History@Portsmouth

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Historical Association (Portsmouth Branch) lecture programme 2017-18

By on September 15, 2017 in Events, News

Dr James Thomas, Reader in History at the University of Portsmouth, coordinates events for the Portsmouth Branch of the Historical Association.  Talks meet in the University’s Park Building, room 2.07, at 7.00 pm and finish by 8.30 pm.  There are some exciting talks coming up, including, on the 14th November, one on the Russian Revolution, by our School’s own Dr Paul Flenley For further details, contact James.Thomas@port.ac.uk or search the Historical Association website at: https://www.history.org.uk/events/categories/511/resource/4361/portsmouth-branch-history All welcome.  Hope to see you there!   2017 10th October Operation Tadpole, Dr John Bevan, the Diving Museum, diver and author The British anti-sabotage operations against the Italin frogmen attacks in Gibraltar during WWII. […]

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“Literature acknowledges no boundaries”: Book reading and social class in Britain, c.1930-c.1945

By on September 7, 2017 in New Publications

An article on book reading and social class by Dr Robert James, senior lecturer in history at Portsmouth, has recently been published in the Journal of Social History. See below for the abstract, and if you want to read the article, click here. Abstract Sitting down to read a work of fiction was a well-established leisure activity within British society by the early-twentieth century but one that was mainly enjoyed by the country’s more leisured classes. After the First World War, however, changes to the publishing industry’s working practices, coupled with the growth of the “open access” system in public libraries in the 1920s and the spread of twopenny libraries […]

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1914 SM p.38, platelayer edit

The dangers of railway work documented

By on August 30, 2017 in News, Public History, Research in Focus

In this blog, Dr Mike Esbester, senior lecturer in history, provides an update on the ‘Railway, Life & Death‘ project he has been working on in conjunction with the National Railway Museum. A database that details the stories of nearly 4,000 individuals who were killed or injured at work, including 16-year old James Beck, who Mike discussed briefly in an earlier blog (http://history.port.ac.uk/?p=315), is now available online.  Mike’s research focuses on the cultural history of safety, risk and accident prevention in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The ‘Railway Work, Life & Death’ project has just made available the database of nearly 4,000 individuals killed or injured at work on the […]

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kobe-university

Intersecting port cities: PTUC members collaborate with the Port Cities Research Centre, Kobe, Japan

By on August 21, 2017 in Events

In June, four members of the history team at Portsmouth participated in a series of field trips, presentations, and workshops with academics from Kobe University in Japan. In this blog, one of the founding members of the Port Towns and Urban Cultures research group, Dr Rob James, who is a senior lecturer in history, discusses the visit and what potential future opportunities the collaboration promises. As part of our goal to extend links with other institutions worldwide, four members of the University’s Port Towns and Urban Cultures (PTUC) project, Dr Mel Bassett, Professor Brad Beaven, Dr Karl Bell and Dr Rob James, travelled to Kobe, Japan in late-June to meet scholars […]

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Sir Hudibras

Laughter as a political weapon after the English Civil Wars.

By on August 11, 2017 in New Publications, Research in Focus

Dr Fiona McCall is a lecturer in early modern history at Portsmouth, teaching units on the British Civil Wars, and Crime, Sin and Punishment in early modern Britain, amongst others. Her current research project investigates religion in the English parish during the period of Godly rule of the 1640s and 1650s. What do you do if you are utterly defeated in a Civil War, and governed by a religious zealouts who have executed your ruler and are determined to stamp out most of the religious practises you hold dear? Fighting back has proved no use. You can retreat from public life and count what money the sequestrators have left you.  […]

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Vinnie Jones and Paul Gasgoigne

‘Do it the safety way!’ 100 years of accident prevention.

By on July 13, 2017 in Research in Focus

In this blog Dr Mike Esbester, senior lecturer in history, discusses how he has been working with the British Safety Council in order to create an online archive of their material. Mike draws upon his research interests in his 3rd year Special Subject strand. Mike’s wide-ranging take on the history of accident prevention touches upon accidents at work, in the streets and at home, and examines how the state has interacted with its citizens – and how the messages found in safety education were not neutral, but contained some very distinct ideas about who could prevent accidents. This is just one aspect of Mike’s research, which has been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and supported by […]

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