History - Research
There is a strong research culture in History at The University of Northampton. This is reflected in the strong publication record of individual members of staff, the growing number of PhD students, and an environment that encourages innovative research across the Division.
At the Research Assessment Exercise 2008, 85% of the Division's research was recognised as being of international quality, with 40% being 'internationally excellent' or 'world leading'. This confirms the high standard of our research and its impact on the wider history community.
All staff members are research active, with a strong commitment to publishing their work and linking research to teaching activities both within the University and via involvement in community-orientated Public History. We have enjoyed considerable success in winning research grants from bodies such as the AHRC, The Wellcome Trust and The Leverhulme Trust.
Research interests are wide-ranging, but centre on two main areas. One focuses on that on on international, diplomatic and military history in the twentieth century. The other is more diverse, encompassing a range of topics in social and cultural history, but the interests of a number of staff are reflected in the Eighteenth-Century Research Group.
We also have a growing number of PhD students and are happy to discuss PhD supervision of a wide variety of topics.
Recent research highlights
St Andrew's records project
Dr Catherine Smith has recently undertaken research funded by the Wellcome Trust into the admissions processes of St Andrew's Hospital and experiences of patients once admitted. The project focuses firstly on the letters from families who had a family member placed at St Andrew's during the period between 1850 and 1876. Of particular interest is what these letters tell us about the ways in which charitable support was raised for the cost of treatment. But the letters also provide fascinating details on the financial and emotional drain that mental ill health had on some families. The second part of the project examines what happened to patients once they came out of the hospital.
Women Against the Vote: Female Anti-Suffragism in Britain (Oxford, 2007)
Dr Julia Bush's latest book emphasises the fluidity of ideas and personnel between suffrage and anti-suffrage organisations, and the need to understand the suffrage opposition within the broader context of an inclusive, socially reforming British women's movement.
Julian Corbett Prize
The prestigious Julian Corbett Prize for naval history had been awarded to Dr Matthew Seligmann. Recently promoted to Reader on the basis of his previous research and publications, Dr Seligmann won the award for a recent essay entitled 'A Prelude to the Reforms of Admiral Sir John Fisher: The Creation of the Home Fleet, 1902-1903'.
Yale Fellowship
Matthew McCormack was awarded a Visiting Fellowship from Yale University, USA, to study at the famous Lewis Walpole Library. The library holds the papers of the eighteenth-century man of letters Horace Walpole, and Dr McCormack spent the summer 2008 undertaking research for his ongoing project on the Georgian militia.
