Press release: New Postgraduate Research Group: “The Personal Union between Great Britain and Hanover”

Nr. 145/2011 - 14.07.2011

(pug) The personal union that existed between the Hanoverian Electorate and the Kingdom of Great Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries will be the research focus of a new Postgraduate Research Group at Göttingen University. The official ceremony inaugurating the research group will be held on Wednesday, July 13, 2011. The spokesperson for the group, Prof. Arnd Reitemeier from the Institute for Regional Historic Study at Göttingen University, will welcome the guests. The Lower Saxony minister for science and culture, Prof. Johanna Wanka, the University Vice President Prof. Hiltraud Casper-Hehne and Prof. Irene Schneider, a dean at the Faculty of Humanities, will give the opening addresses. The former Director of the German Historical Institute London, Prof. Peter Wende, will hold the keynote lecture entitled ”The Fortunate Isle – Great Britain and Europe from 1714 to 1837”. The event will take place in the Aula on Wilhelmsplatz and starts at 16 CET. Over the ensuing four years, the State of Lower Saxony will be supporting the Postgraduate Research Group for “The Personal Union of Great Britain and Hannover, 1714–1837: An International Space of Communication and Interaction” with a total of 1.1 million euros.

The findings discovered by the Postgraduate Research Group will be incorporated into the exhibition “Hanover’s rulers on England’s throne from 1714 to 1837” that the State of Lower Saxony is planning for 2014. “During the epoch of the Dynastic union, Hanover was making European and world history,” Science Minister Wanka explained. "Indeed, not only did wars, power struggles and the splendours of court characterise this era, but also a new form of diplomacy and governmental administration was emerging as a new culture of music and collecting, not least to mention the advent of modern science. This state-funded Postgraduate Research Group will offer doctoral candidates the opportunity to explore new historical sources and evaluate them – all within an internationally linked network. This is creating the chance for us to expand on our previous historiographical knowledge.”

“I am very pleased about this Postgraduate Research Group starting up and happy with the support provided by the State of Lower Saxony,” added University’s President Prof. Ulrike Beisiegel. “It was during the period of the Personal Union that George II founded the University of Göttingen, and, moreover, the Hanoverian and English monarchs made momentous contributions to the university’s development. For example, they financed the systematic expansion of the university library and bestowed on the university important cultural and everyday objects collected on English expeditions. By this largesse, they laid the foundation for our exceptional academic collections that, in the future, will be playing an increasingly major role in scholarly research and teaching than had previously been the case.”

A total of eight doctoral candidates and one post-doc will be working for the Postgraduate Research Group. “To date, the personal union was essentially perceived as a constitutional event. We are placing our focus on the political, economic and cultural links and interdependencies between Great Britain and the Hannoverian Electorate, with their interwoven European and international connections,” explained Prof. Reitemeier. Some topics the scholars working within this group will be dealing with include the question as to whether Hanover posed an economic and political burden on the Kingdom of England, the importance of the personal union in European diplomacy and what the day-to-day life of English students in Göttingen was like back in those days. Other research projects will be devoted to the integration of the “Royal Academic Museum” in university teaching programmes and to the development of that era’s musical history. The Göttingen scholars will be working in close collaboration with researchers in England and the USA.

For further about the Postgraduate Research Group and for an overview of the individual research areas, go to www.uni-goettingen.de/de/200105.html.

Contact address:
Prof. Arnd Reitemeier
Georg-August University Göttingen
Faculty of Humanities
Department of Medieval and Modern History – Institute for Regional Historical Studies
Wilhelmsplatz 5, 37073 Göttingen, Phone (0551) 39-10619, Fax (0551) 39-4347
E-Mail: instlafo@gwdg.de
Internet: