Quintin Watt

Email

quint.watt@yahoo.co.uk

Phone

07809 837577

Fees

£60 per presentation, inclusive of travel (within 20 miles of Sedgley)

Equipment required

None

Size of audience

Up to 150

Availability

Day and evening

Subjects covered

• ‘The Rise and Demise of the Bromsgrove Guild’ - An Illustrated History of the celebrated Metalworkers to HM the King - This presentation gives an overview of the story of the famous Worcestershire firm that created the gates of Buckingham Palace, the Liver Birds and many other well-known artistic monuments both in the UK and around the world.
• In Search of the Bromsgrove Guild in the West Midlands – where you can still see their artistry - This talk provides a visual gazetteer of where you can still see local examples of the Guild’s work; in wrought iron, bronze, wood, plaster and stained glass.In this region you’re probably never more than a few miles away from an example of Bromsgrove Guild craftsmanship.
• The Bromsgrove Guild’s Great War - This presentation focuses on the impact of the war on the firm and its employees, many of whom were craftsmen from the Continent.It also examines how the war provided work for the company in the 1920s, through the construction of a vast array of war memorials that were erected in Britain and the wider world.
• “Let my quick fate a warning be…” Fatal Transport Accidents in the West Midlands, 1820s-1920s. - This illustrated presentation deals with various accidents that involved the region’s stage-coaches, canals, railways and trams.How and why did these shocking events occur, and who was to blame?What ‘Health & Safety’ lessons were learnt from these many tragic mishaps?
• “Oh, what a bostin war!” – Mobilisation & Recruitment in the Black Country in 1914 - This illustrated presentation examines the military reaction to the outbreak of the Great War in the Black Country.Were people really excited to have a ‘pop at the Kaiser’?Did thousands of eager young men immediately ‘rush to the colours’, afraid they might miss out on all the fun?Why did they really join up?What were the myths and what was the reality?
• “Over by Christmas?” Black Country Civilians and the Outbreak of the Great War - This illustrated presentation examines the civilian reaction to the outbreak of the Great War in the Black Country.Was it ‘business as usual’ on the Home Front, or did war hysteria sweep across the region?Did the war bring out the best, or the worst, in local people?What happened to ‘foreigners’ living in the area?What were the myths and what was the reality?
• An under-whelming response? Wolverhampton and the Great War - This presentation gives an overview of the town’s experience of the war on both the home and battle fronts.It includes reference to local heroes, care of the wounded, the Zeppelin raids and the local campaign to plant avenues of trees as living war memorials.
• The End of the Line - Forgotten Great War Soldiers of the Midland Railway - This presentation examines the wartime experiences of MR employees who formerly worked on the forgotten south Staffordshire railway line between Wolverhampton and Castle Bromwich, via Walsall and Sutton Coldfield.This talk combines stories about those eighteen soldiers with a modern trip along that long-lost railway line, in a blend of military history and industrial archaeology.

Coming soon:

• The Adventures of Harry Payne – the Edwardian “Literary Tramp” - This presentation will piece together the remarkable story of a partially-sighted vagrant, as he tramped around the British Isles.At each town he visited, Harry earned a few pence by writing a review of that place for the local newspaper.These perceptive snapshots provide a unique worm’s-eye view of Britain before and during the Great War. They earned Harry the epithet, “Literary Tramp”, and challenge the myth that poor people left no written evidence of their lives and experiences.
• Tales from the Coroner’s Casebook – Unexplained Deaths in the Black Country, 1800-1842 -This presentation will re-examine cases of unexplained deaths, presided over by Henry Smith Esq. - Coroner of the County of Stafford - between 1800 and 1842. These will include: accidents, manslaughter, murders and suicides. Join Henry Smith’s Coroner’s Jury and reconsider some of the cases he dealt with during his long career.

Additional information

Quintin taught History at a high school in Bromsgrove for 39 years. He has completed two Masters Degrees, in West Midlands Regional History (1993) and Britain and the First World War (2022).

Quintin has written several articles for local history magazines. He has also edited two books:

• ‘The Bromsgrove Guild – An Illustrated History’ (1999)
• ‘Wolverhampton’s Great War, 1914 to 1921’ (2020)

Quintin served as secretary and chairman of the Bromsgrove Society’s Local History Group and the Wolverhampton Society, and is currently minute secretary for the Black Country Society.

Page last updated

27 December 2023