Following the success of the Trollope Society’s Cambridge conference, Trollope: The Law & Transgression, held at Magdalene College in March 2026, we are delighted to announce a new online speaker series bringing many of the conference’s presentations to a wider audience.

Running from July 2026 to May 2027, the series will explore the many ways in which Anthony Trollope’s novels engage with questions of law, morality, justice, religion, gender, inheritance, social convention and human failings. The talks bring together academics, lawyers, novelists and lifelong Trollope readers, offering fresh perspectives on some of the most compelling themes in Trollope’s fiction.

All talks will take place on Zoom at 8.00pm (UK time). Attendance is free, and members and non-members alike are welcome. Participants need register only once and may then attend as many or as few talks as they wish.

The series opens on 9 July 2026 with Dr Hazel Vosper, whose talk, Presence and Absence: Transgressive Trustees and Anthony Trollope, examines a curious feature of Trollope’s fiction: although trusts and trustees play an important role in many of the novels, trustees themselves rarely take centre stage. Drawing on Victorian legal and social history, Dr Vosper explores what that absence reveals about Trollope’s narrative priorities.

On 13 August 2026, Dr Mark Rigg considers The Warden in Justifying Septimus Harding: Ecclesiology and Law in The Warden. His talk explores the tensions between law, morality and church authority at the heart of Trollope’s first Barsetshire novel and offers new insights into the contrasting world views of Septimus Harding and Archdeacon Grantly.

Professor Deborah Denenholz Morse joins us on 10 September 2026 for Law, Transgression, and Gender Prejudice in Anthony Trollope’s Cousin Henry. Her talk examines how Trollope uses the troubled figure of Henry Jones to explore questions of morality, inheritance and gender expectations, while challenging readers’ assumptions about sympathy and judgement.

On 8 October 2026, Professor Gary Watt presents Trollope and the Equitable Judgment of Human Failings. Drawing on both legal scholarship and Trollope’s fiction, he explores the concept of equity and argues that Trollope consistently encourages readers to temper strict judgement with mercy, understanding and compassion.

The series resumes after Christmas on 14 January 2027, when Gilly Wilford discusses Unexpected Interventions: The Deus ex Machina in Court. From Mr Toogood and Mr Bagwax to Madame Max Goesler, Trollope’s novels frequently feature unlikely rescuers who emerge at crucial moments to secure justice. This talk examines how such interventions shape some of his most memorable legal plots.

On 11 March 2027, novelist and critic Dr Tom Crewe asks a deceptively simple question: How Bad is John Caldigate?Through a close examination of one of Trollope’s most fascinating and controversial protagonists, Dr Crewe explores the intersections of morality, reputation, belief and legal judgement in one of Trollope’s greatest later novels.

The penultimate lecture, on 8 April 2027, sees Dr Frederik Van Dam explore Phineas Redux in ‘Some gross insufficiency in the laws of extradition’: Anthony Trollope’s Phineas Redux and International Law. The talk places Trollope’s political fiction within the wider context of Victorian international law and examines how ideas about extradition, asylum and justice influence the novel.

The series concludes on 13 May 2027 with Professor Linda McClain and Claire Laporte, President of the Trollope Society USA, in conversation. Their talk, A Taxonomy of Transgression in Anthony Trollope’s Novels, examines the many forms of wrongdoing, moral failure and social rule-breaking that appear across Trollope’s fiction, and considers what the outcomes of these stories reveal about his ethical vision.

Whether you attended the Cambridge conference or were unable to join us there, this series offers an opportunity to engage with outstanding speakers and to explore Anthony Trollope’s work from fresh and stimulating perspectives.

Click here to register on Zoom to attend Trollope: The Law & Transgression Conference Series

We will send you an email with instructions on how to join. Using Zoom is easy, just click on the link in the email and follow the instructions. Please note that you will not be able to join the meeting until 8.00pm (UK time) on the day.