British Philhellenism: Home

By bringing together an interdisciplinary team of historians, archivists and IT experts, this project aims at shedding new light on the relationship between Philhellenism and the Greek Revolution of 1821, with a focus on Great Britain and on previously unpublished archives held at the BSA and the National Library of Greece (NLG). Carried out at the BSA, in collaboration with the NLG, and with generous support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), the project has two overlapping goals. The one is to create a digital archive that will go live in stages between 2023 and 2024 containing original items from the Papers of Scottish volunteer and historian George Finlay (1799-1875), and the Papers of Captain Frank Abney Hastings (1794-1828); both together form the Finlay collection held at the BSA. The second goal of the project is to produce new knowledge on Philhellenism that will enhance our understanding of its nature and its contribution to the Greek Revolution of 1821. This will draw on an in-depth study of the Finlay collection together with the Papers of the London Greek Committee (1823-1828) held by the National Library of Greece; as well as collaborative work by many scholars on the broader topic.

Upcoming highlights include:

• The international conference Philhellenism and the Greek Revolution of 1821: Towards a Global History, that the BSA organised from 15 to 17 March 2023, in collaboration with the NLG at the latter’s premises in the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC),
• An edited volume that will be published (in print and electronically) in the BSA series Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies, published by Routledge,
• A series of smaller outputs and events – blog posts, talks, workshops, seminars – updates and information on which you will be able to find here.