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2024 Prothero Lecture, with Peter Frankopan: booking now open

The 2024 RHS Prothero Lecture will reflect ‘On the Challenges and Purposes of Global History’ with Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History at the University of Oxford. Booking for the lecture, which takes place at 6.30pm BST on Wednesday 3 July in central London and online, is now open for in-person and online attendance. All are welcome.

The Prothero Lecture is one of the high points of the Society’s annual events programme. It is followed by our annual summer party to which all attendees are very welcome. The party is an opportunity to meet fellow historians and members of the Society’s governing Council.

In this year’s Prothero Lecture, Peter Frankopan will ask what is global history; should historians think globally – and is it even possible to do so? How does macro-history fit alongside microhistories and regional and periodic specialisations; and what do these questions mean for the teaching of history at school and university? Professor Frankopan’s lecture will consider problems of traditional periodisation and regionalisation and show how global history can be instructive and helpful from teaching at primary school level to high-level academic research to public history.

About this year’s Prothero Lecturer

Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University, where he is Director of the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research and Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford. He is also Professor of Silk Roads Studies and a Bye-Fellow at King’s College, Cambridge.

His publications includeThe Silk Roads: A New History of the World (Bloomsbury, 2015), The New Silk Roads: The Future and Present of the World (2018) and The Earth Transformed: An Untold Story (2023). Silk Roads was named The Daily Telegraph‘s History Book of the Year 2015 and was lauded as one of the ‘Books of the Decade’ 2010-20 by the Sunday Times. His latest book, The Earth Transformed: An Untold History, was named History Book of the Year by The Times in 2023. His books have have been translated into forty languages.

About the RHS Prothero Lecture

First given in 1968, the Prothero Lecture — named after George W. Prothero (President of the Society, 1901-05) — has featured some of the world’s leading historians. Former Prothero Lecturers include Joanna Bourke, Linda Colley, Roy Foster, Olwen Hufton, Sujit Sivasundaram, Brenda E. Stevenson and Keith Thomas.

For more on the Society’s events programme in May, June and July, please see here. Forthcoming events include lectures, training workshops and panels discussions.

Precarious Professionals: New Historical Perspectives on Gender & Professional Identity in Modern Britain

PLEASE NOTE: this event has been postponed and will now take place later in the year, date tbc

Book Launch and Panel Discussion

14.00 GMT, Tuesday 22 March 2022, Live online via Zoom

Published in October 2021, Precarious Professionals is an edited collection of essays which use gender to explore a range of professional careers, from those of pioneering women lawyers and scientists to ballet dancers, secretaries, historians, and social researchers.

The book reveals how professional identities could flourish on the margins of the traditional professions, with far-reaching implications for the study of power, privilege, and expertise in 19th and 20th century Britain.

Precarious Professionals appears in the RHS ‘New Historical Perspectives’ series and is is now available free, Open Access, to read ahead of the event.

Contributors to the panel

Professor Christina de Bellaigue (University of Oxford)
Dr Laura Carter (Université de Paris / LARCA)
Professor Leslie Howsam (University of Windsor / Ryerson University)
Dr Claire G. Jones (University of Liverpool)
Professor Helen McCarthy (University of Cambridge)
Professor Susan Pedersen (Columbia University)
Dr Laura Quinton (New York University)
Professor Emma Griffin (RHS President and University of East Anglia) (chair)

This event brings together seven of the book’s contributors to discuss the relationship between gender and professional identities in historical perspective, and to reflect on researching and writing histories of professional work in precarious times.

About our panel

Christina de Bellaigue is Associate Professor of History at Oxford and a Fellow of Exeter College. She is a social and cultural historian of nineteenth century France and Britain, with research interests in the history of reading and of education, and of childhood and adolescence. Christina’s current project concerns middle class family strategies and social mobility. Her publications include Home Education in Historical Perspective (2016) and Educating Women: Schooling and Identity in England and France, 1800–1867 (2007).

Laura Carter is Lecturer in British History at the Université de Paris, LARCA, CNRS, F-75013 Paris, France. She has published articles on popular history, education, and social change in twentieth-century Britain in the journals Cultural and Social History, History Workshop Journal, and Twentieth Century British History. Her first book, Histories of Everyday Life: The Making of Popular Social History in Britain, 1918-1979, was published by Oxford University Press in the Past & Present book series in 2021.

Leslie Howsam is Emerita Distinguished University Professor at the University of Windsor (Canada) and Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Digital Humanities at Ryerson University. She is editor of the 2015 Cambridge Companion to the History of the Book and author of Old Books and New Histories: An Orientation to Studies in Book & Print Culture (Toronto University Press, 2006).

Claire G. Jones is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Liverpool. Her research interests focus on the cultural and social history of science, from the late-eighteenth century through to the early-twentieth, with special emphasis on femininity, masculinity, inclusion and representation. She has published widely in these areas and co-edited the Palgrave Handbook of Women and Science (2022).

Helen McCarthy is Professor of Modern and Contemporary British History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St John’s College. She is a historian of modern Britain and author of three books: The British People and the League of Nations (Manchester University Press, 2011); Women of the World: The Rise of the Female Diplomat (Bloomsbury, 2014); and Double Lives: A History of Working Motherhood (Bloomsbury, 2020).

Susan Pedersen is Gouverneur Morris Professor of British History at Columbia University, where she teaches British and International History. Her most recent book is The Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire (Oxford, 2015). She is now writing a book about marriage and politics in the Balfour family. She writes regularly for the London Review of Books.

Laura Quinton is a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at New York University and a Resident Fellow at The Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU. Her current book project, Ballet Imperial: Dance and the New British Empire, explores the unexpected entanglements of ballet and British politics in the twentieth century. Her writing has appeared in The Historical Journal, Twentieth Century British History, and the Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism.

Emma Griffin is President of the Royal Historical Society and Professor of Modern British History at the University of East Anglia.

HEADER IMAGE, clockwise from top left: politician, Mary Agnes Hamilton, at her desk in Carlton House Terrace, c.1948; sociologist Viola Klein, 1965; historian Dame Lillian Penson running her seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, London, 1957; Marie Stopes in her laboratory, Manchester, c.1904–6; mathematician and engineer, Hertha Ayrton, in her Laboratory; lawyer and political reformer, Eliza Orme, 1889.

RHS Lecture and Events: Full Programme for 2022 >

New Publications from the Royal Historical Society

The Royal Historical Society is pleased to announce the publication of its latest two titles as part of the Camden and New Historical Perspectives book series.

Both titles are published, online and in print, by Cambridge University Press and University of London Press respectively.

Adulthood in Britain and the United States from 1350 to Generation Z, edited by Maria Cannon and Laura Tisdall (New Historical Perspectives, published by University of London Press, November 2024).

Adulthood has a history. This collection, edited by Maria Cannon and Laura Tisdall, explores how concepts of adulthood have changed over time in Britain and the United States with reference to eleven case studies. Expectations for adults have altered over time, just as other age-categories such as childhood, adolescence and old age have been shaped by their cultural and social context.

In historicising adulthood, this collection is the first to employ adulthood as a category of historical analysis, arguing that consideration of age is crucial for all scholarship that addresses power and inequality.

Collectively, the authors explore four key ideas: adulthood as both burden and benefit; adulthood as a relational category; collective versus individual definitions of adulthood; and adulthood as a static definition.

Adulthood in Britain and the United States from 1350 to Generation Z is the 20th volume in the Society’s New Historical Perspective series for early career historians within 10 years of completion of a PhD at a UK or Irish university.

All 20 titles are available for free Open Access download from University of London Press, as well as in paperback print. For more on this volume, please see Maria and Laura’s post for the RHS blog.

The Household Accounts of Robert and Katherine Greville, Lord and Lady Brooke, at Holborn and Warwick, 1640-1649, edited by Stewart Beale, Andrew Hopper and Ann Hughes (RHS Camden Series, November 2024).

Robert Greville, 2nd Lord Brooke, was a prominent figure amongst the opposition to Charles I, a religious radical and intellectual who emerged as a successful popular leader in the early months of the English Civil War. This volume publishes the richly detailed household accounts kept for Brooke and his widow, Katherine, on an annual basis between 1640 and 1649.

These texts have scarcely been studied by historians. They are an illuminating source for Brooke’s capacious intellectual, religious, and political networks, and for his mobilisation of support for Parliament in 1642. They also uncover the administration of his estates and households in London, Warwickshire, and the Midlands before and after his premature death.

These accounts are crucial sources for political, economic, and military historians, and equally important for social and cultural historians interested in the history of the family, childhood, and widowhood, as well as consumption and material culture.

The Household Accounts of Robert and Katherine Greville, Lord and Lady Brooke is published online and in print by Cambridge University Press (November 2024). Fellows and members of the Society may purchase print copies of this, and other available Camden titles, for £16 per volume by emailing: administration@royalhistsoc.org.

Transactions: the Society’s journal

Transactions is the flagship academic journal of the Royal Historical Society. First published in 1872, Transactions has been publishing the highest quality scholarship in History for more than 150 years.

January 2025: Paul Readman, Professor of Modern British History at King’s College London, appointed co-editor of Transactions.

December 2024: this year’s volume of Transactions (Seventh Series, Volume 2) is now available online from Cambridge University Press. Full details of the 2024 volume.

From August 2024: all articles accepted for publication in Transactions will automatically appear Open Access, with no charge to the author, ensuring the widest possible circulation and readership for new work.

What we publish in Transactions

Today’s journal publishes a wide range of research articles and commentaries on historical approaches, practice and debate. In addition to traditional 10-12,000 word research articles, Transactions also welcomes shorter, innovative commentary articles.

In 2023, we introduced the ‘Common Room’ — a section of the journal dedicated to commentaries and think pieces by academic historians and historical practitioners.

The journal welcomes submissions dealing with any geographical area from the early middle ages to the very recent past. The journal’s editor and editorial boards are interested in articles that cover entirely new ground, thematically or methodologically, as well as those engaging critically on established themes in existing literatures.

Who publishes in Transactions

The journal invites articles from authors at every career stage. In line with the Society’s commitment to supporting postgraduate and early career historians, the journal seeks to engage constructively and positively with first-time authors. We also publish, and invite, articles and commentaries from historians working outside Higher Education in related sectors such as heritage.

The journal’s editorial team provides prompt responses and peer review. Articles are published with Cambridge University Press, online via CUP’s FirstView, and in an annual volume.

If you’re currently researching an article or a think piece, please consider Transactions as the journal in which to publish your work.

Submitting your article to Transactions

We warmly welcome submissions of research articles and Common Room commentaries for editorial review. In advance, please consult our guide to Preparing your Article, which provides information on presenting and formatting your article.

In addition, we have a guide to Submitting your Article which explains how to use the journal’s online submission system.

When ready, please submit your completed article for review here >

Transactions of the Royal Historical Society: latest volume

Transactions articles are published first online and then as an annual print volume. The latest volume of Transactions (Seventh Series, Volume 2) was published in December 2024.

TRHS includes research articles, covering a wide range of chronologies and geographies, alongside ‘Common Room’ articles offering commentaries and debates on historical methodologies, pedagogies, policy debates and roundtable discussions.

Recently published Transactions articles are available on Cambridge First View. New print volumes of the journal are published annually, with a listing of all previous volumes available from the CUP website.

What authors say about publishing with Transactions

Now published by Cambridge University Press, the collection of Transactions from 1872 is available on Cambridge Journals Online and JSTOR (with a five year moving wall).

More on accessing Transactions content, 1872-2023.

Co-Editor, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society: Call for Applications

The Royal Historical Society seeks to appoint a Co-Editor for its academic journal, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, published by Cambridge University Press.

The new Co-Editor will work alongside Dr Jan Machielsen (Cardiff University) who has edited the journal since January 2024. The new appointment will take effect from 1 January 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter. Following an initial probationary period, the appointment will run for a minimum of two years (to January 2027) with the option to extend for a further two years (January 2029).

Applicants for this role must be Fellows of the Royal Historical Society.

This is an exciting phase for the journal as we extend its scale and scope. The new Co-Editor will support, and work closely with the current Editor, Dr Machielsen, in developing the journal’s scope and scale, and further enhancing its profile and intellectual reputation.

We are looking for a Co-Editor with research expertise that complements that of Dr Machielsen, a historian of early modern Europe, and befits a wide-ranging generalist journal. Applications from those working in the modern period and/or non-European or world history are especially welcome. Given the nature of this role, the capacity for effective collaborative working is another essential requirement.

In addition to experience of academic editorial work, broadly defined, the successful candidate will have genuine curiosity and enthusiasm for the broad, interdisciplinary scope of the journal and creative, imaginative and sustainable ideas for its further development.

Further details of this role, including specifications and how to apply, are available here.

The deadline for applications, via the RHS Applications Portal, is 11:59PM, Friday 22 November 2024.

About the journal

Transactions of the Royal Historical Society is the flagship journal of the Society. It has been publishing the highest quality scholarship in history for over 150 years.

Today’s journal, published by Cambridge University Press, offers a wide range of research articles and commentaries on historical approaches, practice and debate. In addition to traditional 10-12,000 word research articles, Transactions also welcomes shorter, innovative commentary articles. In 2023, we introduced the ‘Common Room’ — a section of the journal dedicated to commentaries and think pieces by academic historians and historical practitioners.

All articles are published on CUP’s FirstView and in print. From August 2024, articles accepted for publication in Transactions automatically appear Open Access, with no charge to the author, ensuring the widest possible circulation and readership for new work.

The journal invites articles from authors at every career stage. We also publish, and invite, articles and commentaries from historians working outside Higher Education in related sectors such as heritage.

The journal’s editorial team provides prompt responses and peer review. Articles are published with Cambridge University Press, online via CUP’s FirstView, and in an annual print volume. The Editors are supported in their work by the journal’s UK Editorial and International Advisory boards. Further support is provided by the Office of the Royal Historical Society and the journal’s publisher, Cambridge University Press.

New Historical Perspectives passes 100,000 book downloads

The Royal Historical Society’s book series, New Historical Perspectives, publishes monographs and edited collections by early career historians within 10 years of a PhD.

Launched in late 2019, 18 titles are now available or forthcoming, with University of London Press. Earlier this month, the series reached its 100,000 book download.

All books in the series are available in paperback print and free Open Access, funded by NHP’s partners: the Society, the Institute of Historical Research and University of London Press. Contracted authors receive mentoring when writing their books and are offered an author workshop, with subject specialists, prior to submission of the final manuscript.

Recent titles in the series include Matthew Gerth’s Anti-Communism in Britain During the Early Cold War, A Very British Witch Hunt, and Hannah Parker and Josh Doble’s edited collection, Gender, Emotions and Power, 1750–2020.

Coming soon is Jon Winder’s monograph, Designed for Play: Children’s Playgrounds and the Politics of Urban Space, 1840–2010. Designed for Play is an original and accessible contribution to modern British history, urban and environmental history, and histories and geographies of childhood.

Apply for Postgraduate Membership

Closing date for next application round:

Monday 24 March 2025

The Society’s Postgraduate Membership category launched in 2021. It is reserved for those studying History, or a cognate subject, at a higher level (from Masters to PhD) in a UK or overseas institution. Postgraduate Members join a group of researchers, many of whom will seek to work in a field relating to History. With this category of membership, the Society recognises the particular experience of higher degree students. Postgraduate Membership seeks to provide tailored support, for example in training events and grants, to assist students during a degree and immediately afterwards.

Postgraduate Membership is linked to student status and may run for as long as the member is registered for a postgraduate degree and one additional year thereafter.

From November 2021, the Society also offers an Associate Fellowship for historians who are no longer studying for a further degree but whose career stage and or contribution to history. Some Associate Fellows are historians working in Higher Education who have not yet reached the extent of publications, or equivalent, required to join the full Fellowship. Others contribute to History through their work in sectors such as heritage and museums, libraries and archives, teaching, publishing and broadcasting, or personal research.

These new membership categories – of Associate Fellowship and Postgraduate Membership – replace the previous category of Early Career Membership. Read more about these two ways to belong to the Society. From August 2022 we are extending the benefits available to Postgraduate Members of the Society (see below).

To apply for the RHS Postgraduate Membership please use the Society’s Applications Portal, and select your chosen membership category.

Benefits of Postgraduate Membership

Online access to the current issue and entire searchable back archive of Transactions of the Royal Historical Society – from the journal’s foundation in 1872 to 2024.
Online access to all 385 volumes of the Society’s Camden Series of primary source material, including the latest titles published in 2024-25. Since 1838, the Camden Series has made primary records available in accessible scholarly editions, compiled and introduced by specialist historians. The Series is especially strong in material relating to British history, including the British Empire and Britons’ influence overseas.
All other RHS publications offered at a substantial discount: this includes print volumes for new and recent titles in the Camden Series and all titles in the New Historical Perspectives series.
Substantial discounts on the Society’s former title, the Bibliography of British and Irish History, which is available to Postgraduate Members at £40 per year.
30% discount on all academic books (print only) published by Cambridge University Press.
30% discount on History titles published by Oxford University Press.
30% discount on purchases of print copies of the Society’s New Historical Perspectives book series, offering monographs and essay collections, and produced in association with the Institute of Historical Research and University of London Press.
30% discount on History titles published by Oxford University Press.
Receipt of the weekly ‘RHS News Circular’ (this example, October 2024): a regular update on RHS activities, plus listings of events / calls for papers from other UK historical societies and research networks.
Eligibility to apply for RHS grants and funded fellowships.
Eligible for RHS training and career development events / workshops reserved for Fellows and members.
Eligible to apply for the Society’s Research Funding programmes (including Scholarships and Fellowships) available to historians at all career stages.
Access to the RHS Archive and Library collections, and RHS Library rooms, at University College London (UCL).
Become part of a thriving international community of historians, of all kinds and from many backgrounds.

Annual Subscription

From July 2024, annual subscription rates for Postgraduate Members, payable on appointment, are:

Postgraduates, UK-based and International: £20.00
Postgraduates, Hardship Rate: £10.00

The RHS subscription year runs July to June with renewals due on 1 July of each year.

A Postgraduate Hardship Rate is available to unemployed and low income/wage members (self-defined) and includes unfunded/self-funded students.

How to Apply

Prior to making your application, please consult the FAQs relating to Postgraduate Membership.

To apply for the RHS Postgraduate Membership please use the Society’s Applications Portal, and select your chosen membership category.

Applications to join the RHS are welcome through the year. Remaining dates for applications in 2025 are: Monday 24 March 2025, Monday 26 May 2025, Monday 11 August 2025 and Monday 13 October 2025.

Rejoining the Society as a Postgraduate Member

If your Postgraduate Membership has lapsed / has been cancelled, and you would like to re-join the Society, please contact our Membership department at membership@royalhistsoc.org in the first instance. We will be glad to assist you.

All applications are considered by our Membership Committee which meets five times a year. You can expect to hear the outcome approximately eight weeks after the closing date for your application. Incomplete applications will be held on file until we have received all the necessary information.

All enquiries about applying for election to the Fellowship should be addressed to the RHS office: membership@royalhistsoc.org.

Call now open for Masters’ Scholarships, 2024-25

The Royal Historical Society is pleased to announce its call for applications for its Masters’ Scholarships programme 2024-25.

RHS Masters’ Scholarships provide financial support to students from groups currently underrepresented in academic History. Each Scholarship is worth £5,000.

This year the Society seeks to award eight scholarships to students who will begin a Masters’ degree in History (full or part-time) at a UK university from the start of the next academic year. The Society thanks the Past & Present Society and the Scouloudi Foundation for their generous support of this year’s awards.

The programme, established in 2022, seeks to actively address underrepresentation within the discipline, and enable Black and Asian students, along with those of other minorities, to consider academic research in History.

By supporting Masters’ students the programme focuses on a key early stage in the academic training of future researchers. With these Scholarships, we seek to support students who are without the financial means to study for a Masters’ in History. By doing so, we hope to improve the educational experience of early career historians engaged in a further degree.

Further details of the programme, the eligibility requirements and closing dates for applications are available here.

Current Research Funding Calls from Royal Historical Society: September 2024

Allocation of research funding is central to the Royal Historical Society’s work of supporting historians and historical research.

In 2023 the Society has awarded more than £110,000 in funding to historians through open competitions, generously assisted by partner organisations and donors. In 2023-24, the Society is continuing to develop and extend its funding programmes for historians, within and outside Higher Education, and at at all career stages.

Full details of the Society’s Research Funding programmes are available here. The Society currently invites applications for the following five schemes — open to historians at all career levels — with closing dates between Friday 9 August and 6 September 2024. For further information on each programme, eligibility and how to apply please follow the links below.

Early Career Fellowship Grants – awards up to a maximum of £2,000 to early career historians to complete a discrete research project lasting no more than six months. Applicants will be early career historians in non-tenured positions within five years of submitting their PhD in a historical subject. Next closing date for applications: Friday 6 September 2024.
Open Research Support Grants – available to all historians who are more than 5 years on from completion of their PhD. Awards of £500 or £1,000 enable researchers to undertake activities such as visiting archives and historical sites or conducting interviews. Open Research Support Grants may also be used to support travel to academic conferences. Next closing date for applications: Friday 6 September 2024.
Martin Lynn Scholarships in African History – to assist a postgraduate researcher of African history. The Scholarship is worth £1,500 and is open to Postgraduate Members of the Royal Historical Society. Next closing date for applications: Friday 6 September 2024.

Applicants for these Royal Historical Society funding programmes must be members of the Society. To find out how to become a Fellow, Associate Fellow, Member or Postgraduate Member, please see our Join Us page.

Enquiries concerning these, and other RHS Research Funding programmes, please contact: administration@royalhistsoc.org.

HEADER IMAGE: Half pound of Elizabeth I, British, 1561–70, Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, public domain

Current Research Fellows and Grant Holders

The Society’s Research Funding supports a large number of historians across a range of activities: from studying for a Masters’ degree and finishing a PhD, to undertaking research and working on a project, such as writing an article.

The following individuals are current holders of RHS Fellowships and Grants in 2024. Each year, the Society awards c.£100,000 in research funding to historians through open competitions. In 2023, the Society is allocating a further £30,000 in one-off programmes, generously assisted by partner organisations and donors.

Full details, and call timetables, for all Royal Historical Society research funding are available here.

1. Centenary and Marshall Research Fellows, 2024-25

Held for 6 months, jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, the Centenary and Marshall Fellowships enable historians to complete their PhDs and receive research training:

Eve Pennington, is an RHS Centenary Fellow, 2024-25, held jointly with the Institute of Research, University of London.

‘Women, the built environment, and life narratives: reconstructing the relationship between gender and state-led urban development through the new towns in North-West England, c.1961-1989’

Eve is a RHS Centenary Fellow held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Eve is a fourth-year PhD researcher supervised by Charlotte Wildman and Penny Summerfield at the University of Manchester, where she previously completed her BA and MA in History.

Eve’s doctoral thesis interrogates the relationship between gender and state-led urban development in late-twentieth-century Britain, exploring the ways that women’s subjectivities and cultural constructions of femininity were produced in tandem with built environments like housing estates, workplaces, and transport networks. It focuses on three new towns established in north-west England during the 1960s and 1970s (Skelmersdale, Runcorn, and Central Lancashire) and analyses archival material produced by local policymakers and urban planners, as well as original oral history interviews conducted with women who moved to the towns during the late twentieth century.

Eve’s research sits at the intersection between urban history and women’s history, examining the ways that built environments reflected and reinforced gender relations, and reconstructing women’s agency to challenge inequalities through their use of urban space. Her regional approach problematises narratives of deindustrialisation, urban decay, and unemployment, reframing northern England as a site of experimentation, investment, and renewal.

Alexandra Plane is an RHS Centenary Fellow, 2024-25, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London.

‘Reconstructing the Scottish and English Libraries of King James VI and I’

Alexandra is a librarian and doctoral student co-supervised at Newcastle University and the National Library of Scotland through an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award. She previously completed a BA and MA in Classics at the University of Durham, as well as an MA in Library and Information Studies at UCL.

Her doctoral research seeks to reconstruct the Scottish and English libraries of King James VI and I. Despite King James’s significance for intellectual, political, religious and cultural history, at present very little is known about his libraries. This project employs a combination of traditional scholarship and newer digital approaches to remedy this, making it possible to better understand how Britain’s most scholarly monarch accessed and circulated knowledge and ideas. It sheds new light on James as an author and king who was keenly aware of the power books held not only for learning, but also as gift objects and tools for royal image-building.

Rebecca Orr is an RHS Marshall Fellow, 2024-25, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London.

‘The Ex-Empire Builders: Migrants of Decolonisation and the Transformation of the Post-War Workplace’

Rebecca is a PhD researcher in History at the European University Institute. She previously studied for a BA in History at the University of Cambridge and an MA in Modern History at the University of Warwick. Before starting her PhD, she worked for two years as a research support assistant for the Global History of Capitalism project at the University of Oxford.

Her thesis, entitled ‘The Ex-Empire Builders: Migrants of Decolonisation and the Transformation of the Post-War Workplace’, looks at how formal decolonisation resulted in the emergence of new types of professional work and workplace in post-war Britain and its former colonies. Highlighting the interconnection between work and migration, her research explores the constitutive role played by former colonial civil servants in three workplaces on the rise: private security, universities and charitable organisations. The thesis relates broader structural changes to the intimate and familial. Drawing upon oral history interviews with the children of colonialists and settlers, the research explores how the economic consequences of formal decolonisation registered at the level of the state, family, and individual.

Rebecca Tyson is an RHS Marshall Fellow, 2024-25, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London.

‘Sailing to Conquest: Maritime Activity and Identity in Eleventh-Century Normandy’

Rebecca’s doctoral research provides a hitherto largely uncharted maritime context for the Norman invasion of England, by looking back at the earlier eleventh century in Normandy to explore where the maritime knowledge, experience, and ships may have been found for Duke William to draw upon in the early months of 1066. To date, studies of eleventh-century Normandy and the Norman invasion of England have consistently adopted a terrestrial perspective. In contrast, my research centres the understudied place of maritime activity in the century preceding the Norman cross-Channel invasion, offering for the first time a historical perspective recognising that Normandy’s coastline was a frontier as dynamic and significant as its land border.

This novel approach thereby not only provides much needed insight into a fundamental but critically overlooked aspect of the Norman invasion, but also demonstrates that, when Normandy’s earlier eleventh-century history is reconsidered from a non-terrestrial point of view and despite being overlooked as a maritime polity, there is a wide range of evidence that points to an active maritime tradition in Normandy in the century preceding 1066, that has wider implications for fully understanding the management of the resulting cross-Channel Anglo-Norman realm.

2. Early Career Fellowship Grant holders, 2024

Held for up to 6 months, Early Career Fellowship Grants provide support for post-doctoral researchers to work on a defined project, such as writing an article or book proposal:

Jonathan Tickle – awarded October 2024
Alice Kinghorn – awarded October 2024
George Townsend – awarded October 2024
Megan Yates – awarded October 2024
Margaret Gray – awarded October 2024

3. Martin Lynn Scholarship in African History, 2024-25

Awarded annually, the Martin Lynn Scholarship supports research in the history of Africa:

Nigel Browne-Davies – awarded October 2024

4. Masters’ Scholarships in History, 2024-25

Awarded annually, Masters’ Scholarships support students studying for a Masters’ degree in History at a UK university. Scholarships are reserved for early career historians from groups underrepresented in academic history:

Alana Assis, to study for an MPhil in African Studies at the University of Cambridge
Megan Barber, to study for an MA in History at the University of Winchester
Nicole Butler, to study for an MA in Social & Cultural History at the University of Leeds
Peter Eakin, to study for an MA in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Manchester
Darcy Gill, to study for an MA in History at Queen Mary University of London
Avin Houro, to study for an MSt in Global and Imperial History at the University of Oxford
Sophie Mattholie, to study for an MA in Public History at the University of York
Lucas Radford, to study for an MA in Maritime History at the University of Plymouth

The Society is very grateful to the Past & Present Society and the Scouloudi Foundation for its support of the Masters’ Scholarships programme in 2024-25.

5. Postgraduate Research Support Grants, 2024

Introduced in Spring 2023, Postgraduate Research Support Grants are available to History students (who are Postgraduate Members of the Royal Historical Society), currently studying for a Masters degree or PhD to undertake historical research.

Benjamin Gladstone – awarded February 2024
Phoebe McDonnell – awarded February 2024
Sarah Mason – awarded February 2024
Nathan Meades – awarded February 2024
Kathrina Perry – awarded February 2024
James Squires – awarded February 2024
Theodora Broyd – awarded August 2024
Ellie Grigsby – awarded August 2024
Ewan Lawry – awarded August 2024
Chukwuemeka Oko Otu – awarded August 2024

6. Early Career Research Support Grants, 2024

Introduced in Spring 2023, Early Career Research Support Grants are available to historians within 5 years of submitting their PhD in a historical subject (who are members of the Royal Historical Society) to undertake research.

Thomas Burnham – awarded February 2024
Nicolò Ferrari – awarded February 2024
Yui Chim Lo – awarded February 2024
Mariana Zegianini – awarded February 2024
James Brocklesby – awarded August 2024
Adam Quibell – awarded August 2024
Taiwo Bello – awarded August 2024
Matthew Bayly – awarded August 2024

7. Open Research Support Grants, 2024

Introduced in Spring 2023, Open Research Support Grants are available to all historians (who are members of the Royal Historical Society) who are not postgraduate students or early career researchers (within 5 years of completing a PhD). Open Research Support Grants provide funds to historians to undertake historical research.

Thomas Leahy – awarded October 2024
Angela Byrne – awarded October 2024
Jasmine Calver – awarded October 2024
Denis Casey – awarded October 2024

8. Workshop Grants, 2024

Awarded annually from 2022, Workshop Grants provide support for groups of historians to meet and discuss shared projects in detail. Workshop Grants are open to historian at all career stages.

RHS Workshop Grant holders for 2024:

‘Inter-community Dialogues in Britain’ — lead organiser: Arunima Datta (North Texas)
‘Pat Thane: Reflections on History, Policy and Action’ — lead organiser: Helen Glew (Westminster)
‘Network Building Symposium for Historians in Post 92 Institutions’ — lead organiser: Elizabeth Goodwin (York St John)
‘A Workshop in Ruins’ — lead organiser: Claire Kennan (King’s College, London)
‘Mobilising Imperial History: Crime, Policing and Control in the British Empire’ — lead organiser: Aparajita Mukhopadhyay (Kent)
‘Present and Precedent in the Church Councils of Late Antique Iberia’ — lead organisers: Jamie Wood and Graham Barrett (Lincoln)

9. Funded Book Workshop Grants, 2024-25

First awarded in 2023, Funded Book Workshop Grants provide support for authors currently writing a second or third monograph to hold a day workshop with six invited readers to discuss a draft manuscript

Funded Book Workshop Grant holders for 2024-25:

Jodi Burkett (University of Portsmouth) for her project: International Students in Post-Imperial Britain: Experiences of Activism, Community, and Racialisation, c.1960-1990′
Selena Daly (University College London) for her project: ‘The World is Our Homeland: A Global History of Italian Emigration’

10. Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships, 2024-25

First awarded in 2023, Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships provide support for historians to trial new approaches in teaching History in UK Higher Education, or to undertake surveys of current aspects of History teaching. The Fellowships are named for the Dame Jinty Nelson (1942-2024), President of the Society, 2000-04.

Fellowship holders in the academic year 2024-25:

Katie Carpenter (University of Leeds) for ‘Brick By Brick: A History Co-Creation Project’
David Clayton (York) for ‘Piloting the Responsible and Effective Use of AI in Undergraduate History Teaching’
Matthew Hefferan (Nottingham) for ‘Using formative assessment activities to support undergraduate transition into history degrees’
Linsey Hunter (Highlands & Islands) for a ‘Short pilot study to explore best teaching practice of student-led co-design of undergraduate history modules at the University of the Highlands and Islands’
Sundeep Lidher (King’s College London) for ‘Archives against the Grain’
Lydia Plath (Warwick) for her project ‘Enabling students to feel “Emboldened and Enthralled”: Co-creating learning resources for digital databases’
Lowri Rees (Bangor) for ‘Innovative Approaches in Teaching Welsh History’
Elaine Sisson (Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dublin) for ‘Archives and Public Engagement’

11. David Berry Fellowship in the History of Scotland the Scottish People, 2024

First awarded in May 2024, the David Berry Fellowship provides support for historians to undertake research in the history of Scotland and the Scottish people.

Fellowship holders in 2024:

Fiona Jackson (University of Bristol) to support her PhD research on ‘Musical exchange within British-Soviet diplomatic relations, and the key role of the Baltic Republics and Georgia’.
Mhairi Winfield (University of St Andrews) to support her PhD research on ‘Scottish Libraries before Carnegie: An Evaluation of Scottish Library Culture (1450-1883)’