2025 Autumn Lecture/Film Tour

Join me at one of several exciting events during my  Autumn 2025 Lecture/Film Tour in Cornwall and Mexico

This autumn, I am embarking on several Cornish mining migration lectures in Redruth, Madron and St Ives which are the result of thirty-plus years of research.  I will also be returning to Mexico to show my latest documentary film, The Great Trek of the Transport Party, 1825-26: A Tale of Tragedy and Triumph, in advance of next year’s important bicentenary of the dawn of the Industrial Revolution at the Mineral of Real del Monte-Pachuca.

© Dr Sharron P. Schwartz

I will kick off my lecture tour by giving an illustrated talk, short film and Q&A at Redruth’s International Pasty Festival on Saturday 20th of September at 2.00pm at the Redruth Wesleyan Chapel, entitled Redruth’s Great Mining Migration and its Enduring Global Links. As a Redruth girl, I am delighted to share some of the stories of migration from the parish and district, drawn from my own family history, extensive historical research and my travels on six continents. Were your ancestors Redruth Cousin Jacks or Jennies? Why not come along and share your stories?

On the 2nd of October at 7.15pm, I will be giving a talk at Madron Local Historical Group entitled, Cornish Mineworkers in Latin America: Community and Cultural Heritage. After an overview of the when, why and how of Cornish migration to Latin America and the histories of a selection of the main communities, we will dig deeper to reveal some migrant stories from the Madron district. Come along to find out more about the links between Peru and a Penzance pub and discover who was probably the first Cornishwoman to cross the Atacama Desert up to the Bolivian Altiplano on a mule….

You are invited to Carbis Bay on Monday 6th of October at 7.00pm where I will be giving the first ever illustrated talk about my favourite Cornish mining captain and migrant, the redoubtable and fascinating John Penberthy of Halsetown, to the St Ives Old Cornwall Society. Entitled Captain John Penberthy F.R.G.S., M.E. (1839-1914): The Man Behind the Mask, the venue for the talk is very apt, as John’s parents were from Lelant parish (Boskerris and Chyangweal) and John began and ended his mining career at Providence Mines. Penberthy grew up with his cousin, the great tragedian actor, Sir Henry Irving, the first man to be knighted for his services to the stage, and there were stunning parallels in the characters of the two men. Join me, as I draw on 30 years of research to sketch out Penberthy’s remarkable professional life, primarily in the Spanish Americas, and delve into his complicated and sensational personal life to reveal the man behind the mask.

I then leave for Mexico where I am both honoured and delighted to have been invited to show my latest hour-long documentary film, The Great Trek of the Transport Party, 1825-26: A Tale of Tragedy and Triumph (with Spanish subtitles), at Real del Monte’s 17th International Paste Festival, by El Consejo Regulador del Patrimonio Cultural Real del Monte-Cornwall (COREPAC). The festival runs from Friday 10th October until Sunday 12th, and the official programme will be released soon. I plan to hand over the Cornish national tartan cloth purchased by donations under the aegis of the Great Trelawney Hug to the St Piran’s Pipe and Drum Band during the festival.

The film will also be shown at the invitation of the British Society, Mexico, at the Cactus Club of the British Embassy in Mexico City on Monday 13th October at 7,00pm. You must register and bring ID with you. This free to attend event at a super venue is a fabulous opportunity to meet other people interested in this fascinating chapter of Britain’s early relations with the newly independent Mexico. Follow the British Society Mexico and Cousin Jack’s World for forthcoming details.

I very much hope that this documentary film generates significant interest in celebrating next year’s important bicentenary of the dawn of the Industrial Revolution at the Mineral of Real del Monte-Pachuca, when the first steam engines brought from Britain arrived there on the 1st of May and the first engine was started at the Mina Moran on 12 August. 

Drawing on archival materials in Mexico, the USA and the UK, and utilising data from historic newspapers and contemporary travelogues on both sides of the Atlantic, I will tell this truly epic story in full for the first time in my new book, due to be published next year in conjunction with the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site to mark this important bicentenary and the 20th anniversary of their addition to the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage list.

Watch the trailer of the film on YouTube:

Autumn 2025 Lecture/Film Tour