RHS News

At its latest meeting on 1 July 2026, the RHS Council elected 82 Fellows, 44 Associate Fellows, 36 Members and 61 Postgraduate Members, a total of 223 people newly associated with the Society, from today.

The majority of the new Fellows hold academic appointments at universities, specialising in a wide range of fields; but also include curators, librarians, heritage specialists, independent researchers and writers. The Society is an international community of historians and our latest intake includes Fellows from thirteen countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The new Associate Fellows include not only early career historians in higher education but also historians with professional and private research interests drawn from heritage, learned societies, libraries and archives, teaching, and public and community history.

The new Members have a similarly wide range of historical interests, and include individuals working in universities, culture and heritage, education, the civil service and broadcasting – together with independent and community historians and genealogists.

Our new Postgraduate Members are studying for higher degrees in history, or related subjects, at 43 different universities in the UK, Australia, Austria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United States.

All those newly elected to the Fellowship and Membership bring a valuable range of expertise and experience to the Society.

New Fellows and Members are elected at regular intervals through the year. The current application rounds are open and run to 27 July and 5 October 2026.

Those interested in applying to join the Society (as a Fellow, Associate Fellow, Member or Postgraduate Member) should consult the Join Us pages of the RHS website. Full details of the benefits of Fellowship and Membership are available in the Society’s new Guide for Members.

New Fellows, July 2026

• Nwando Achebe
• Carlo Edoardo Altamura
• Simon Amrein
• Michael Angerer
• Victor Bailey
• Guy Barefoot
• Anne-Marie Beller
• James Beresford
• Sam Blaxland
• Hugo Bonin
• Scott Breuninger
• Niall Carson
• William Coleman
• Marc Collinson
• Helen Dampier
• Katharine Dell
• Laura Doak
• Michael Durrant
• Kathryn Dutton
• Brigid Ehrmantraut
• Pedro Feitoza
• Laura Forster
• Nicola Frith
• Christopher Gerteis
• Christian Götter
• Juha Haavisto
• Daniel Haines
• Kai Hebel
• Richard Hodges
• Arthur Holder
• Theresa Jäckh
• Lauren Johnson
• Robert Jones
• Emily Kadens
• Haro Karkour
• Homa Katouzian
• Chris Kempshall
• Urfan Khaliq
• Terry Kilburn
• Mahmood Kooria
• Donna Loftus
• Jon Mackley
• Mario Maritan
• Ivan Marković
• Andrew McDiarmid
• Alan McDougall
• Felice McDowell
• Michèle Mendelssohn
• Emily Middleton
• Shannon Monaghan
• Florin-Stefan Morar
• James Morris
• Ankhi Mukherjee
• Matt Myers
• Annalisa Nicholson
• Daniela Sofia Nunes Pereira
• Karen O’Brien
• Claire O’Callaghan
• Hélène O’Keeffe
• Asher Orkaby
• Aaron Palmer
• Marco Panato
• Marco Papasidero
• Gabriele Passabi
• Elizabeth Petcu
• Francesca Petrizzo
• Natalia Petrovskaia
• Glyn Prysor
• Ollie Randall
• Nick Ridley
• Alex Rock
• Gareth Roddy
• Edward Shawcross
• Peter Sherlock
• Jackie Ui Chionna
• Genevieve Warwick
• Robert Wellington
• Bonnie White
• David Whitford
• Caroline Wilhelmsson
• Deanne Williams
• Gerhard Wolf
• Junqing Wu

New Associate Fellows, July 2026

• Rosalind Acland
• Bzhar Akoyi
• Sofya Anisimova
• David Barton
• Kelvin Beer-Jones
• Lloyd Belton
• Tarini Bhamburkar
• Ryan Blank
• James Broun
• Nicholas Brown
• Clare Byers
• Oğulcan Çelik
• Wai Chung Cheung
• Arka Chowdhury
• Paul Cora
• Fiona Crouch
• Thomas Cryer
• Paulo Henrique de Magalhaes Arruda
• Charles Deakin
• Josh Dight
• Joyce Dixon
• Megan Doole
• Robert Foulkes
• Laurence Fox
• Christos Giannatos
• Meredith Guthrie
• Bláithín Hurley
• Samuel Kramer
• Alena  Kulinich
• Kerry Love
• Madison Marshall
• Christopher Micsky
• Roman Osharov
• Bidyut Patar
• Craig Paterson
• Brian Pollock
• Francesca Richards
• Evelyn Rooke
• Catherine Ryan
• Jane Skelding
• Caitlín Smith
• Meric Tanik
• Sheriza Wadhwani Samtani
• Julian Wood

 

New Members, July 2026

• Olivia Abbatt
• Alpay Atabay
• Linda Baines
• Paul Barley
• Jonathan Blackburn
• Debra Butler
• David Cannon
• Sarthak Chakraborty
• David Fletcher
• Scott Fotheringham
• Diana Gordon
• Crispin Holliday
• Syed Walli Husnain
• Muhammad Ibrahim
• Peter Jeffreys
• Victoria Jung
• Allyson McElwaine
• Jonathan Mundey
• Kazka Nadira
• Olabisi  Ojora
• Michael Pitfield
• Kapil Rajahans
• Kashnar Rakhi Anjan
• Luke Seaford
• Chris Shirley
• Aryadeep Sinha
• Claire Smith
• Jack Soulsby
• Abby Speakman
• Hugh Thornton
• Jonathan Thorpe
• Craig Truscott-Robins
• Jeffrey Wang
• Richard Wiltison
• Celemet Yener
• Weronika Zgryska

New Postgraduate Members, July 2026

• Amrita Ajay
• Aaliyah Attwood
• Alek Barović
• Annika Bärwald
• Emre Bayramli
• Euan Bell
• Francesca Benson
• Francesca Bisi
• Kelly Burriss
• Neelashree Dasgupta
• Arna Dirghangi
• Charlotte Disley
• James Dranfield
• Joshua Edwards
• Imeje Fidelis
• Mark Gratton
• Benjamin Harris
• Nicholas Hawkins
• Geneva Henson
• Ruka Hussain
• Alice Jacobson
• Ria Gwendoline  Jones
• Kieran Kerr
• Mi Jin Kim
• Niklas Köhne
• Nisha Kumari
• Swetabja Mallik
• Rosa Marks
• Emma Marns
• Emma Marns
• Andrea Márton
• Ailsa Maxwell
• Julie Beuschel Mikkelsen
• Yevhen Minko
• Charles Molony
• Lisa Moran
• Nadeen Moustafa
• Lavinia Munteanu
• Evie Nash
• Ioana Alexandra Niculae
• David Ogoru
• Emma Owen Davies
• Joseph Price
• Ffion Roberts
• Isra Saker
• Nicole Salomone
• Jordan Seymour
• Claire Shockledge
• Ria Smith
• Michelle Smith
• Matthew Smith
• Sadie Spencer
• Theodore Stone
• Rebecca Stoneham
• Andrew  Threadgould
• Lachlan Urquhart
• Gide Van Cappel
• Sviatoslav Vil
• Ariel Wiebe
• Alexander Witt
• Sikiru Yusuff

 

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HEADER IMAGE: Summer basket: lotus, pomegranate and day lily, Ding Liangxian, Chinese, 18th century, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, public domain

 

On Wednesday 1 July, we were delighted to host Professor Rebecca Earle FBA to deliver this year’s Royal Historical Society Prothero Lecture: ‘The Last Voyage of the Santiago: A Ship and its World in the Age of Revolution’.

Rebecca’s lecture — held at Mary Ward House, London, and online — drew on her current research on the relationship between warfare and the circulation of goods in the early modern world.

Recordings of the lecture are now available:

Watch the lecture

Listen to the lecture

 

Rebecca’s focus was the Spanish treasure ship Santiago Apostol which set sail from Lima for Cadiz in 1792. Before reaching its destination, the Santiago was captured at sea, not once but twice. The double capture altered the lives of Filipino sailors, Lancashire handloom-weavers, and Sephardic notaries. It precipitated war between Britain and Spain and shaped European ideas about distant Peru and its peoples. It also injected nearly a million pounds into the British economy.

​By following the story of the Santiago, and listening to some of its voices, Rebecca’s lecture traced the processes linking people—a Peruvian merchant, an Admiralty judge, a landlady on the Isle of Wight—who themselves never met, lives both entangled and disconnected.

As Rebecca argued, the Santiago and the fate of its cargo enables us to appreciate the role of imperial warfare in circulating global goods to new consumers. War was both an obstacle and a stimulus to the era’s growing consumption. The Santiago’s eventful last voyage opens a window into the turbulent world of the 1790s, offering a sideways view of the Age of Revolution.

Our great thanks to Rebecca for her lecture and to all those who attended in person and online. The Lecture was followed with the announcement of the winners of this year’s RHS First Book and Early Career Article Prizes, and the Society’s Summer Party.

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Rebecca Earle FBA is Professor of History at the University of Warwick. Her books include Spain and the Independence of Colombia (2000), The Return of the Native: Indians and Mythmaking in Spanish America, 1810-1930 (2008), The Body of the Conquistador: Food, Race and the Colonial Experience in Spanish America, 1492-1700 (2012), and, most recently, Feeding the People: The Politics of the Potato (2020), which uses the history of the potato to trace out some of the key features of modernity.

Rebecca is currently writing about what we can learn from cookbooks (other than how to cook). A further project explores the circulation around early-modern Europe of artworks from colonial Spanish America. She was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2020.

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Established in 1969, Royal Historical Society’s Prothero Lecture – which is named for the historian and former RHS President, George W. Prothero (1848-1924) – has been given annually since that date. Those invited to give the lecture are leading historians whose research has shaped how we think about the past.

Prothero lecturers over the past five decades include, among many others, Samuel H. Beer, Joanna Bourke, Linda Colley, Stefan Collini, Natalie Zemon Davis, Olwen Hufton, Sujit Sivasundaram, Quentin Skinner, Brenda E. Stevenson, Keith Thomas, and last year Peter Gatrell who spoke on ‘The “Refugee World”: A Twentieth-Century Retrospective’.

Many of these lectures, subsequently published in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, have been opportunities for leading scholars to reflect on their work and careers in the round.

 

The Royal Historical Society is delighted to announce the winners of its prizes for a first book and an early career article in 2026. Two winners were named from each category for work published in 2025:

RHS First Book Prize 

• To Detain or To Punish: Magistrates and the Making of the London Prison System, 1750-1840, by Kiran Mehta (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
• The North Caucasian Kingdom of Alania, 850-1240, by John Latham-Sprinkle (Cambridge University Press)

RHS Early Career Article Prize

• Gianamar Giovannetti-Singh for ‘Colonial world-making and global knowledges at the early modern Cape of Good Hope‘, in Past & Present
• Stephanie Wanga for ‘Rereading Ujamaa, rethinking freedom’, in Development and Change

The winners were announced by Professor Lucy Noakes, President of the Society, as part of this year’s Prothero Lecture held on the evening of Wednesday 1 July.

The winning titles were selected from shortlists of eight monographs and eight articles, following the submission of more than 60 works in each prize category this year.

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In their citation for Kiran Mehta’s monograph, the book prize judges congratulated:

A highly original monograph that addresses a notable gap in studies of early modern crime and punishment: the role of magistrates. This book painstakingly charts the various types of prisons operating in London in the early modern era. 

The author exposes the difference between their intended uses and the somewhat muddled system which operated in practice. Magistrates were key players in shaping policies around early modern punishment and prison reform, and this book brings them centre stage.

 

In their citation for John Latham-Sprinkle’s book, the panel praised: 

A masterly study of the Kingdom of Alania which shows how historical analysis can be brought to bear even when source material is largely absent or fragmentary. It is rare for any historian to have the opportunity to name a ruling dynasty, but John Latham-Sprinkle has done just that.

His book adeptly shows how that state was formed and brings the existing Russian historiography to a wider audience. The author not only tackles a difficult and under-researched topic but also considers how such histories can and should be written.

 

In their citation for Gianamar Giovannetti-Singh’s work, the judges praised:

A brilliant article which presents a sweeping, transoceanic history that fundamentally challenges our understanding of early modern geography and knowledge production. The article stands out for its staggering intellectual ambition, its rich source base, and its masterful execution of global history.

Commenting on Stephanie Wanga’s article, the judges commended:

An outstanding study which provides a bold and highly original re-assessment of the Tanzanian political project of Ujamaa as a radical theory of freedom. This is an intellectually ambitious and methodologically innovative article that charts new conceptual possibilities for the discipline.

The two winners of this year’s article prize each receive £250 while the book prize winners are recipients of £1000 each. We were delighted that Kiran, John and Gianamar were able to attend the Prothero Lecture on 1 July to receive their awards.

The call for authors to submit articles and monographs for the Society’s 2027 prize rounds, for work published in 2026, will open in September.

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HEADER IMAGE: iStock photo credit: sompong liabsanthia

 

Last week saw the annual Chalke History Festival, held at Broad Chalke, Wiltshire (22-28 June). The Royal Historical Society took part in two events on 23 June in line with its work to demonstrate the connections between academic research — undertaken by specialist historians within higher education — and more popular forms of history, including festival and talks.

The first event comprised two lively and fascinating panel discussions, organised and supported by the Society and the Institute of Historical Research, which highlighted the value and importance of history.

Both discussions saw the historians Sarah Churchwell and Nicholas Guyatt joined by journalists Anne Applebaum and James Naughtie to discuss American history and politics since 1776. The first panel, ‘The Continuing Revolution’, chaired by Claire Langhamer (Director of the Institute of Historical Research) traced a historical arc from the Declaration of Independence to the challenges of the current moment to ask, ‘what comes next for American democracy?’

The second America 250 panel, chaired by the RHS President Lucy Noakes, focused on the issue of who gets to be American, a question that has been at the heart of the ‘American project’ since 1776. Large and enthusiastic audiences were keen to engage with the questions raised in these two excellent discussions. As historical arguments resurface with renewed urgency, these discussions demonstrate once again just how vital an understanding of history is in today’s contested political worlds.

A second RHS / IHR sponsored event, with Dr Charlotte Gauthier (Royal Holloway, University of London), explored ‘The Cardinal’s Spies: Wolsey, Henry VIII and the Race to Save Christendom’. Earlier this year, Charlotte was the winner of ‘Pitch my Project’, a new programme organised by the Society and IHR to encourage and prepare academic historians to develop their research for presentation to wider audiences in the form of festival talks.

As the winner, Charlotte received mentoring in public presentations and the chance to speak about the Cardinal’s spies to an audience at Chalke History Festival.

Both RHS supported sessions played to large and very appreciative audiences. Writing after her talk, Charlotte summarised the experience of taking her work to new audiences as follows:

I was delighted to take part in the 2026 Chalke Festival. The tent was full to overflowing for my talk on ‘The Cardinal’s Spies: Wolsey, Henry VIII, and the Race to Save Christendom, 1526-27’.

It was a joy to see such a large and highly engaged audience drawn from all walks of life, and to enjoy a lively and illuminating Q&A with numerous very thoughtful questions from attendees. Judging by the long queue of people coming to greet me and ask additional questions afterwards, the talk certainly tapped into people’s interests.

This is the beauty of communicating scholarly research to a wider audience: there is a real hunger for new and interesting stories, told in a compelling way. As an historian, it’s refreshing to be able to explore and communicate aspects of my research that wouldn’t be suitable to a more academic setting. I hope to attend Chalke again in future.

 

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HEADER IMAGE: Society President Lucy Noakes (right) in conversation with panellists (left to right): Anne Applebaum, Sarah Churchwell, James Naughtie and Nicholas Guyatt.

SECOND IMAGE: Charlotte Gauthier presents on ‘The Cardinal’s Spies: Wolsey, Henry VIII and the Race to Save Christendom’.

 

 

The Royal Historical Society seeks nominations for two Councillor positions to replace serving Council members in November 2026.

Closing date for nominations: Friday 7 August 2026. Nominations to be submitted via the Society’s applications portal.

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The Council of the Royal Historical Society is central to the governance, strategic development and activities of the Society. Its members are Councillors (trustees) of the Society and led by the President, Professor Lucy Noakes.

Councillors play a full and active role in reviewing and developing the work of the Society. They work closely with the Society’s professional Office — based at University College London — which runs the organisation day-to-day. Trustees attend Council meetings, serve on committees, and engage in activities such as Society visits to UK history departments, allocation of research funding, event planning, advocacy and campaigning, and judging prizes.

Selected trustees serve in ‘Officer’ roles, such as the Society’s Vice President, Treasurer, and as chairs of committees which oversee areas including research and education policy, advocacy and publications.

Councillors serve for four years and annual elections are held to replace those stepping down at the end of their term. Election to Council is open to current Fellows of the Society.

The Council and Office offer a friendly, supportive and collaborative environment in which to contribute to the Society’s work supporting history and historians.

The Council includes historians from a range of professional backgrounds and HE institutions, career stages and research interests. The Society seeks to maintain this breadth of experience to ensure that the Council is as fully representative of the historical profession, and the study of history, as possible.

You can read more about the Society’s current priorities, and the work of Councillors, in this new Q&A blog post: ‘Elections to the Society’s Council, 2026: the role and activities of the Society’s Councillors’

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In addition, we have two short video introductions: from the Society’s President, Professor Lucy Noakes, on the work of the Council and the roles of Councillors; and from Professor Olwen Purdue, a current Council member who concludes her term in November 2026 .

For more, via YouTube, please click on the images below.

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Nominations are now invited from current Fellows of the Royal Historical Society to stand for election to the Society’s governing Council.

The Society seeks to elect two new Council members (trustees) in 2026, to replace serving Council members. Newly elected Councillors will take up their roles from December 2026.

Closing date for nominations: Friday 7 August 2026.

This is an important time for the Society as it pursues its Strategy for 2026-28 (launched in November 2025), under the leadership of its President, Lucy Noakes.

Fellows of the Royal Historical Society are invited to nominate themselves for election to the Council for a term of four years commencing in December 2026.

Please see the Society’s website for the affiliations and subject expertise of current Members of Council. The Councillors ending their terms in November 2026 are Dr Helen Paul and Professor Olwen Purdue.

Nominations from those wishing to stand must be supported by one Proposer and one Seconder who will also be current Fellows of the Society. Please note: 2026 sees a change to previous elections when four Seconders were required per nomination.

The call for nominations runs to Friday 7 August with voting due to open in the week commencing 17 August. Voting by Fellows will close in the week ending Friday 25 September, with results announced soon after.

For more on the role of an RHS Councillor, and how to submit a nomination, please see here.

Submission of nominations is via the Society’s online applications platform, available here.

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Eligible Fellows of the Society, with questions concerning nomination, may contact the President, Professor Lucy Noakes: [email protected].

 

Applications are now invited for the Society’s annual Martin Lynn Scholarship in African history. The Scholarship supports graduate students undertake doctoral research in Africa during the academic year 2026-27.

The Scholarship is made possible thanks to the generosity of the Lynn family and is named for the late Martin Lynn (1951-2005), Professor of African History at Queen’s University, Belfast. Appointed to this position in 2002, Professor Lynn was the first scholar to hold a chair in African history in Ireland.

Professor Lynn’s scholarly career was devoted to the history of West Africa and he published most extensively and importantly on the 19th- and 20th-century history of Nigeria. This award reflects Professor Lynn’s interests.

Applications for the Scholarship are now invited, from current Postgraduate Members of the Society, before the closing date of Friday 4 September 2026. applications should be made via the Society’s online applications platform.

 

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Other funding calls from the Society, July to September 2026

Details of the Society’s other calls for applications are available here. These programmes are again open to current Fellows and Members of the Society.

Information on how to join the Society — as a Fellow, Associate Fellow, Member or Postgraduate Member — is available here.

 

The latest volume in the Society’s Camden Series of primary source materials is The Correspondence of Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh, 1640–1691, edited by Evan Bourke.

Published on 11 June, this new volume is available online and in print from Cambridge University Press.

Fellows and Members of the Royal Historical Society may purchase a print copy at this — and other recent Camden volumes — at the discounted price of £16 per volume. To do so please email: [email protected], marking your email Camden.

The Correspondence of Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh presents selected correspondence of Lady Ranelagh (1615–1691) bringing attention to the important role she played in the intellectual and political circles of seventeenth-century England and Ireland.

 

 

The letters chart Ranelagh’s life, from her besiegement in Athlone in 1641 until her death in 1691. Lady Ranelagh has often been considered alongside her famous brother, Robert Boyle (1627–1691), but the correspondence in this edition highlights how Ranelagh had a scholarly reputation in her own right — showcasing the wide and varied nature of Ranelagh’s writing. This includes prophetical discussions with Benjamin Worsley (1618–1673), theological discussions with John Beale (c.1608–1683), a discourse on the philosopher’s stone, and discussions with Anthony Dopping (1643–1697) on the production of the first version of the Old Testament in Irish.

The volume also includes familial correspondence that engaged with important political events of her time, as well as illuminating Lady Ranelagh’s role in offering medical, educational, and financial advice to family members and close friends.

To mark publication, the Introduction to Evan Bourke’s new edition is now available, free to read, on the CUP website until 15 September 2026.

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Ordering a copy of the latest Camden volume: Fellows and Members of the Society

The Correspondence of Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh, 1640–1691, edited by Evan Bourke, is now available online and in print Cambridge University Press.

Fellows and Members of the Society may order print copies at the reduced price of £16 per volume. To order a copy please contact: [email protected], marking your email ‘Camden’.

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Those without membership to Society may purchase this and other recent Camden volumes direct from Cambridge University Press.

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The volume’s editor, Dr Evan Bourke is a Lecturer in English Literature at Maynooth University, Ireland. He is a specialist in early modern English and Irish literature, women’s writing, cultural analytics, and network analysis.

Evan’s recent publications include Decolonial Deep Mapping (co-written with Patricia Pamer and Philip Mac a’Ghoill) and Spenser and the Filidh in Early Modern Ireland (co-edited with Deirdre Nic Chárthaigh and Philip Mac a’Ghoill).

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About the Camden Series

The Society publishes new volumes in the Camden Series each year.

Three volumes were published in 2025: The Papers of Admiral George Grey, edited by Michael Taylor (June 2025), The Holograph Letters of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots (1489-1541), edited by Helen Newsome-Chandler (August 2025), and  A Collector Collected. The Journals of William Upcott, 1803-1823, edited by Mark Philp, Aysuda Akan and Curtis Leung.

The Royal Historical Society’s Camden Series is one of the most prestigious and important collections of primary source material relating to British History, including the British empire and Britons’ influence overseas.

The Society (and its predecessor, the Camden Society) has since 1838 published scholarly editions of sources — making important, previously unpublished, texts available to researchers. Each volume is edited by a specialist historian who provides an expert introduction and commentary.

Today the Society publishes two new Camden volumes each year in association with Cambridge University Press. The complete Camden Series now comprises over 390 volumes of primary source material, ranging from the early medieval to late-twentieth century Britain.

 

 

In July 2027 the Royal Historical Society and Institute of Historical Research will come together to convene a nations-wide Festival of History.

Lasting two weeks, the Festival will run from Monday 5 July to Friday 16 July inclusive. It will also coincide with the IHR’s hosting of the North American Conference on British Studies, in London, from 13-16 July 2027. The aim is to celebrate the joy of making history whilst also showing why history matters to individuals, parishes and communities, in towns and cities, and across the nations that make up the UK.

We are looking for groups, organisations, and businesses who want to celebrate history with us. We hope to offer a number of small bursaries that will enable participants to host events and activities that are free and open to all during the two week Festival.

If you or your organisation are interested in supporting the Festival — for example through a financial donation, and event or support in kind — please contact Professor Lucy Noakes, President of the Royal Historical Society, [email protected] or Director of the IHR, Professor Claire Langhamer, [email protected].

All of our supporters will be recognised on the Festival website. Further details about the Festival will be circulated later in the year.

 

 

 

Even for those familiar with bleak times, this has been a particularly bad few weeks in UK higher education.

Confirmed job losses at the University of Essex were followed by further bad news from Hertfordshire and Nottingham. In each, cuts and redundancies extend across multiple faculties and subject areas, making clear—as has long been evident—that this is a crisis for the future provision and purpose of post-18 education. As these latest announcements show, very few institutions—be they from the Russell Group or a Pre- or Post-92—are now immune from the shockwaves that follow a decade of rampant marketisation and political neglect.

For historians, the chaos wrought over this decade is especially evident in the case of Hertfordshire. In the 2014 REF, UoH History was ranked first for impact and fifth overall for research excellence in this unit of assessment. This outstanding performance, seen in previous and subsequent assessments, was and remains a model of excellent scholarship, grant capture and impact. Now, a decade on—after the lifting of caps on student numbers, managerial boosterism, and years of pervasive political hostility towards the humanities within HE—Hertfordshire seeks to close its undergraduate History programmes alongside those in Philosophy, English Language and Linguistics, English Literature and Creative Writing.

In late 2023, Councillors from the Royal Historical Society spent a day with Hertfordshire’s historians. We saw at first hand the quality, creativity and distinctiveness of the teaching, research and engagement being undertaken. It was clear that Hertfordshire historians continue to pioneer forms of creative public and community-based history and maintain their reputation as leaders in this field. We were told by a (now departed) senior manager that UoH History and its historians were ‘a portfolio the university will guard very carefully’.

The closing of programmes in History, and the wider humanities, is a squandering of distinctive scholarly assets for which Hertfordshire, rightly, has received praise and funding over the past decade. Everyone appreciates that numerous UK universities face financial difficulty. Yet, according to its new Vice Chancellor, Hertfordshire is in ‘a stable financial position’, with cuts to History and the humanities ‘not being taken in response to an immediate financial crisis, but as part of a responsible approach to maintain a strong, focused and sustainable academic portfolio’.

The impact of proposed programme closures is extensive: for staff; for partners with whom they work in the region; for the local economy; and, of course, for current and potential students. The ‘East of England’, the HESA region in which UoH sits, already has few degree opportunities for those wishing to study History. The negative regional effect of cuts and course losses at East Anglia and now Essex, will be exacerbated if Hertfordshire ends its undergraduate programmes. It’s not just about loss of subject choices. In addition to its reputation for quality scholarship and engagement, Hertfordshire History stands out in government data as a department teaching local first generation students who go on to earn salaries above the median for graduates in our discipline.

Each university action is local and specific—be it Essex, Hertfordshire, Nottingham or one of the other institutions with which the Society is in contact. But we’ve now had years of such actions, and the consequences are cumulative and huge. A thousand cuts result in a skilled, expert profession being diminished and demoralised by job losses and repeated restructures. They lead to a diminished student experience, as degree options are dropped or programmes closed where cold spots emerge. They mean the erosion of historical knowledge, understanding and judgement when there’s urgent need for context, civic understanding and humanity.

History, as taught and researched in our universities, is fundamental to this. We need to be clearer and more vocal about the consequences of these losses. Governments in Scotland and Wales have finally realised that a viable, meaningful higher education sector needs greater oversight and control, and cannot be left wholly to the market. Now Westminster needs to wake up to this need for joined-up thinking, if we are to limit the number of future Essexes, Hertfordshires and Nottinghams—to name just three. UK universities are a precious commodity. Ten years of dropping this commodity to see where the pieces land is not an education policy worthy of the name. It is neglect bordering on vandalism.

 

The President, Officers and Councillors of the Royal Historical Society