Stephen Barker
Author, Presenter and Tour Guide.
Buckinghamshire
info@stephen-barker.co.uk
07775 974 976
ABOUT
My interest lies in promoting people’s understanding of their military heritage, specialising in work relating to the First World War and British Civil Wars. I am a writer, make over fifty presentations per year to a range of different audiences in the south midlands area and operate a number of British Civil Wars tours.
I have worked on behalf of the University of Oxford, the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, Banbury Museum and over thirty different organisations over the last twenty years. I am an Arts Council Accreditation Mentor, Advisor to the Museum Memories Project in India and a Trustee of the Buckinghamshire Military Museum Trust, here in the UK.
I am the author of two books on First World War themes.
SPEAKING: Presentations and Tours
I give presentations to local history societies, universities and military heritage groups. Here are the details of my latest presentations:
'The British Civil Wars,
1642-51, in Art
(Available from 1 January 2024)
This presentation highlights some important moments during the Civil Wars of the mid seventeenth century, as represented in works of art. It focuses particularly on portraits and scenes executed at the time and those canvases produced in the Victorian era.
Six Warrior Women of the English Civil Wars, 1642-51
During the English Civil War women were not meek bystanders who took no part in the conflict but actively participated in a variety of ways, challenging the orthodoxies of their day and perhaps our own preconceptions.
'Trench Humour
in the First World War'
(Available from 1 January 2024)
Soldiers often turned to humour to alleviate the stress of life in the trenches. Jokes, puns, and satirical songs were a part of the soldiers’ oral culture. Much of the humour was lost on those outside the soldiers’ group, but it resonated with the soldiers and allowed them to cope with the strain of service and combat.