Book launch: Pious and Promiscuous: Life, love and family in Presbyterian Ulster

Join us to celebrate the launch of Pious and promiscuous: life, love and family in Presbyterian Ulster by Leanne Calvert. 

The book will be launched by William Crawley MRIA, followed by a talk by author Leanne Calvert and a reception. The book will be available to buy on the night. 

The launch will take place in Assembly Buildings, in partnership with the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland. 

Step into the intimate worlds of Presbyterian women and men who lived, loved and laboured in long-eighteenth-century Ulster. Drawing on letters, diaries, newspapers and church court records, this book reveals the personal moments that shaped the rhythms and rituals of Presbyterian family life. From anxious parents and lovesick courting couples to rebellious youths, unfaithful spouses and grieving widows, these stories bring to life the full range of human experience. Pious and Promiscuous offers a vivid and previously unseen glimpse into how ordinary people navigated life’s most significant milestones as members of a closely knit religious community. Their stories may make you laugh, gasp or even shed a tear, as you encounter the colourful – and oftentimes messy – lives of Ulster’s Presbyterians.

Leanne Calvert is a historian specialising in the Irish family. Her research focuses on family, gender and sexuality in Ireland and North America during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. She has published extensively on Irish family life, with a particular emphasis on Presbyterian sources. Leanne has held positions at Queen’s University, Belfast, Ulster University and the University of Hertfordshire. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Irish History at the University of Limerick, where she also directs the MA History of Family programme.

The publication of this book has been made possible by the generous support of Laura Houghton Hunter, through the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland as part of the R.J. Hunter Grants Scheme.

Queries

If you have queries relating to this event, contact our Publications department by email: publications@ria.ie

Access requirements

When you enter the building from Fisherwik Place, go through the door on your left into the Assembly Buildings conference centre. The event will take place in the board room and concourse area on the first floor - the floor is accessible by lift or stairs.

You are welcome to visit the exhibition on the ground floor before or after the event.