Category: Research bursaries

Bursary reports, Research bursaries

Eleanor Strangways (Loughborough) on British and French anarchists and anti-imperialist movements in Africa

My PhD research seeks to examine the relationship between anarchism and imperialism, and looks specifically at the interaction between anarchists in Britain and France and the anti-imperial movements and intellectuals across Africa from 1945-1970.   In the summer of 2023, thanks to a bursary from the Society for the Study of Labour History, I had the opportunity to visit two international archive centres: the International Institute … Continue reading Eleanor Strangways (Loughborough) on British and French anarchists and anti-imperialist movements in Africa

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

‘Glimpsus Ankli and Veenecki’: catching sight of women workers in First World War aircraft factories

Factory magazines enabled independent researcher Lily Ford to uncover women’s experience in the aircraft factories of the First World War, with the help of an SSLH research bursary. My research uncovers the women behind the scenes in British aviation. It offers a new view of the development of flight in Britain from the 1890s to the 1940s, and looks at areas where women were involved … Continue reading ‘Glimpsus Ankli and Veenecki’: catching sight of women workers in First World War aircraft factories

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

Maya Adereth (LSE) on trade unions and friendly society benefits in the UK and US at the turn of the 20th century

My PhD thesis asks: when do trade unions come to support universal welfare policies? It pursues the question through a comparison of the British and American labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century. Thanks to the funding from the Society for the Study of Labour History, I was able to make two archival visits which hugely advanced my research. The first was to … Continue reading Maya Adereth (LSE) on trade unions and friendly society benefits in the UK and US at the turn of the 20th century

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

Duncan Hamilton (Manchester) on the abandoned romances of Thomas Cooper

My PhD focuses on the literary activism of the Chartist poet and autodidact, Thomas Cooper. Unlike several other members of Chartism’s leadership, who came from middle-class or even aristocratic backgrounds, Cooper was proudly a working-class leader who worked as a shoemaker in Gainsborough before his entry into the movement. Aspiring to a career as an author, Cooper wrote prodigiously throughout his life, particularly during a … Continue reading Duncan Hamilton (Manchester) on the abandoned romances of Thomas Cooper

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

Left-wing, woman, aristocrat: in search of Elinor Bethell (1869-1943)

Dr Quentin Gasteuil explains how he tracked down Elinor Bethell, a little known British woman who played a leading role in the Labour Party in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s, with help from an SSLH bursary. I came across the widely unknown character of Elinor Frances Bethell during my PhD research. When I first made archival contact with her, she was a British woman … Continue reading Left-wing, woman, aristocrat: in search of Elinor Bethell (1869-1943)

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

Gregory Billam (Edge Hill University) on the CPGB, the Historians’ Group and the CPA between 1946-1956

My thesis focuses on the Communist Party of Great Britain’s British Road to Socialism (1951) within a wider international context of ‘national roads to socialism’, in which communist parties were told to adapt to ‘national’ circumstances. My research examines the British party’s ‘road to socialism’ at the British Empire’s centre, and that of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) at its periphery in the early … Continue reading Gregory Billam (Edge Hill University) on the CPGB, the Historians’ Group and the CPA between 1946-1956

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Research bursaries

Petra Seitz (UCL) looks at office design and asks: where do you cry in an open plan office?

Where do you cry in an open plan office? This is the emotional question lingering in the back of my thoughts as I complete research into commercial office interior spaces and the relationship of these spaces to the labour process. My research seeks to revisit the history of office spaces, considering and unpicking the relationship between the design of office interiors and the experience of … Continue reading Petra Seitz (UCL) looks at office design and asks: where do you cry in an open plan office?

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

Siân Davies (Edinburgh) on the Pennant family and the labour history of their estates in North Wales and Jamaica c1780-c1900

The Pennant family owned and managed sugar plantations in Jamaica, worked on by enslaved, indentured and later free labourers. From the 1780s onwards the family also ran Penrhyn Quarry in North Wales. The Penrhyn Quarry lockout from 1900-1903 is notorious in the area. I knew from a young age that members of the community still resented the Pennant name for their treatment of the quarrying … Continue reading Siân Davies (Edinburgh) on the Pennant family and the labour history of their estates in North Wales and Jamaica c1780-c1900

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

David Isserman (Edge Hill) on transnational syndicalism and industrial unionism in Liverpool and Glasgow, 1905-1926

My research focuses on the history of syndicalism and industrial unionism among maritime workers in Liverpool and Glasgow during the early twentieth century. Both cities were centres of labour unrest during the Edwardian and inter-war years, with Liverpool experiencing the 1911 transport strike and Glasgow being the host city to the dual unionist British Seafarers Union (BSU) and Scottish Union of Dock Labourers (SCUDL). Thanks … Continue reading David Isserman (Edge Hill) on transnational syndicalism and industrial unionism in Liverpool and Glasgow, 1905-1926

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

Dominic Barron-Carter (Manchester Metropolitan) on the local impact of the Orbiston Owenite Colony

My research uses the geohistorical concepts of space and place to contextualise and interpret the activity and importance of four neglected sites of radical democratic protest activity during the nineteenth century. Thanks to the generous bursary program offered by the SSLH, I was able to undertake a six-day research trip to the North Lanarkshire Archive (NLA) in Motherwell, Scotland. The NLA is a key archive … Continue reading Dominic Barron-Carter (Manchester Metropolitan) on the local impact of the Orbiston Owenite Colony

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