9 November 2023 will mark the 400th anniversary of the death of the Elizabethan scholar William Camden. Many years after he died, Camden House, built on his former property at Chislehurst, was bought and renamed by the lawyer Charles Pratt, soon to be made Chief Justice. When he was ennobled in 1765, Pratt took as his title ‘Baron Camden of Camden Place’. He would later begin the development of our own Camden Town.   

This Zoom event marks both William Camden’s quatercentenary and the launch of a new online resource, accessible on the CHS website, which traces the spread across the world of Camden as a place name. Up to fifty places in the USA and Canada – and across the globe from Alaska to New Zealand and Tierra del Fuego – derive their names from either Earl Camden (as Pratt later became), or his son John Jeffreys Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden. 

David Hayes will explain the chain of Camden place namings, and take you on a whistlestop world tour. Then, Angela Hatton, tour guide at Camden Place, Chislehurst, will tell us about the spot where the naming chain began. Finally, Joan Inabinet (a historian and board member of the Kershaw County Historical Society) will talk about Camden, South Carolina. This was the first town in the world to be blessed with the Camden name. In 1780, during the American Revolution, the Battle of Camden was fought here.    

The unusually late start is so that our counterparts from Camden Historical Society, New South Wales can attend at a reasonable time. For those in the UK not wanting to stay up late, the event will be recorded and posted on YouTube.   

This zoom talk was recorded and is available on https://youtu.be/gQvG735YiUM