2026 Annual Library Lecture: The Enlightened Mr Parkinson

Dr Cherry Lewis delivers Exeter Cathedral's 2026 Annual Library Lecture on James Parkinson, the apothecary who first identified Parkinson's disease.

The 2026 Annual Library Lecture explores the life of James Parkinson (1755–1824), the apothecary who first identified Parkinson's disease. Dr Cherry Lewis, a geologist and historian of science at the University of Bristol, will describe his radical politics, his involvement in a plot against King George III, and his celebrated illustrated fossil works that earned the Royal College of Surgeons' first gold medal. Refreshments are served from 7pm with the lecture starting at 7:30pm, and a first edition of Parkinson's essay on the shaking palsy, bequeathed to the Cathedral Library in 2025, will be on display. Copies of Lewis's book The Enlightened Mr Parkinson will be on sale after the lecture.