Would readers kindly go through the first paragraph of this page before attempting to contact anyone about the Chetham Society - numerous messages are going astray by being sent to library staff instead of to the Society's officers. Please don't call, write to or email Chetham's Library about buying copies of Chetham Society publications! This information *is still current!*

For items listed as in print, please contact:
Dr Tim Thornton
Dean, School of Music, Humanities and Media
University of Huddersfield
Huddersfield
HD1 3DH
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1484 472359
Fax: +44 (0) 1484 472655

t.j.thornton@hud.ac.uk
For items not listed as in print, please consult a secondhand bookseller.

The Chetham Society

Go straight to the Society's List of Publications.

Download the Chetham Society's Notes for Contributors
and the Chetham Society's authors' style sheet (MS Word format).

We are happy to be able to host the first web pages of the Chetham Society, an organisation with a long history of fruitful collaboration with Chetham's Library. Please note that Chetham's Library and the Chetham Society are not the same organisation, and that readers should use the addresses below in contacting the Society, as Library staff will not be in a position to help directly with issues such as membership, purchasing publications, or undertaking research on behalf of readers. The Library does, however, hold all the publications of the Society and readers wishing to come here to read those publications are warmly invited to contact us. What follows is a text drawn from the Society's own promotional material:

History

The Chetham Society is the oldest history society in North-West England and was one of the first in Britain. It was founded in Manchester in 1843 by a group of gentlemen, of 'a literary and historical turn', who wanted to promote interest in, and access to, the rich historical source material of the region. The formal object of the Society was therefore to publish 'Remains Historical and Literary connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancashire and Chester', although since the 1870s the literary element has been dropped and the work of the Society has concentrated entirely upon the publication of history.

The Society held its first meeting in the superb and historic Chetham's Library, established in 1653 by the will of Humphrey Chetham, and there it meets to this day. The founders chose to adopt the name of Humphrey Chetham for the new Society because he, more than any other individual, was a patron and benefactor of learning in the region. For more details of the Society's history and a full list of its publications see Alan G. Crosby 'A Society with no equal', Chetham Society 3rd ser., v. 37 (1993), or click here.

James Crossley, 1800-1883, founder and President of the Chetham Society.
Portrait by John Hanson Walker, 1876, now in the reading room of Chetham's Library.

Publications

For more than 150 years the Chetham Society has been publishing books which have made a unique contribution to our knowledge and understanding of local and regional history within the two counties. They have a wider relevance, too, for many Chetham Society volumes are primary sources for social, economic and political historians nationally and internationally. Over 260 volumes have now been published, and the list of their authors is a roll call of many of the foremost historians who have worked in the region since the beginning of Victoria's reign.

The current policy is that at least one book should be published each year, although this output may be exceeded. The range is very wide - recent volumes have included the letters of an 18th century textile merchant, Manchester politics in the early 19th century, a history of the port of Parkgate, the administration of late medieval Cheshire, the Isle of Man in the 17th century, and early industrialisation in Lancashire. The aim of the Society is to have as diverse a coverage as possible, and to ensure that the publishing programme has a broad geographical, chronological and thematic spread. Although monographs based on original research, including academic theses, are now the mainstay of the programme, the Society also publishes editions of important primary sources, including diaries and journals, cartularies, collections of deeds, manorial surveys and municipal records.

Membership

The Chetham Society has many institutional members - most of the leading university and public libraries subscribe - but from the beginning of its existence it has depended upon, and warmly welcomed, all those individuals who have an interest in the history of North-West England. Membership of the Society, which is a registered educational charity, is open to all and requires only the payment of an annual subscription. Members receive a copy of every new title - a hardback high-quality production - and no additional charge is made if extra volumes are published. All those who are interested in history in general and in the North-West particularly, and who want to belong to an organisation which is of great historical significance in its own right, are invited to take up membership and help to support the invaluable work of the Chetham Society.

Membership enquiries should go to:

Orders for publications in print should now go to the General Editor, Dr Tim Thornton (see the foot of the Publication List):

All other enquiries should go to: