Convict Australia and Utilitarianism: Jeremy Bentham's 'Writings on Australia'
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Bentham Project
Abstract
The history of convict transportation, and in particular the emergence of Australia as a political state, is a subject of mounting interest, both within academic circles and among the general public. The critical period was the very end of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century, when the opening up of Australia, in the first place for transported felons, and in the next place for free settlers, gave rise to debates about crime and punishment, colonialism, and imperialism. One of the most important contributors to this debate was the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), whose writings on Australia were drawn upon by opponents of convict transportation in order to change the policy of the British government. There is, however, no authoritative and hence satisfactory edition of Bentham's writings on the subject. Hence, the centrepiece of this research is a critical edition of Bentham's 'Writings on Australia', which will form part of the Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham, and will be published by the Clarendon Press. Open access versions of the texts will be made freely available online. The volume will contain 'Panopticon versus New South Wales', 'A Plea for the Constitution' (both written in 1802, and eventually published in 1812), and 'Colonization Society Proposal' (written in 1831, but never hitherto published). In the first two texts, Bentham argued that transportation did not fulfil the proper ends of punishment, namely deterrence and reform, and that the policy of transportation was unconstitutional. The printed texts of these two works will be supplemented by the original manuscripts in University College London Library, which contain early drafts and a substantial unpublished addition for 'Plea for the Constitution'. The drafts are particularly important in that they are more radical and confrontational than the printed texts, and show that Bentham may have moderated his views because of fears of prosecution for sedition. In the third text, influenced by Edward Gibbon Wakefield's systematic colonization system, Bentham argues in favour of establishing a free, democratic colony, a project that came to fruition in South Australia. The volume will contain full historical annotation, an editorial introduction, and name and subject indexes. Seminal texts in the history of transportation and colonization will be made available for the first time in an authoritative edition.
The researchers will produce original interpretive scholarship that will investigate (1) the relationship between Bentham's writings on Australia and his penal theory more generally, as well as their place in the development of his political radicalism; (2) the influence and impact of Bentham's ideas on the theory and practice of punishment in convict Australia; and (3) the influence and impact of Bentham's ideas on advocates and opponents of transportation and colonization in the first half of the nineteenth century, which have in turn shaped perceptions of Australian history ever since. A conference will be held with the aim of to assessing still further the significance of the new edition of Bentham's writings, and to stimulate new research on the intellectual history and theory of colonialism, liberalism, and imperialism, from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including philosophy, law, and history. The conference will in turn give rise to a collection of edited essays.
The project will engage the interest of the general public in its research through a regular series of blogs and tweets, a YouTube video highlighting the significance of Bentham's views on convict Australia, and the exploitation of our contacts with the media.
The researchers will produce original interpretive scholarship that will investigate (1) the relationship between Bentham's writings on Australia and his penal theory more generally, as well as their place in the development of his political radicalism; (2) the influence and impact of Bentham's ideas on the theory and practice of punishment in convict Australia; and (3) the influence and impact of Bentham's ideas on advocates and opponents of transportation and colonization in the first half of the nineteenth century, which have in turn shaped perceptions of Australian history ever since. A conference will be held with the aim of to assessing still further the significance of the new edition of Bentham's writings, and to stimulate new research on the intellectual history and theory of colonialism, liberalism, and imperialism, from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including philosophy, law, and history. The conference will in turn give rise to a collection of edited essays.
The project will engage the interest of the general public in its research through a regular series of blogs and tweets, a YouTube video highlighting the significance of Bentham's views on convict Australia, and the exploitation of our contacts with the media.
Planned Impact
The research programme will aim to engage a potentially extensive non-academic audience consisting of the following groups:
1. Members of the general public interested in the histories of Australia, punishment and transportation, in the life and thought of Jeremy Bentham himself, as well as genealogists and family historians. This group will gain a better understanding of early Australian history, and in particular in relation to the provenance of some of the foundational myths about convict Australia, which were propagated by anti-transportationists influenced by Bentham. Bentham's ideas, in particular those put forward in 'Panopticon versus New South Wales', were greatly influential in the 1830s in undermining the rationale behind the convict colony. Bentham's work inspired those critics motivated by radical, utilitarian, and humanitarian ideals to argue that the convict system was unscientific, arbitrary, and unpredictable, a vastly expensive and corrosive failure, and that New South Wales was little more than a slave colony. The key anti-transportation text, the report of the Select Committee on Transportation of 1837-38 written by its Benthamite chairman Sir William Molesworth, is structured around the arguments made in 'Panopticon versus New South Wales' and is, essentially, an attempt to prove that Bentham had been right all along. This report has long shaped perceptions of convict Australia among the general public, and yet the evidence it used, like that for Bentham's polemic against New South Wales, has been contested. By fully assessing Bentham's case against the colony, the research will not only illuminate his methods and use of evidence, but the tactics adopted by later anti-transportationists.
2. Members of the general public interested in contributing to the generation of research and freely-available digital resources. This group will take advantage of the opportunity to transcribe historic handwriting and at the same time learn the mechanics of XML encoding through the provision of digitised primary sources, and thereby contribute to the production of a prominent online resource and scholarly edition. Many of Bentham's manuscripts have not been read since Bentham wrote them, and so volunteers will have a genuine opportunity to make new and exciting discoveries for themselves. Volunteer transcribers have already helped to identify the third, unpublished section of 'Panopticon versus New South Wales', as well as transcribing a manuscript in which Bentham offers a theoretical justification for the violent overthrow of the Governor of New South Wales.
3. Cultural institutions in Adelaide and South Australia. This group will take advantage of the provision of the authoritative editions of Bentham's 'Colonization Society Proposal', and of the associated interpretive scholarship, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the founding of the colony of South Australia, where Bentham's theories had a major influence. A public event at the State Library of South Australia will focus on Bentham's role as one of the main intellectual inspirations for the foundation of the colony, and an exhibition at UCL's campus in central Adelaide will examine Bentham's influence. We will offer our assistance to the committee for the Mount Lofty Ranges Agrarian Landscape in their application for UNESCO World Heritage status. By more closely linking the region to the utilitarian philosophical movement, we hope to strengthen their case and contribute to their success.
1. Members of the general public interested in the histories of Australia, punishment and transportation, in the life and thought of Jeremy Bentham himself, as well as genealogists and family historians. This group will gain a better understanding of early Australian history, and in particular in relation to the provenance of some of the foundational myths about convict Australia, which were propagated by anti-transportationists influenced by Bentham. Bentham's ideas, in particular those put forward in 'Panopticon versus New South Wales', were greatly influential in the 1830s in undermining the rationale behind the convict colony. Bentham's work inspired those critics motivated by radical, utilitarian, and humanitarian ideals to argue that the convict system was unscientific, arbitrary, and unpredictable, a vastly expensive and corrosive failure, and that New South Wales was little more than a slave colony. The key anti-transportation text, the report of the Select Committee on Transportation of 1837-38 written by its Benthamite chairman Sir William Molesworth, is structured around the arguments made in 'Panopticon versus New South Wales' and is, essentially, an attempt to prove that Bentham had been right all along. This report has long shaped perceptions of convict Australia among the general public, and yet the evidence it used, like that for Bentham's polemic against New South Wales, has been contested. By fully assessing Bentham's case against the colony, the research will not only illuminate his methods and use of evidence, but the tactics adopted by later anti-transportationists.
2. Members of the general public interested in contributing to the generation of research and freely-available digital resources. This group will take advantage of the opportunity to transcribe historic handwriting and at the same time learn the mechanics of XML encoding through the provision of digitised primary sources, and thereby contribute to the production of a prominent online resource and scholarly edition. Many of Bentham's manuscripts have not been read since Bentham wrote them, and so volunteers will have a genuine opportunity to make new and exciting discoveries for themselves. Volunteer transcribers have already helped to identify the third, unpublished section of 'Panopticon versus New South Wales', as well as transcribing a manuscript in which Bentham offers a theoretical justification for the violent overthrow of the Governor of New South Wales.
3. Cultural institutions in Adelaide and South Australia. This group will take advantage of the provision of the authoritative editions of Bentham's 'Colonization Society Proposal', and of the associated interpretive scholarship, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the founding of the colony of South Australia, where Bentham's theories had a major influence. A public event at the State Library of South Australia will focus on Bentham's role as one of the main intellectual inspirations for the foundation of the colony, and an exhibition at UCL's campus in central Adelaide will examine Bentham's influence. We will offer our assistance to the committee for the Mount Lofty Ranges Agrarian Landscape in their application for UNESCO World Heritage status. By more closely linking the region to the utilitarian philosophical movement, we hope to strengthen their case and contribute to their success.
Organisations
- University College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Technology Sydney (Collaboration)
- Queensland University of Technology (QUT) (Collaboration)
- University of New England (Collaboration)
- Australian National University (ANU) (Collaboration)
- University of Western Australia (Collaboration)
- Australian Catholic University (Collaboration)
- University of Tasmania (Collaboration)
- Griffith University (Collaboration)
- UNSW Sydney (Collaboration)
- University of Adelaide (Collaboration)
- University of Queensland (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL (Collaboration)
- Monash University (Collaboration)
Publications
Bentham J
(2018)
Writings on Australia, I. New Wales (pre-publication version)
Bentham J
(2018)
Writings on Australia, VI. A Plea for the Constitution
Causer T
(2019)
'The evacuation of that scene of wickedness and wretchedness': Jeremy Bentham, the panopticon, and New South Wales, 1802-3
in Journal of Australian Colonial History
Causer T
(2020)
James Dunk explores the madness of early New South Wales
in History Australia
Title | Fake News: Demystifying Jeremy Bentham |
Description | Dr Tim Causer worked with UCL Museums to produce an exhibition, displayed in University College London's main building, challenging many of the myths surrounding Bentham's auto-icon |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Impact | . |
URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/whats-on/fake-news |
Title | Interpretive material at Bentham's auto-icon |
Description | Dr Louise Seaward and Dr Tim Causer collaborated with UCL Museums to produce new interpretive signage for visitors to Bentham's auto-icon, in UCL's South Cloisters. |
Type Of Art | Image |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Impact | . |
Title | What Does it Mean to be Human? Curating Heads at UCL |
Description | Dr Causer was one of the co-curators, with staff from UCL Museums, UCL's Institute of Arcaheology, UCL Genetics, Evolution, and Environment, and UCL Science and Technology Studies, of this interdisciplinary, public exhibition at UCL, which ran from 2 October 2017 until 28 February 2018. The exhibition was based around the heads of Jeremy Bentham and the archaeologist Flinders Petrie, who both consented to the preservation of their bodily remains, and their use for research. Bentham's head was displayed for the first time in decades, alongside cutting-edge scientific techniques to extract and sequence his DNA. |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Impact | Increased attention on Bentham and the work of the Bentham Project, resulting in coverage in a number of media outlets (see the round-up at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/news/what-does-it-mean-be-human). |
URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/events/what-does-it-mean-be-human |
Description | Most significant achievements from the award • The publication, in The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham, of authoritative versions of major Bentham texts relating to criminal transportation, colonialism, imperialism, penology, constitutionalism, and bureaucracy. • The publication of hitherto unknown and/or unavailable Bentham works which exist in manuscript. • The making available of open-access preliminary versions of the edited texts, which have already stimulated scholarship. • The research has provided a greater appreciation of the philosophy that underpinned both Bentham's theory of punishment, and the penal philosophy that underpinned his panopticon penitentiary scheme. • The research has contributed greatly to our understanding of the conception, course of the negotiations over, and ultimate failure of Bentham's panopticon scheme. • The holding of an international conference exploring the texts produced during the course of the research, from which will emerge a major collection of essays, published in open-access, exploring the texts. • A demonstration of the value of scholarly crowdsourcing, such as our award-winning Transcribe Bentham initiative, in the production of a major scholarly endeavour such as The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham. To what extent were the award objectives met? If you can, briefly explain why any key objectives were not met 1. To allow a proper appreciation of the views of Bentham through the publication of his 'Writings on Australia' in the new authoritative edition of The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham. The volume is ready to be submitted to the press under the title of Panopticon versus New South Wales and Other Writings on Australia (around 265,000 words, including Editorial Introduction and editorial notes, but excluding indexes). The volume is more substantial than originally envisaged, since during the course of the award we identified three further texts, which exist in manuscript, to be included in the volume. These were: (1) the 'New Wales' fragments (1791), which constitute Bentham's earliest written engagement with the New South Wales penal colony; (2) 'Correspondence, Sent to William Wilberforce, of Jeremy Bentham with Sir Charles Bunbury' (1802), which constitutes Bentham's summary of recent developments in regard to the negotiations over the panopticon penitentiary and in regard to his campaign against New South Wales on behalf of the panopticon; and (3) 'Third Letter to Lord Pelham' (1802-3), Bentham's critique of mortality and general conditions aboard the convict hulks, and of the corrupt practices in government-exercised in order to cancel the panopticon-which had created those conditions. It should be noted that UCL is currently in negotiation with OUP in order to bring the Bentham edition to UCL Press. Hence, the volume, now complete, will go to the press once those negotiations have been finalized. 2. To permit research into freedom of expression through a preparation of an online parallel edition of the draft and printed texts for both 'Panopticon versus New South Wales' and 'A Plea for the Constitution'. Ultimately, the production of parallel texts for the above works was not possible. Once the relevant manuscripts (around 700 folios in total) had been transcribed and studied, we realized that, apart from 'Third Letter to Pelham' discussed below, the material consisted in alternative and discarded drafts for various parts of the works in question, and did not form coherent versions of the texts in themselves. Hence, the Editorial Introduction to the Collected Works volume contains a detailed description of this manuscript material. The relevant manuscripts and their associated transcripts are freely available in UCL's digital Bentham Papers repository. In 2018 we did, however, make freely available a parallel text of a draft, and a revised fair copy, of the hitherto unpublished 'Third Letter to Lord Pelham', using the Juxta Commons tool. In the first instance, this parallel text provides the reader a window into Bentham's writing process, with the majority of the differences between the draft and the copy consisting of relatively minor changes to words and phrasing, correction of spelling and punctuation, and other alterations for sake of clarity-or in other words, the typical finessing of a text which any writer goes through when drafting and redrafting a work. In the second instance, there are a number of more significant differences between the draft and the copy, with Bentham presumably having decided that it would be wiser not to include several passages that touch upon what, in Bentham's view, was the deliberate cruelty and corrupt practices of the Home Office. For instance, Bentham drew a comparison between the mortality on the hulks of Langstone Harbour, where, during 1801, 120 out of 500 convicts had died, with the infamous 'Black Hole' of Calcutta. Invoking the rhetorical power of the 'Black Hole', Bentham argued that the conditions aboard the hulks were not only much worse, but caused by Home Office policy. As Bentham put it, the 'Black Hole' would 'henceforward yield in proverbiality to Lord Pelham's and Mr King's and Mr Baldwin's Hulk: the Hulk La Fortunée: for such, by a horrible catachresis, happens to be the denomination of this ever memorable scene of official barbarity and negligence'. (John King was then Under Secretary at the Home Office, while William Baldwin MP was counsel for criminal and colonial business at the Home Office). The draft also contains Bentham's blunt allegation of corruption and cronyism at the Home Office, which was removed from the copy. Bentham complained of the circumstances of the appointment, in March 1802, of the police magistrate Aaron Graham as Inspector of the Hulks on a salary of £350 per annum. Bentham alleged that Graham, whose magistrate's salary was already £500 per year, was appointed not on merit but because he was a friend of John King, and because he would be willing to whitewash conditions aboard the hulks to obscure them from public view. Though overt allegations of corruption were excised from the copy, Bentham still hinted darkly at the circumstances around Graham's appointment-though in a much more circumspect manner. 3. To further historical scholarship by publishing a series of articles in academic journals based on the newly edited texts, drawing out some of the implications for our understanding of transportation, colonialism, imperialism, liberalism, and utilitarianism. Dr Tim Causer's article, '"The evacuation of that scene of wickedness and wretchedness": Jeremy Bentham, the panopticon, and New South Wales, 1802-3', discussing Bentham's production of the 'Letters to Lord Pelham' and 'A Plea for the Constitution' and his use of them to attempt to salvage the panopticon scheme, was published in the Journal of Australian Colonial History in 2019. Dr Causer's book, Memorandoms by James Martin: an astonishing escape from early New South Wales, based on the manuscript, which is in UCL's Bentham Papers, of the earliest Australian convict narrative, was published in open access by UCL Press in 2017. It also contains a discussion of Bentham's views on criminal transportation. The book has been well-received, and reviewed by, amongst others, The Australian and The Australian Book Review. Dr Causer, Professor Finn, and Professor Schofield have had a proposal accepted for a book entitled Jeremy Bentham and Australia: Convicts, Utility, and Empire, accepted by UCL Press. The book, based upon papers presented at the successful 'Bentham and Australia' conference held at UCL on 11-12 April 2019, will contain fourteen chapters arranged under five broad thematic headings, namely 'Context'; 'Bentham and the practice of criminal transportation'; 'Imperial, colonial, and Australian constitutional implications of Bentham's writings on Australia'; 'Penal institutions and practices in Britain and Australia'; and 'Legacies of Bentham's writings on Australia'. The chapters, by leading scholars, early career researchers, and graduate researchers, will make an original contribution to Bentham studies, as well as the history of criminal transportation, Indigenous history, legal and constitutional history, religious history, imperial and colonial history, the history of government and bureaucracy, and the history of crime and punishment. The book, as well as being of scholarly value in its own right, will constitute the first response by scholars to the new texts, contribute to existing historiographical debates, and set the agenda for new ones. 4. To further historical scholarship by organizing a cross-disciplinary international conference. The conference, organised by Dr Causer, was held on 11-12 April 2019 at UCL Faculty of Laws, and was attended by around forty established scholars, early career researchers, graduate students, and members of the public. Fourteen speakers discussed the implications of Bentham's writings on Australia for their own research. Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart (Tasmania) applied 'big data', digital humanities, and collective biography techniques to examine Bentham's contention that criminal transportation was an anachronistic and ineffective punishment, while Professor Zoë Laidlaw (Melbourne) read Bentham's relative silence in his writings in regard to Indigenous Australians to argue that Bentham, despite being regarded as holding a generally anti-colonial position, offered tacit support for the settler colonial project. Professor Deborah Oxley (Oxford) discussed the British legislative and fiscal context for Bentham's writings on transportation, while Professor Anne Brunon-Ernst (Paris 2 Panthéon Assas/ Australian National University), Dr Edward Cavanagh (Cambridge), and Professor Philip Schofield (UCL) examined the constitutional, democratic, and bureaucratic ramifications of Bentham's writings for Australia specifically, and for Britain and its empire more generally. Professor Kirsten McKenzie (Sydney) examined the distinction Bentham drew between the three 'constituent elements' of transportation, namely confinement, banishment, and bondage, which he considered as legally distinct punishments, while Professor Hilary Carey (Britsol) and Dr Chris Holdridge (North-West University) explored the centrality of Bentham's critique of transportation for those campaigning for its abolition in the 1830s and beyond. Professor Barry Godfrey (Liverpool) examined Bentham's writings in the context of transportation to western Australia, while Honey Dower (Tasmania), Emily Lanman (Notre Dame University Australia), and Dr Tim Causer (UCL) discussed Bentham's writings in relation to his panopticon penitentiary scheme and penal institutions in both Britain and Australia. A full programme for the conference can be accessed at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bentham-and-australia-convicts-utility-and-empire-tickets-54750695805# 5. To promote scholarly crowdsourcing The Bentham Project's award-winning and pioneering scholarly crowdsourced transcription initiative, Transcribe Bentham, contributed significantly to the research programme. We estimate that draft transcripts of around 60% of the c. 700 manuscript pages used and consulted in the production of the Collected Works volume were produced by Transcribe Bentham volunteers-these transcripts were subsequently checked for quality of transcription by a Transcribe Bentham staff member, before being checked again by Professor Schofield, the General Editor of the Collected Works. All of the volunteers who worked on these transcripts are fully acknowledged in introductions to the preliminary versions of the texts, which were made available online in September 2018, and in the acknowledgments of the Collected Works volume. The availability of these transcripts meant that, rather than spending the equivalent of around six months' research time transcribing these manuscripts themselves, research staff time was freed up for editorial work. In particular, this time was used for the transcription of 'A Picture of the Treasury', which Bentham wrote in 1802, and which exists in manuscript and runs to over 1,000 manuscript pages. The transcription of the 'Picture' was necessary since the 'Letters to Lord Pelham' and 'A Plea for the Constitution' were initially conceived of as sections of this larger work, and since it constitutes Bentham's own account of his negotiations, from 1798 to 1802, with the British government to build a panopticon penitentiary. It became apparent that we needed to understand this text in order to understand the provenance of Bentham's writings on Australia, and it is, therefore, discussed in the Editorial Introduction to the volume and is mentioned at various points in the annotation to the texts. Dr Causer was the lead author on a paper which discussed in detail the cost-avoidance potential of Transcribe Bentham in regard to the production of Bentham's Collected Works, and of scholarly crowdsourced transcription in general: see T. Causer, K. Grint, A-M. Sichani, and M. Terras, '"Making such bargain": Transcribe Bentham and the quality and cost-effectiveness of crowdsourced transcription', Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, vol. 33 (2018), pp. 467-87. 6. To disseminate the research to the general public by regular blogs, tweets, and a YouTube video, and through the press and television. In addition to regular blogs and use of social media to promote the research programme, during a research trip to Australia in 2018 Dr Causer gave a number of invited talks to both academic and general audiences. In terms of talks to the general public, Dr Causer gave a Port Arthur talk at the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Port Arthur Historic site (21 June 2018), delivered a Selden Society talk at the State Library of South Australia, Adelaide (10 July 2018), and was the interviewee on an 'in-conversation' panel before an audience of over 150 at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas (13 July 2018). While in Adelaide, Dr Causer was also interviewed for a half-page article in the Adelaide Advertiser, South Australia's largest newspaper (readership of 320,000) on Bentham's views on the colonization of South Australia. |
Exploitation Route | The research term were aware before beginning work under this award that Bentham's writings on Australia had an important place in the history of criminal transportation to New South Wales, and are of enduring scholarly value in and of themselves-a value which will be explored, in the first instance, by scholars in our edited collection, Jeremy Bentham and Australia: Convicts, Utility, and Empire. This volume, we hope, will stimulate further scholarship around the texts. There is demonstrable interest in the texts, evidenced both by the attendance at Dr Causer's talks in Australia, and especially by the fact that, since preliminary versions of the texts were made available in September 2018, they have been cited in scholarship appearing in Australian Historical Studies, Historic Environment, and the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, and in books published by Palgrave Macmillan and Cambridge University Press. In addition, Dr Causer met with the group behind the bid for World Heritage Status for the Mount Lofty Ranges region in South Australia, who are interested in Bentham's 'Colonization Company Proposal' and who remain in touch with the Bentham Project. The Collected Works volume will, of course, be an enduring resource for decades to come. As we publish each volume in the edition, we have found that the scholarly interest in Bentham increases, especially is the volume deals with little known or unknown material. We have already found that the preliminary versions of the texts that will be published authoritatively Panopticon versus New South Wales and Other Writings on Australia have created a new and serious interest in Bentham's ideas, and have little doubt that this interest will increase once the full annotated texts, with a substantial Editorial Introduction, appear in print and on-line in Open Access versions. What we had less well-appreciated, but which became increasingly clear in the course of the research, is that these writings are the key to unlocking a complete understanding of the history of the conception, planning, and ultimate failure of Bentham's panopticon penitentiary scheme. The panopticon has, of course, subsequently become one of the most iconic and (in)famous symbols in the humanities and social sciences, and is of enduring widespread interest to a vast array of scholarly disciplines, as well as to the media, creative arts, and the general public. It may seem counterintuitive to suggest that the 'Letters to Lord Pelham' and 'A Plea for the Constitution', which mark the end of Bentham's decade-long attempt to persuade the government to build a panopticon, and his desperate attempt to salvage the scheme, should be of such importance in this regard. But they originated in 'A Picture of the Treasury', Bentham's remarkable, 200,000-word, semi-autobiographical account of his dealings with the government, and in fact offer something of a 'roadmap' by which to navigate the sometimes confusing and complicated timeline, as well as the minutiae, of the panopticon scheme. The next logical step, given the existing knowledge and expertise of the research team, and the detailed, contextual knowledge gathered during the course of the current award, is to seek funding for research to produce a complete, authoritative multi-volume edition of Bentham's 'Panopticon Writings', which would be of enormous and enduring scholarly value. In addition, 'Letters to Lord Pelham' are of underappreciated value in understanding Bentham's philosophy of punishment and reward and his anti-colonial views. A further long-term project-and one of equal scale to the editing of Bentham's panopticon writings-would be to produce an authoritative edition of Bentham's theory of punishment and reward, which would cement Bentham's reputation as a major philosopher of punishment. Accordingly, we will begin to prepare funding proposals to support this research. |
Sectors | Creative Economy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
URL | https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/bentham-project/2018/09/05/benthams-writings-on-australia-pre-publication-versions-now-online/ |
Description | On a visit to Adelaide in 2018, during a wider research trip, Dr Causer met with Stephanie Johnston, the Project Manager of the Mount Lofty Rangers UNESCO World Heritage application, to discuss how the production of the text of Bentham's hitherto unpublished 'Colonization Company Proposal' could add value to the application. Ms Johnston subsequently arranged meetings at which Dr Causer briefed state-level civil servants and regional and council politicians on the work of the research programme and the historical context of Bentham's engagement with Australia more generally, and Bentham's specific links to the foundation of the colony of South Australia. Dr Causer tooke part in a 'standing room only' panel on Bentham and South Australia at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas, and in advance the project's research was featured in an article in the 'Adelaide Advertiser', and Dr Causer was interviewed by ABC Radio Adelaide. |
First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
Sector | Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | 'A Picture of the Treasury': The Panopticon Penitentiary, Bureaucracy, and Autobiography in the Writings of Jeremy Bentham |
Amount | £386,262 (GBP) |
Funding ID | AH/X008274/1 |
Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2023 |
End | 12/2025 |
Title | 'Third Letter to Lord Pelham' parallel text |
Description | The draft version of the 'Third Letter to Lord Pelham' (1802-3), in Bentham's hand, and a revised fair copy of the text in the hand of Bentham's amnuensis John Herbert Koe were transcribed and prepared to create an online parallel text to indicate the differences between the two versions of the text. The two versions of the 'Third Letter' were divided into the four sections as indicated by Bentham and uploaded to Juxta Commons, a tool produced by Networked Infrastructure for Nineteenth Century Electronic Scholarship (NINES), which allows for the comparison and collation of versions of the same text. To view the parallel texts please visit the below links for their respective sections: Section 1: http://juxtacommons.org/shares/jIXm7A Section 2: http://juxtacommons.org/shares/q8dk0P Section 3: http://juxtacommons.org/shares/q8dk0P Section 4: http://juxtacommons.org/shares/FW3RwR |
Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | a |
Title | Transcriptions of relevant Bentham manuscripts |
Description | This database currently consists of corrected transcripts, in Microsoft Word format, of over 800 manuscript folios (over 1,000 individual pages) from UCL's Bentham Papers. They consist primarily of manuscripts from Box 116 of the Bentham Papers, but also relevant material from boxes 8, 81, 94, 97, 109, 117, 120, 121, 149, and 163. In addition, we also have transcripts of approximately 750 individual manuscript pages from Box 116 of the Bentham Papers which have been saved in Text-Encoding Initiative-compliant XML format, which were produced by volunteers participating in the Bentham Papers Transcription Initiative, better known as 'Transcribe Bentham' (Award ref: AH/H037233/1). These were, in the course of 'Transcribe Bentham' checked by a Bentham Project researcher. in being used for editorial purposes in this project, the XML transcripts were converted to Word format, and checked again and corrected by the General Editor of the 'Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham'. As is the customary practice of the Bentham Project, these transcripts will be made available to scholars and researchers who required them. They will also ultimately be added to UCL Library's Bentham Papers digital repository. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The transcripts have allowed us to establish the text of three of Bentham's hitherto unpublished works, namely: (1) the 'New Wales' fragments, written during early 1791; (2) the 'Third Letter to Lord Pelham', written during early 1803; and (3) 'Colonization Company Proposal', written during 1831. The transcripts will, in the course of the research programme, where possible be compared against the versions of the 'First and Second Letters to Lord Pelham' and 'A Plea for the Constitution' which Bentham had printed, but not published, in his lifetime, to establish what he chose to leave out of his final text. The transcripts will also be used to establish the 'history' of the texts for the editorial introduction to the forthcoming volume of the 'Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham' entitled 'Writings on Australia', and in interpretive scholarship. |
URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/digital-collections/collections/bentham |
Description | Collaboration with the 'An Australian historical criminal justice data repository' |
Organisation | Australian National University (ANU) |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Tim Causer provided research data, in the form of content from his Norfolk Island convict database, and material from Bentham's writings on Australia. |
Collaborator Contribution | This project aims to make available through a national data repository a large range of historical datasets that will be used by Australian and international researchers to address for the first time with multi-jurisdictional and long-scale longitudinal data the fundamental questions of criminal justice history. The project will be developed in consultation with the research community including Professor Mark Finnane (Griffith University); Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart (UTAS); Dr Alana Piper (UTS); Dr Andy Kaladelfos (UNSW); Professor Amanda Nettelbeck (UAdelaide); Associate Professor David Roberts (UNE); Professor Barry Godfrey (University of Liverpool); Dr Tim Causer (UCL); Professor David Barrie (UWA); Dr Matt Allen (UNE); Dr Lisa Durnian (QUT); Dr Robyn Blewer (Griffith); Dr Yorick Smaal (Griffith); Associate Professor Lisa Featherstone (UQ). |
Impact | https://dataverse.ada.edu.au/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.26193/RR82PE |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'An Australian historical criminal justice data repository' |
Organisation | Griffith University |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Tim Causer provided research data, in the form of content from his Norfolk Island convict database, and material from Bentham's writings on Australia. |
Collaborator Contribution | This project aims to make available through a national data repository a large range of historical datasets that will be used by Australian and international researchers to address for the first time with multi-jurisdictional and long-scale longitudinal data the fundamental questions of criminal justice history. The project will be developed in consultation with the research community including Professor Mark Finnane (Griffith University); Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart (UTAS); Dr Alana Piper (UTS); Dr Andy Kaladelfos (UNSW); Professor Amanda Nettelbeck (UAdelaide); Associate Professor David Roberts (UNE); Professor Barry Godfrey (University of Liverpool); Dr Tim Causer (UCL); Professor David Barrie (UWA); Dr Matt Allen (UNE); Dr Lisa Durnian (QUT); Dr Robyn Blewer (Griffith); Dr Yorick Smaal (Griffith); Associate Professor Lisa Featherstone (UQ). |
Impact | https://dataverse.ada.edu.au/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.26193/RR82PE |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'An Australian historical criminal justice data repository' |
Organisation | Queensland University of Technology (QUT) |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Tim Causer provided research data, in the form of content from his Norfolk Island convict database, and material from Bentham's writings on Australia. |
Collaborator Contribution | This project aims to make available through a national data repository a large range of historical datasets that will be used by Australian and international researchers to address for the first time with multi-jurisdictional and long-scale longitudinal data the fundamental questions of criminal justice history. The project will be developed in consultation with the research community including Professor Mark Finnane (Griffith University); Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart (UTAS); Dr Alana Piper (UTS); Dr Andy Kaladelfos (UNSW); Professor Amanda Nettelbeck (UAdelaide); Associate Professor David Roberts (UNE); Professor Barry Godfrey (University of Liverpool); Dr Tim Causer (UCL); Professor David Barrie (UWA); Dr Matt Allen (UNE); Dr Lisa Durnian (QUT); Dr Robyn Blewer (Griffith); Dr Yorick Smaal (Griffith); Associate Professor Lisa Featherstone (UQ). |
Impact | https://dataverse.ada.edu.au/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.26193/RR82PE |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'An Australian historical criminal justice data repository' |
Organisation | University of Adelaide |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Tim Causer provided research data, in the form of content from his Norfolk Island convict database, and material from Bentham's writings on Australia. |
Collaborator Contribution | This project aims to make available through a national data repository a large range of historical datasets that will be used by Australian and international researchers to address for the first time with multi-jurisdictional and long-scale longitudinal data the fundamental questions of criminal justice history. The project will be developed in consultation with the research community including Professor Mark Finnane (Griffith University); Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart (UTAS); Dr Alana Piper (UTS); Dr Andy Kaladelfos (UNSW); Professor Amanda Nettelbeck (UAdelaide); Associate Professor David Roberts (UNE); Professor Barry Godfrey (University of Liverpool); Dr Tim Causer (UCL); Professor David Barrie (UWA); Dr Matt Allen (UNE); Dr Lisa Durnian (QUT); Dr Robyn Blewer (Griffith); Dr Yorick Smaal (Griffith); Associate Professor Lisa Featherstone (UQ). |
Impact | https://dataverse.ada.edu.au/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.26193/RR82PE |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'An Australian historical criminal justice data repository' |
Organisation | University of Liverpool |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Tim Causer provided research data, in the form of content from his Norfolk Island convict database, and material from Bentham's writings on Australia. |
Collaborator Contribution | This project aims to make available through a national data repository a large range of historical datasets that will be used by Australian and international researchers to address for the first time with multi-jurisdictional and long-scale longitudinal data the fundamental questions of criminal justice history. The project will be developed in consultation with the research community including Professor Mark Finnane (Griffith University); Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart (UTAS); Dr Alana Piper (UTS); Dr Andy Kaladelfos (UNSW); Professor Amanda Nettelbeck (UAdelaide); Associate Professor David Roberts (UNE); Professor Barry Godfrey (University of Liverpool); Dr Tim Causer (UCL); Professor David Barrie (UWA); Dr Matt Allen (UNE); Dr Lisa Durnian (QUT); Dr Robyn Blewer (Griffith); Dr Yorick Smaal (Griffith); Associate Professor Lisa Featherstone (UQ). |
Impact | https://dataverse.ada.edu.au/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.26193/RR82PE |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'An Australian historical criminal justice data repository' |
Organisation | University of New England |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Tim Causer provided research data, in the form of content from his Norfolk Island convict database, and material from Bentham's writings on Australia. |
Collaborator Contribution | This project aims to make available through a national data repository a large range of historical datasets that will be used by Australian and international researchers to address for the first time with multi-jurisdictional and long-scale longitudinal data the fundamental questions of criminal justice history. The project will be developed in consultation with the research community including Professor Mark Finnane (Griffith University); Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart (UTAS); Dr Alana Piper (UTS); Dr Andy Kaladelfos (UNSW); Professor Amanda Nettelbeck (UAdelaide); Associate Professor David Roberts (UNE); Professor Barry Godfrey (University of Liverpool); Dr Tim Causer (UCL); Professor David Barrie (UWA); Dr Matt Allen (UNE); Dr Lisa Durnian (QUT); Dr Robyn Blewer (Griffith); Dr Yorick Smaal (Griffith); Associate Professor Lisa Featherstone (UQ). |
Impact | https://dataverse.ada.edu.au/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.26193/RR82PE |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'An Australian historical criminal justice data repository' |
Organisation | University of New South Wales |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Tim Causer provided research data, in the form of content from his Norfolk Island convict database, and material from Bentham's writings on Australia. |
Collaborator Contribution | This project aims to make available through a national data repository a large range of historical datasets that will be used by Australian and international researchers to address for the first time with multi-jurisdictional and long-scale longitudinal data the fundamental questions of criminal justice history. The project will be developed in consultation with the research community including Professor Mark Finnane (Griffith University); Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart (UTAS); Dr Alana Piper (UTS); Dr Andy Kaladelfos (UNSW); Professor Amanda Nettelbeck (UAdelaide); Associate Professor David Roberts (UNE); Professor Barry Godfrey (University of Liverpool); Dr Tim Causer (UCL); Professor David Barrie (UWA); Dr Matt Allen (UNE); Dr Lisa Durnian (QUT); Dr Robyn Blewer (Griffith); Dr Yorick Smaal (Griffith); Associate Professor Lisa Featherstone (UQ). |
Impact | https://dataverse.ada.edu.au/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.26193/RR82PE |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'An Australian historical criminal justice data repository' |
Organisation | University of Queensland |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Tim Causer provided research data, in the form of content from his Norfolk Island convict database, and material from Bentham's writings on Australia. |
Collaborator Contribution | This project aims to make available through a national data repository a large range of historical datasets that will be used by Australian and international researchers to address for the first time with multi-jurisdictional and long-scale longitudinal data the fundamental questions of criminal justice history. The project will be developed in consultation with the research community including Professor Mark Finnane (Griffith University); Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart (UTAS); Dr Alana Piper (UTS); Dr Andy Kaladelfos (UNSW); Professor Amanda Nettelbeck (UAdelaide); Associate Professor David Roberts (UNE); Professor Barry Godfrey (University of Liverpool); Dr Tim Causer (UCL); Professor David Barrie (UWA); Dr Matt Allen (UNE); Dr Lisa Durnian (QUT); Dr Robyn Blewer (Griffith); Dr Yorick Smaal (Griffith); Associate Professor Lisa Featherstone (UQ). |
Impact | https://dataverse.ada.edu.au/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.26193/RR82PE |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'An Australian historical criminal justice data repository' |
Organisation | University of Tasmania |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Tim Causer provided research data, in the form of content from his Norfolk Island convict database, and material from Bentham's writings on Australia. |
Collaborator Contribution | This project aims to make available through a national data repository a large range of historical datasets that will be used by Australian and international researchers to address for the first time with multi-jurisdictional and long-scale longitudinal data the fundamental questions of criminal justice history. The project will be developed in consultation with the research community including Professor Mark Finnane (Griffith University); Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart (UTAS); Dr Alana Piper (UTS); Dr Andy Kaladelfos (UNSW); Professor Amanda Nettelbeck (UAdelaide); Associate Professor David Roberts (UNE); Professor Barry Godfrey (University of Liverpool); Dr Tim Causer (UCL); Professor David Barrie (UWA); Dr Matt Allen (UNE); Dr Lisa Durnian (QUT); Dr Robyn Blewer (Griffith); Dr Yorick Smaal (Griffith); Associate Professor Lisa Featherstone (UQ). |
Impact | https://dataverse.ada.edu.au/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.26193/RR82PE |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'An Australian historical criminal justice data repository' |
Organisation | University of Technology Sydney |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Tim Causer provided research data, in the form of content from his Norfolk Island convict database, and material from Bentham's writings on Australia. |
Collaborator Contribution | This project aims to make available through a national data repository a large range of historical datasets that will be used by Australian and international researchers to address for the first time with multi-jurisdictional and long-scale longitudinal data the fundamental questions of criminal justice history. The project will be developed in consultation with the research community including Professor Mark Finnane (Griffith University); Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart (UTAS); Dr Alana Piper (UTS); Dr Andy Kaladelfos (UNSW); Professor Amanda Nettelbeck (UAdelaide); Associate Professor David Roberts (UNE); Professor Barry Godfrey (University of Liverpool); Dr Tim Causer (UCL); Professor David Barrie (UWA); Dr Matt Allen (UNE); Dr Lisa Durnian (QUT); Dr Robyn Blewer (Griffith); Dr Yorick Smaal (Griffith); Associate Professor Lisa Featherstone (UQ). |
Impact | https://dataverse.ada.edu.au/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.26193/RR82PE |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'An Australian historical criminal justice data repository' |
Organisation | University of Western Australia |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Tim Causer provided research data, in the form of content from his Norfolk Island convict database, and material from Bentham's writings on Australia. |
Collaborator Contribution | This project aims to make available through a national data repository a large range of historical datasets that will be used by Australian and international researchers to address for the first time with multi-jurisdictional and long-scale longitudinal data the fundamental questions of criminal justice history. The project will be developed in consultation with the research community including Professor Mark Finnane (Griffith University); Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart (UTAS); Dr Alana Piper (UTS); Dr Andy Kaladelfos (UNSW); Professor Amanda Nettelbeck (UAdelaide); Associate Professor David Roberts (UNE); Professor Barry Godfrey (University of Liverpool); Dr Tim Causer (UCL); Professor David Barrie (UWA); Dr Matt Allen (UNE); Dr Lisa Durnian (QUT); Dr Robyn Blewer (Griffith); Dr Yorick Smaal (Griffith); Associate Professor Lisa Featherstone (UQ). |
Impact | https://dataverse.ada.edu.au/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.26193/RR82PE |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'Conviction Politics' project |
Organisation | Australian Catholic University |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Causer has collaborated with the 'Conviction Politics: A digital investigation of the convict routes of Australian democracy' project, an international digital history project funded by the Australian Research Council, and involving university researchers in Australia, the UK, and Ireland, as well as a range of museums and trades unions. The project explores the impact of radicals and rebels transported as political prisoners to Australia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Dr Causer has recorded videos which will appear on the project's 'transmedia hub' (https://convictionpolitics.web.app) discussing Bentham's views on criminal transportation, as well as his research on the Norfolk Island penal station, took part in a project workshop held at the Trades Union Congress on 8 June 2022, and was part of a panel discussion on the project at the Menzies Australia Institute, King's College London, on 13 July 2022. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partner institutions run the project, created the transmedia hub, and published research based on the project. |
Impact | Videos featuring Dr Causer will appear on the project hub in due course. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'Conviction Politics' project |
Organisation | Griffith University |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Causer has collaborated with the 'Conviction Politics: A digital investigation of the convict routes of Australian democracy' project, an international digital history project funded by the Australian Research Council, and involving university researchers in Australia, the UK, and Ireland, as well as a range of museums and trades unions. The project explores the impact of radicals and rebels transported as political prisoners to Australia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Dr Causer has recorded videos which will appear on the project's 'transmedia hub' (https://convictionpolitics.web.app) discussing Bentham's views on criminal transportation, as well as his research on the Norfolk Island penal station, took part in a project workshop held at the Trades Union Congress on 8 June 2022, and was part of a panel discussion on the project at the Menzies Australia Institute, King's College London, on 13 July 2022. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partner institutions run the project, created the transmedia hub, and published research based on the project. |
Impact | Videos featuring Dr Causer will appear on the project hub in due course. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'Conviction Politics' project |
Organisation | Monash University |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Causer has collaborated with the 'Conviction Politics: A digital investigation of the convict routes of Australian democracy' project, an international digital history project funded by the Australian Research Council, and involving university researchers in Australia, the UK, and Ireland, as well as a range of museums and trades unions. The project explores the impact of radicals and rebels transported as political prisoners to Australia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Dr Causer has recorded videos which will appear on the project's 'transmedia hub' (https://convictionpolitics.web.app) discussing Bentham's views on criminal transportation, as well as his research on the Norfolk Island penal station, took part in a project workshop held at the Trades Union Congress on 8 June 2022, and was part of a panel discussion on the project at the Menzies Australia Institute, King's College London, on 13 July 2022. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partner institutions run the project, created the transmedia hub, and published research based on the project. |
Impact | Videos featuring Dr Causer will appear on the project hub in due course. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'Conviction Politics' project |
Organisation | University of New England |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Causer has collaborated with the 'Conviction Politics: A digital investigation of the convict routes of Australian democracy' project, an international digital history project funded by the Australian Research Council, and involving university researchers in Australia, the UK, and Ireland, as well as a range of museums and trades unions. The project explores the impact of radicals and rebels transported as political prisoners to Australia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Dr Causer has recorded videos which will appear on the project's 'transmedia hub' (https://convictionpolitics.web.app) discussing Bentham's views on criminal transportation, as well as his research on the Norfolk Island penal station, took part in a project workshop held at the Trades Union Congress on 8 June 2022, and was part of a panel discussion on the project at the Menzies Australia Institute, King's College London, on 13 July 2022. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partner institutions run the project, created the transmedia hub, and published research based on the project. |
Impact | Videos featuring Dr Causer will appear on the project hub in due course. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Collaboration with the 'Conviction Politics' project |
Organisation | University of New South Wales |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Causer has collaborated with the 'Conviction Politics: A digital investigation of the convict routes of Australian democracy' project, an international digital history project funded by the Australian Research Council, and involving university researchers in Australia, the UK, and Ireland, as well as a range of museums and trades unions. The project explores the impact of radicals and rebels transported as political prisoners to Australia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Dr Causer has recorded videos which will appear on the project's 'transmedia hub' (https://convictionpolitics.web.app) discussing Bentham's views on criminal transportation, as well as his research on the Norfolk Island penal station, took part in a project workshop held at the Trades Union Congress on 8 June 2022, and was part of a panel discussion on the project at the Menzies Australia Institute, King's College London, on 13 July 2022. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partner institutions run the project, created the transmedia hub, and published research based on the project. |
Impact | Videos featuring Dr Causer will appear on the project hub in due course. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | A Wake for Jeremy Bentham |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr Tim Causer gave one of the 'toasts' to Bentham at this public event, organised by UCL Museums, which sought to explore how we grieve and celebrate a person's life at the point of their death. The event was part of the public programme around the exhibition 'What Does it Mean to be Human? Curating Heads at UCL'. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/whats-on/wake-jeremy-bentham |
Description | Article about 'Memorandoms by James Martin' in 'Portico', UCL's annual alumni magazine |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A full-page feature article on Dr Causer's edition of 'Memorandoms by James Martin' was published in the 2018 edition of UCL's alumni magazine, intended to showcase research being carried out at UCL, and items held in UCL's Special Collections. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Fake News: The Heads of Jeremy Bentham and Flinders Petrie |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A public talk, featuring Dr Causer, at the 'What Does it Mean to be Human? Curating Heads at UCL' exhibition, exploring and exploding the myths surrounding the heads of Jeremy Bentham and William Matthew Flinders Petrie. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/events/fake-news-heads-jeremy-bentham-and-flinders-petrie |
Description | Interviewed for Czech national radio |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr Tim Causer was interviewed about Bentham's life and death for Czech national radio. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://radiozurnal.rozhlas.cz/je-180-let-po-smrti-a-jeho-hlava-vypada-jako-rekvizita-z-hororu-i-pre... |
Description | Interviewed for an article in the 'Adelaide Advertiser', published on 11 July 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr Tim Causer was interviewed for a half-page article, published in the 'Adelaide Advertiser' (South Australia's most-read newspaper) on 11 July, about Bentham's influence on the foundation of the modern state of South Australia. The article also acted as publicity for Bentham's 'Writings on Australia' more generally. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/scholars-are-unravelling-a-historic-document-whi... |
Description | Interviewed in for 'Mental Floss' culture website |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr Tim Causer was interviewed about Bentham's life and death for the 'Mental Floss' culture website, and in regard to Bentham's auto-icon travelling to the United States to be featured in major exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://mentalfloss.com/article/535814/jeremy-benthams-bones-how-dead-philosopher-got-be-display-new-... |
Description | Interviewed on ABC Adelaide radio, 12 July 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr Tim Causer was interviewed on ABC Adelaide Radio's 'Afternoon's with Spence Denny' programme, in regard to Bentham's influence on the foundation of the modern state of South Australia. The interview also acted as publicity for Bentham's 'Writings on Australia' more generally. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Lost Skills: Will Writing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A workshop on will writing: Dr Causer gave a presentation on the wills made by Jeremy Bentham, followed by a presentation from a professional will drafter. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Newspaper article: Colonial Amnesia: The Forgotten Victims of Transportation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr Causer was interviewed for and quoted in 'Colonial Amnesia: The Forgotten Victims of Transportation', an article by Katharine Quarmby, published in the Byline Times on 11 November 2021. The article discussed the legacies and knowledge of criminal transportation in Britain. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://bylinetimes.com/2021/11/11/colonial-amnesia-the-forgotten-victims-of-transportation/ |
Description | Public talks at Jeremy Bentham's auto-icon |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr Causer regularly gives talks about Bentham's life and thought in front of his auto-icon (i.e. his preserved body, which is on permanent display at UCL) to groups and visitors from around the work. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017,2018 |
Description | Review of 'Memorandoms by James Martin' in 'The Weekend Australian' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A full-page review of Dr Causer's edition of 'Memorandoms by James Martin' was published in Australia's only national newspaper, the 6-7 January 2018 edition of 'The Weekend Australian'. The newspaper has a circulation of approximately 220,000, and the review has led to an increase in the number of downloads of the open-access version of the book. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/memorandoms-by-james-martin-an-astonishing-escape-from-... |
Description | Review of 'Memorandoms by James Martin' in the 'Australian Book Review' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A review of Dr Causer's edition of 'Memorandoms by James Martin' was published in the December 2017 issue of the 'Australian Book Review', which has a readership of over 50,000. The publication of the review led to an increase in the number of downloads of the open-access edition of the book. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/current-issue/4504-james-dunk-reviews-memorandoms... |
Description | The Admiral Arthur Phillip Memorial Address |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr Causer was invited to give the address at this year's Admiral Arthur Phillip Memorial Service, organised by the Arthur Phillip Memorial Trust and the Britain-Australia Society's educational trust, which took place on 24 January 2022 at St Mary-le-Bow church, City of London. The audience rincluded Ms Julie Heckscher, the Deputy High Commissioner of Australia to the United Kingdom. Previous deliverers of the address include: Sir Roger Carrick, former British High Commissioner to Australia; Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke, former British High Commissioner to Australia; Sir Michael Savory, former Lord Mayor of the City of London; Professor Carl Bridge, King's College London; and Professor Barry Godfrey, University of Liverpool. In his address, Dr Causer drew upon his co-editing of the philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham's hugely influential writings on criminal transportation and New South Wales. He will note the coincidence and contrasts of Phillip and Bentham's respective backgrounds: the former having been born in humble circumstances ten years before, and barely a fifteen-minute walk away in east London from Bentham, who was born to a well-to-do middle class family and who went on to become the first major critic of New South Wales. Dr Causer then went on to talk about Bentham's powerful objections to transportation, why he was motivated to compare New South Wales with his panopticon penitentiary scheme, as well as Bentham's use of evidence in seeking to condemn the penal colony. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.breadstreetwardclub.org/admiralarthurphillip.html |