New Goodwood exhibition

A special talk will explore the theme of this year’s Goodwood House Exhibition – The Radical Duke.

Clementine de la Poer Beresford, curator of the Goodwood Collection, offers through the exhibition a chance to discover the life and legacy of Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, a radical, revolutionary and reformer in the age of enlightenment.

A man ahead of his time, who supported American Independence, and advocated for universal manhood suffrage, Richmond was not what you might expect from an eighteenth-century aristocrat, Clementine argues.

“His twin passions were political philosophy and military strategy, but he was also an important artistic and architectural patron and was driven by a fascination with science and the natural world. The Radical Duke celebrates his remarkable life: the personal and the political.”

The exhibition can be seen on Goodwood House Open Days until October 26.

“We are also hosting a talk associated with the theme of the exhibition on August 20 at 6.30pm: Secrets of a Radical Duke Talk by Professor Danielle Allen, an evening with Danielle Allen, as she reveals how her discovery of a lost copy of the Declaration of Independence in West Sussex unlocked a historical mystery, shedding light on just how close 18th century Britain came to revolution, and the man at the heart of it: Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond.”

Tickets are £45 per person through Goodwood House

“Danielle will be discussing her new historical biography, The Radical Duke: a thrilling journey, as she seeks to figure out how a large, ceremonial parchment Declaration of Independence ended up in West Sussex.

“When Danielle discovered the Declaration of Independence buried in the Chichester archives, little did she know she had stumbled onto a larger story that fundamentally changes our understanding of eighteenth-century British and American history.

“The discovery led her to investigate the 3rd Duke of Richmond, and in doing so, establish that The Duke, together with the radical pamphleteer Thomas Paine, secretly fomented a political revolution: they supported American Independence, led the first proposals for universal manhood suffrage, and argued for freedom of the press and religious toleration.

“The evening is a chance to hear Danielle’s latest cutting-edge research, view portraits of the 3rd Duke of Richmond by artists including Joshua Reynolds and see items belonging to him, including The Juryman's Touchstone of 1771, discovered by Danielle to be cowritten by Paine, with Paine’s handwritten dedication to The Duke.”

Danielle Allen is James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. She is also director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School and director of the Democratic Knowledge Project-Learn, a research lab focused on civic education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

She is a professor of political philosophy, ethics and public policy as well as a seasoned non-profit leader, democracy advocate, tech ethicist, distinguished author and mother. She is a contributing columnist at The Atlantic Magazine and was the 2020 winner of the Library of Congress's Kluge Prize, which recognises scholarly achievement in the disciplines not covered by the Nobel Prize.