22 October 2024 6pm

Reaching the World Across the Oceans

Dr James Boyd (Head of Research, Brunel Institute)

Once the SS Great Britain had been created, a new technology existed to get people around the world quicker than ever before. Cities and docks around the country began to copy the technology, and the globe began to shrink. When combined with railways, people wondered just how fast they could travel around the world. Might it one day be possible in 80 days? Millions of people began to move, relocating to new parts of the globe. But in the days before mass information and instant communication, how did they choose where to go, which route to take, how to get there, and what to expect when they arrived? This talk will explore how, in the Victorian era, the globe was opened by new technologies like the Great Britain and the often very personal interactions and correspondence that made them household names and a gateway to the world.

Dr James Boyd is Deputy Director of the Brunel Institute and Head of Research at the SS Great Britain Trust. He previously worked with research institutes in London and Washington, and as International Fellow at the Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum, Bremerhaven.