent one of our trustees, Sarah Tyacke, to meet and speak with our American colleagues.

For details of Sarah's North American tour, please click here.

The President's Medal

With the approval of Council, the President has decided that the Society should be empowered to provide a means of giving formal recognition to anyone who has shown outstanding scholarship in respect of one or more of its volumes, or to one who has given outstanding service in furthering the objects of the Society. Hence, an occasional award to be known as The President’s Medal has been instituted.

The medal takes the form of a sterling silver medallion incorporating the Society’s logo, a quotation from Hakluyt, the date of foundation and the name of the recipient. The first holder was announced in June 2006 as Lt Cdr Andrew David, both for his service to the Society and for his editorial work on the Charts and Coastal Views of Captain Cook’s Voyages and the recent Malaspina volumes. Andrew David received the medal itself at a brief ceremony in October.