Acknowledgement of Francesca Blanch-Serrat
Francesca Blanch-Serrat is acknowledged for her contribution to Anna Seward’s Blue Plaque
Dr. Francesca Blanch-Serrat, a postdoctoral researcher in the department and the ERC Project WINK, was consulted on Anna Seward’s blue plaque. A blue plaque is a recognized symbol of British heritage that honours those who made important contributions to British local and national history. The scholar, whose doctoral thesis focused on Anna Seward’s later life writings, assisted Joanne Wilson and Kimberley Biddle, past and present curators of the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum, where Dr. Blanch-Serrat was a visiting researcher in 2019.
On March 8th, International Women’s Day, Cllr Ann Hughes, Mayor of Lichfield (Staffordshire, United Kingdom), unveiled Seward’s plaque and thanked Dr. Blanch-Serrat for her contributions. Seward (1742-1809) was a poet, literary critic, and intellectual who attained fame and critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic with her poems "Elegy on Captain Cook" (1780) and "Monody on Major André" (1781).