Riots, Rogues and Rebellions

The 2023 exhibition Riots, Rogues and Rebellions will document the ways that the Egham community has been at the forefront of activism. Most notably, Royal Holloway was a famous centre for the Suffragette movement since it was, at the time, a women’s college. However, rebellion in Runnymede is a long standing tradition. Boudica’s final revolt in 61 AD is believed to have taken place in modern day Virginia Water, the barons sealed the Magna Carta in 1215 and in more recent years we have seen the more peaceful Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Extinction Rebellion protests making headlines.

The upcoming exhibition offers an exciting opportunity to examine diverse forms of opposition alongside each other, give a platform to lesser-known developments such as the Thorpe War, and ask some of these important, if uncomfortable questions. It will explore how context and response to civil unrest changes perceptions of them and ‘others’ them. The poet John Gower’s depiction of rebels in 1381 as ‘savage wolves and bears’ or Eric Trump’s characterisation of BLM protestors as ‘feral animals’. This exhibition will instead piece together the stories of the real people behind Egham’s past rebellions and look to explore their causes, aims and outcomes.