I am a historian of the 20th century, working mainly on Britain. I was awarded my PhD in Urban History from the University of Leicester in 2013. Before taking up my current post at Queen's, I was an Early Career Lecturer at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London (2015-2016), and a Research Associate at King's College London (2013-2015). 

Over the last few years my research has developed in two different strands:

1) Urban culture, especially 1880-1940. Specifically: civic culture and citizenship in Britain and the US; and sexuality in Belfast.

2) The place of the past in modern Britain. Specifically: historical re-enactment; and the cultural afterlife of the Mayflower voyage.

My first book will be published in May 2019 by Boydell in the Royal Historical Society 'Studies in History' series. Titled After the Shock City: Urban Culture and the Making of the Modern Citizen, this work uses Manchester and Chicago to investigate the theory and reality of civic belonging and governance from the late nineteenth to mid twentieth century, across a range of areas: philosophy; festivals; re-enactmnets; youth culture; and public housing.

I am also the principal investigator on an AHRC-funded project: ‘Voyaging through History: The Meanings of the Mayflower in Britain, 1620-2020’. Dr Martha Vandrei (Exeter) is the Co-Investigator, and we are partnered with the British Library and the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton. This project traces the 'afterlife' of the voyage across the last four hundred years in Britain by looking at its portrayal in art, literature, and commemorations. For more information you can visit our website: http://voyagingthroughhistory.exeter.ac.uk/

My office hours are 11am-12pm on Wednesday (during term time) - but please do drop me an email if you are planning on coming.

I teach on the following courses:

HIS1002: Exploring History II - The Place of the Past in Britain, c. 1900-1950

HIS1005: History and Society

HIS2018: The Making of Contemporary Britain: 1914 to the present

HIS3077: Dissertation

HIS3128: Sin Cities? Everyday Life in the Modern Metropolis

MHY7035: Debates in History

MH7079: From Blitz to Blair: Exploring post war Britain

I can supervise undergraduate and postgraduate theses on modern British history and modern urban history (c. 1880-1960), especially on topics such as belonging and community, festivals and celebrations, historical re-enactment and pageantry, education and citizenship, and local government and governance.