Joanna Thomas
Economic and Social History
PhD Researcher in Economic and Social History (ESRC+3)
University of Exeter, Centre for Maritime Historical StudiesStart date: September 2015
Research topic: Britain's seafaring men and women: an analysis of the maritime labour force 1850-1911
My research is focused on 19th-century British seafarers and maritime communities. Using quantitative and qualitative methods I am investigating the maritime labour force from 1850 – 1911, and am looking at the impact of the introduction of the steamship and the change from sail to steam on the social and economic structures of the maritime labourers. I am examining social backgrounds, motivations for going to sea, opportunities for social mobility in maritime communities, crew financially investing in shipping, and women at sea and their roles in maritime communities and businesses.Research supervisors: Professor Maria Fusaro, Dr David Thackeray
Email: jt472@exeter.ac.uk
John Clews
Economic and Social History
PhD Researcher in Economic and Social History (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, College of HumanitiesStart date: September 2016
Research topic: Private Patients in Pauper Palaces: Fee-paying Patients in English County and Borough Asylums, 1880-1910
My research considers the practice of treating fee-paying patients in publicly funded and operated county and borough lunatic asylums in late Victorian and Edwardian England. At the crux of my research lies the question of how class divisions were manifested and developed within public asylums throughout the period. I will also seek to understand institutional and familial motivations for using the pauper asylum to house this group of patients. I hope to analyse institutional practices in three regions in an effort to understand if this practice was a uniform phenomenon or shaped by regional forces.Research supervisors: Professor Mark Jackson, Dr Alison Haggett
Email: j.clews@exeter.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/john-clews-32312242
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnClews89
Linda Henderson
Economic and Social History
PhD Researcher in Economic and Social History (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, College of HumanitiesStart date: October 2018
Research topic: Class, Gender, and the Nature of Scientific Improvement – a case study of the Aylesbury Duck Industry 1820-1920 (PhD subject) “Feathering the Nest” – The Social and Economic Networks of the Aylesbury Duck Industry in the Nineteenth Century (MRes Dissertation)
My research will be investigating the notion of agricultural scientific improvement and progression, and how this is perceived and defined by gender and class.The Aylesbury Duck Industry will be used as a case study to explore these ideas in depth.
The MRes dissertation will focus on the social and economic networks of the Aylesbury Duck Industry in the 19th Century. This will involve exploring the trade connections between Buckinghamshire where the ducks were produced and the London markets of Smithfield and Leadenhall where the ducks were sold. The emphasis being on the lived experiences of women within all parts of the industry.
Research supervisors: Prof Henry French, Prof Jane Whittle
Professional memberships/Positions held:
Member of Economic History Society and British Agricultural History SocietyEmail: lh650@exeter.ac.uk
Nick Collins
Economic and Social History
Economic and Social History +3
University of Exeter, College of HumanitiesStart date: September 2021
Research topic: Gender and Time-Use in England, 1700-1850
My research replicates as far as possible a modern time-use study of England between 1700 and 1850. I am using data gathered from court records to explore how experiences of the industrial revolution differed by gender. Focusing on work and leisure, I am considering how specific activities were divided by gender, and how gender influenced the timing of these activities. I will compare my results to other available research in order to contribute to broader debates about how the impacts of industrialisation and economic development differ by gender.Research supervisors: Jane Whittle, Helen Berry
Email: ncc212@exeter.ac.uk
Rebecca Giffard
Economic and Social History1+3
University of Exeter, Department of Archaeology and HistoryStart date: September 2023
Research topic: Food and Community in Early Modern England: How the Production, Consumption and Selling of Food were Central to Seventeenth Century Communities.
My PhD research combines the study of community with that of agriculture, rural life, and food to argue that food was integral to early modern society, not only for sustenance but in the way it created social bonds. Moving beyond the concept of commensality, it explores how the production, consumption and selling of food brought different individuals and groups of people into contact. Primarily using farm and household accounts, I demonstrate how food created social links between the wealthy and less-wealthy and how women were important agents in forming and maintaining these connections.Research supervisors: Professor Jane Whittle, Professor Henry French
Email: rmg229@exeter.ac.
Robert Walker
Economic and Social History1+3
University of Exeter, Department of Archaeology and HistoryStart date: September 2023
Research topic: British Animal Advocacy Movement, c.1970-Present
My research aims to understand how political protest affects popular ideas about an issue. It uses the British animal advocacy movement as a case study and uses a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to see whether protests and campaigns affect how an issue is talked about in the public space. It also hopes to understand whether these impacts are different according to which types of protest are used.Walker, Robert. ‘Activism, Morality and the Law: The Case-Study of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’. Edited by Jessica Gröling. EASE Working Paper Series Volume 2 (2024): 185–92.
Research supervisors: Dr Matthias Reiss, Professor Charles Masquelier
Email: rw581@exeter.ac.uk
Saskia Polly Lowe
Economic and Social History
PhD Researcher in Economic and Social History (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, College of HumanitiesStart date: October 2019
Research topic: The Marriage Market or Simply the Market? The Spouse as a Contested Commodity in Eighteenth Century Britain (MRes), Morality and the Market: Contested Commodification of the Body in Eighteenth-Century England (PhD)
My PhD research considers the eighteenth-century market through a socio-economic lens. I apply interdisciplinary ideas about ‘contested commodities’ and conflicting ideas of morality to early modern market attitudes, exploring and comparing varied instances in which the body was involved in transactions, such as in the sex trade, slavery, and the cadaver trade.My MRes dissertation explored changes to perceptions and practices of marriage within the context of the shifting eighteenth-century economy. Through the combined analysis of advice literature, parliamentary debates and satire, it explored the intertwined nature of the social and the economic.
Research supervisors: Professor Sarah Toulalan, Dr Richard Ward
Email: spl213@exeter.ac.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PollyLowe16
South West Doctoral Training Partnership
