# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Lunar Lecture – ‘Anna Seward and the invention of pollution in the eighteenth-century West Midlands’
- **Event Start and End Date**: Tue, 30 Jun, 2026 at 07:00 pm – Tue, 30 Jun, 2026 at 08:00 pm
- **Event Description**: Lecture by Dr Malcolm Dick

The poet, Anna Seward (1742-1809), lived in Lichfield, had a close friendship with Erasmus Darwin, and knew other members of the Lunar Society. She travelled widely across the West Midlands, and one result was the poem, ‘Colebrookdale’, written in fact in two versions, which provides an insight into environmental and atmospheric pollution at a time when industrial activity was generally perceived by Seward’s acquaintances as something which brought benefits to all. Seward’s poetry though focused on the industrial town of Coalbrookdale in the Severn Valley, ranges across the urban geography of the West Midlands and uses the word pollution in the environmental sense that we apply it today. Her vision provides an early expression of anti-industrial sentiment, which became widespread later in the nineteenth century in the writings of John Ruskin and others. This talk analyses Sewards observations and places them in the context of her time.

 

Dr Malcolm Dick OBE, FRHistS is a trustee of Erasmus Darwin House and Honorary Associate Professor in History at the University of Birmingham. He was formerly Director of the Centre for West Midlands History at the University and has written about the individual Lunar Men and the history of Birmingham and the Black Country. He has contributed to two websites on West Midlands history: Revolutionary Players https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/ and History West Midlands https://historywm.com/
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/lichfield/lunar-lecture-‘anna-seward-and-the-invention-of-pollution-in-the-eighteenth-century-west-midlands/200030184370448
- **Event Categories**: Art, literary-art, Nonprofit
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 4

## Ticket Details


## Event venue details

- **city**: Lichfield
- **state**: EN
- **country**: United Kingdom
- **location**: Beacon St , WS13 7AD Lichfield, United Kingdom
- **lat**: 52.68537
- **long**: -1.83313
- **full address**: Beacon St , WS13 7AD Lichfield, United Kingdom, Erasmus Darwin House, Beacon Street, Lichfield, WS13 7AD, United Kingdom

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: Lunar Lecture – ‘Anna Seward and the invention of pollution in the eighteenth-century West Midlands’
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events1/banners/4d8d72445333ddb16fa6a7fc4b2e59e01be5f0310e03fea9c0c6f6b7438ea466-rimg-w1200-h960-dcffffff-gmir?v=1782406636

## FAQs

- **Q**: When and where is Lunar Lecture -  Anna Seward and the invention of pollution in the eighteenth-century West Midlands  being held?
  - **A:** Lunar Lecture -  Anna Seward and the invention of pollution in the eighteenth-century West Midlands  takes place on Tue, 30 Jun, 2026 at 07:00 pm to Tue, 30 Jun, 2026 at 08:00 pm at Beacon St , WS13 7AD Lichfield, United Kingdom, Erasmus Darwin House, Beacon Street, Lichfield, WS13 7AD, United Kingdom.
- **Q**: Who is organizing Lunar Lecture -  Anna Seward and the invention of pollution in the eighteenth-century West Midlands ?
  - **A:** Lunar Lecture -  Anna Seward and the invention of pollution in the eighteenth-century West Midlands  is organized by Erasmus Darwin House.

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