“If studying History becomes the preserve of elitist institutions then the chosen curriculum is more likely than not to reflect a more conservative, partisan view of the past. This is deeply ironic given the broad consensus around the need to decolonise the History curriculum to ensure a more inclusive national story is articulated and heard. And just as recent debates about the memorialisation of slaveholding philanthropists have finally brought the lives and struggles of enslaved peoples into full focus, the conversation about how to incorporate that more nuanced interpretation might be stopped dead in its tracks.

Who will write or teach the ‘history from below’ then? ‘As a Society we are dedicated to preserving historical resources connected to the labour movement, and to fostering a deeper understanding of the working lives, politics and culture of ‘ordinary’ people in the past. We are committed to promoting an effective counternarrative to the traditional emphasis on the role of the elite.

Increasingly, we are concerned that these damaging developments will serve to downgrade and marginalise labour history, making it ever more difficult for students to study it and for labour historians to secure university employment.”

It is therefore with deep regret that we learn that a further institution with a strong grounding in social and labour history has chosen to pursue this course. We are concerned that this represents yet another example of the devaluing of history and the wider historical profession within higher education.

The University of Hertfordshire has a highly valued and well-respected community of historians. The Society for the Study of Labour History is tremendously grateful for the intellectual and practical contributions its historians have made to the preservation of labour history. Their work has fostered a deeper understanding of the lives, culture, politics, and society of working people.

Like many post-1992 institutions, Hertfordshire also has a proud tradition of supporting students who might not otherwise have had access to university education. The weakening of humanities provision in such institutions risks further narrowing access to historical study and academic research for those from less privileged backgrounds.

As a Society, we add our voice to the campaign against these redundancies, extend our solidarity to those affected, and call upon the University to reconsider these proposals. Access to the study of history must remain open to all, rather than becoming the preserve of an educational elite.