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I am a social and economic historian of eighteenth-century England, with particular interests in the histories of retailing and consumption, both by the urban middling sorts and the rural elite.
I have recently completed a major study of comfort in the eighteenth-century country house, and I'm currently working on two projects, one which examines the nature of the second-hand trade and the consumption of used goods, and another which explores the lifestyle of eighteenth-century clergy and their families.
I enjoy sharing my love of history and of the eighteenth century with others, whether undergraduates, PhD students or the wider public.
I like to put historical sources at the heart of my teaching, encouraging you to discover your own insights into the lives, experiences and emotions of people in the past, and to think about how these might challenge our established views of past societies.
Much of my work is collaborative and interdisciplinary - a reflection, in part, of my background in historical geography, which I studied for my DPhil at Oxford University, writing my thesis on the role of the urban system in early industrialisation in northwest England. Since then, I have worked with geographers, art historians, heritage professionals and historians from the UK and across Europe on projects funded by the AHRC, The Leverhulme Trust, the European Union, the Pasold Trust and the Gerda Henkel Stiftung.
I am the founding editor of the journal History of Retailing and Consumption, co-chair of the Material and Consumer Culture network in the ESSHC, Honourary Treasurer of the Royal Historical Society, and a member of the Manchester Centre for Public HIstory and Heritage.
I joined MMU in 2015 having previously held positions at the University of Northampton, Coventry University and Staffordshire University.
Histories of retailing and consumption offer important insights into the lives of individuals, the nature and development of settlements, the social and economic networks that bound together societies and economies, and a wide range of global interactions.
For example, an eighteenth-century tea-table might take us to the Caribbean and supplies of sugar; to China to understand the complexities of the tea-trade; to Central America and the source of mahogany for the table itself. We might want to consider the skills of craftspeople who made the table, the porcelain and the silverware on display, or the retail networks that brought them into the home. It might also lead to to think about gender relations and cultures of polite sociability; of the emotions of those seated at the table, and the nature of the gossip they exchanged.
I am currently on research leave, so do not teach on any UG courses
I have supervised to completion a range of PhD projects, including:
Vicky Morgan (2003), Producing consumer space in 18th-century England: shops and shopping.
Rosie MacArthur (2010), Material culture and consumption on an English estate: Kelmarsh Hall, c.1687-1845 (AHRC Collaborative Award)
Amy Barnett (2010), Taste and Material Culture in Provincial England: The role of the Shopkeeper 1660-1800.
George Watley (2012), The consumer behaviour of Caribbean settlers in Northamptonshire, c.1955-1975 (AHRC Collaborative Award)
Fiona Cosson (2013), Community cohesion and identity: a lifecourse approach
Barbara Russell (2014), Social capital, community and business integration: taking the long view
Hannah Waugh (2014), Consumption, material culture and the country house – case study of Audley End (AHRC Collaborative Award)
PhD Lucy Bailey (2015), The village shop in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: image and reality
Tom McGrath (2021), 'Northern Powerhouses: The Homes of the Industrial Elite c.1750-1900'
I am currently director of studies for :
Helen Brown, 'Rethinking the English Country House Garden, 1750-1850: Creation and Consumption'
I have examined PhD theses at the University of Warwick, Coventry University, University of Leicester, University of Durham, University of Newcastle, University of Northampton, University College London, University of Sheffield, Oxford Brookes University, and Kings College London
My research ranges across the economic, social and cultural history of England in the long eighteenth century.
A long while ago now, I worked on industrial, urban and regional development in the Midlands and north-west England, published as The First Industrial Region (MUP, 2004) and Towns, Regions and Industries (MUP, 2005), and on the construction and articulation of social and business networks.
Subsquently, I switched to focus more on the geographies and practices of leisure, consumption and retailing. The last of these involved research, funded by The Leverhulme Trust, on the inter-relationship between the spaces and social practices of polite leisure and shopping in provincial towns which was published as Spaces of Consumption (Routledge, 2007). Following on from this, my book Sugar and Spice (OUP, 2013) comprises a major study of the changing world of the grocery trade in the period 1650-1850 – a time during which both retailers and consumers transformed their behaviour and attitudes in the face of a range of new exotic imports. I have also co-edited several collections of essays that explore retailing and consumption in a comparative European context, including Modernity and the Second-Hand Trade (Palgrave, 2010), Selling Textiles in the Long Eighteenth Century (Palgrave, 2014) and the Routledge Companion to the History of Retailing (Routledge, 2019).
More recently, I have explored the spatiality and practice of consumption in the English country house - research funded by the AHRC. Through detailed case studies of Warwickshire and Northamptonshire country houses, this project links the identity, supply networks and consumption practices of the gentry. It has led a number of journal articles and book chapters, and a monograph, Consumption and the Country House, published by OUP.
Building on this, I developed a joint project with Marie-Curie Fellow, Dr Cristina Prytz (Uppsala University), which explored physical and emotional comfort in the English and Swedish country house during the long eighteenth century. We co-curated exhibitions at a number of Swedish houses and published some of our findings in a range of articles and books chapters. I have recently published collection of essays on the topic, Comforts of Home in Western Europe, 1700-1900 (Bloomsbury, 2020) and a monograph, Comfort and the Eighteenth-Century Country House (Routledge, 2021) .
I am currently engaged in research on the consumption and lifestyle of Anglican clergy and their families in the long eighteenth century, funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung.
I have collaborated with colleagues from a variety of European countries, including: Prof Bruno Blonde and Dr Ilja Van Damme (University of Antwerp), Dr Johanna Ilmakunnas (University of Turku), Prof Yme Kuiper (University of Groningen), Dr Mikel Alm, Dr Gudrun Andersson and Dr Goran Ulvang (Uppsala University), Prof Natacha Coquery (University of Lyon2), Dr Daniel Menning and Dr Anne Sophie Overkamp (University of Tübingen), and Prof Rika Fujioka (Kansai University).
J. Stobart (2022). Comfort in the Eighteenth-Century Country House. Routledge.
G. Andersson, J. Stobart (2021). Daily Lives and Daily Routines in the Long Eighteenth Century. Routledge.
J. Stobart (2021). Servants' Furniture. In: At Home in the Eighteenth Century. Routledge, pp.245-265.
J. Stobart (2020). The Comforts of Home in Western Europe, 1700-1900. Bloomsbury Publishing.
J. Stobart (2017). Cathedrals of Consumption? Provincial Department Stores in England, c.1880–1930. Enterprise & Society. 18(4), pp.810-845.
J. Stobart (2017). Domestic textiles and country house sales in Georgian England. Business History. 61(1), pp.17-37.
M. Rothery, J. Stobart (2016). Consumption and the Country House. Oxford University Press.
J. Stobart (2015). Status, gender and life cycle in the consumption practices of the English elite. The case of Mary Leigh, 1736–1806. Social History. 40(1), pp.82-103.
J. Stobart (2012). Sugar and Spice. Oxford University PressOxford.
JV. Stobart (2008). Selling (through) politeness: advertising provincial shops in eighteenth-century England. Cultural and Social History. 5(2), pp.309-328.
J. Stobart, A. Hann, V. Morgan (2007). Spaces of Consumption Leisure and Shopping in the English Town, C. 1680-1830. Routledge.
J. Stobart (2023). Global Goods and the Country House Comparative Perspectives, 1650-1800.
PN. Lindfield, J. Stobart (2023). Politics and the English Country House, 1688–1800. P. Lindfield. McGill-Queen’s University Press.
J. Stobart (2022). Comfort in the Eighteenth-Century Country House. Routledge.
G. Andersson, J. Stobart (2021). Daily Lives and Daily Routines in the Long Eighteenth Century. Routledge.
G. Andersson, J. Stobart (2021). Introduction: Daily lives and daily routines in the (very) long eighteenth century.
A. Clemente, D. Lindström, J. Stobart (2021). Micro-geographies of the Western City, c.1750–1900. Routledge.
J. Stobart (2020). The Comforts of Home in Western Europe, 1700-1900. Bloomsbury Publishing.
J. Stobart, V. Howard (2019). The Routledge Companion to the History of Retailing. Routledge Companions in Business, Management and Accounting.
J. Stobart (2017). Travel and the British Country House Cultures, Critiques and Consumption in the Long Eighteenth Century.
J. Stobart (2017). Introduction: Travel and the British country house.
J. Ilmakunnas, J. Stobart (2017). A Taste for Luxury in Early Modern Europe Display, Acquisition and Boundaries. Bloomsbury Publishing.
J. Ilmakunnas, J. Stobart (2017). Display, Acquisition and Boundaries of Luxury and Taste.
M. Rothery, J. Stobart (2016). Consumption and the Country House. Oxford University Press.
J. stobart (2016). The Country House: Material Culture and Consumption. JV. Stobart, A. Hann. Historic England.
J. Stobart, B. Blondé (2014). Selling Textiles in the Long Eighteenth Century Comparative Perspectives from Western Europe. Palgrave Macmillan.
B. Blondé, J. Stobart (2014). Selling Textiles in the Long Eighteenth Century. J. Stobart, B. Blondé. Palgrave Macmillan UK.
J. Stobart (2012). Sugar and Spice. Oxford University PressOxford.
J. Stobart, IV. Damme (2011). Modernity and the Second-Hand Trade European Consumption Cultures and Practices, 1700-1900. J. stobart, I. Van Damme. Palgrave Macmillan.
J. Stobart (2009). Fashioning Old and New Changing Consumer Preferences in Europe (seventeenth-nineteenth Centuries). B. Blonde, N. Coquery, J. Stobart, I. Van Damme. Brepols Pub.
J. Stobart (2008). Spend, Spend, Spend A History of Shopping. History Publishing Group.
J. Stobart, A. Hann, V. Morgan (2007). Spaces of Consumption Leisure and Shopping in the English Town, C. 1680-1830. Routledge.
J. Stobart, B. Blonde, P. Stabel, I. Van Damme (2006). Buyers and Sellers. Retail Circuits and practices in medieval and Early Modern Europe. JV. Stobart. Brepols.
J. Stobart, N. Raven (2005). Towns, Regions and Industries Urban and Industrial Change in the Midlands, C.1700-1840. J. stobart, N. raven. Manchester University Press.
J. Stobart (2004). The First Industrial Region North West England C. 1700-60. Manchester University Press.
A. Owens, J. Stobart (2000). Introduction.
J. Stobart, A. Owens (2000). Urban Fortunes Property and Inheritance in the Town, 1700-1900. J. stobart, A. Owens. Ashgate Pub Limited.
J. Stobart (2017). Cathedrals of Consumption? Provincial Department Stores in England, c.1880–1930. Enterprise & Society. 18(4), pp.810-845.
J. Stobart (2017). Domestic textiles and country house sales in Georgian England. Business History. 61(1), pp.17-37.
J. Stobart (2017). Making the High Street: Walking Tours and Street Views in the 1830s. Journal of Victorian Culture. 22(3), pp.354-361.
A. O’Byrne, J. Stobart (2017). Introduction: Roundtable on John Tallis’s London Street Views (1838–1840). Journal of Victorian Culture. 22(3), pp.287-296.
J. Stobart, L. Bailey (2017). Retail revolution and the village shop, c . 1660-1860. The Economic History Review. 71(2), pp.393-417.
J. Stobart (2017). Making the global local? Overseas goods in English rural shops, c.1600–1760. Business History. 59(7), pp.1136-1153.
V. Howard, J. Stobart Issue 6.1: Introduction. History of Retailing and Consumption. pp.1-4.
JON. Stobart, I. Van Damme (2016). Introduction: markets in modernization: transformations in urban market space and practice, c. 1800 – c. 1970. Urban History. 43(3), pp.358-371.
JV. Stobart (2015). Consumption and the city: retail space and urban form, c.1650-1950. The Comparative Urban History Review. xxxiv(2), pp.43-70.
J. Stobart (2015). Status, gender and life cycle in the consumption practices of the English elite. The case of Mary Leigh, 1736–1806. Social History. 40(1), pp.82-103.
JON. Stobart (2015). ‘So agreeable and suitable a place’: The Character, Use and Provisioning of a Late Eighteenth-Century Suburban Villa. Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies. 39(1), pp.89-102.
M. Rothery, JON. Stobart (2012). Inheritance events and spending patterns in the English country house: the Leigh family of Stoneleigh Abbey, 1738–1806. Continuity and Change. 27(3), pp.379-407.
JON. Stobart (2011). Gentlemen and shopkeepers: supplying the country house in eighteenth-century England. The Economic History Review. 64(3), pp.885-904.
J. Stobart (2011). Sucre et épices. Histoire urbaine. n° 30(1), pp.127-146.
JON. STOBART (2011). Who were the urban gentry? Social elites in an English provincial town, c. 1680–1760. Continuity and Change. 26(01), pp.89-112.
J. Stobart (2010). A history of shopping: the missing link between retail and consumer revolutions. Journal of Historical Research in Marketing. 2(3), pp.342-349.
JON. Stobart, L. Schwarz (2008). Leisure, luxury and urban specialization in the eighteenth century. Urban History. 35(2), pp.216-236.
JV. Stobart (2008). Selling (through) politeness: advertising provincial shops in eighteenth-century England. Cultural and Social History. 5(2), pp.309-328.
J. Stobart (2007). Food retailers and rural communities: Cheshire butchers in the long eighteenth century. Local Population Studies. 77(79), pp.23-37.
J. Stobart (2007). Accommodating the shop the commercial use of domestic space in English provincial towns, c.1660-1740. Citta e Storia. 2(2), pp.351-363.
J. Stobart (2005). INFORMATION, TRUST AND REPUTATION:. Scandinavian Journal of History. 30(3-4), pp.298-307.
J. Stobart (2005). Leisure and Shopping in the Small Towns of Georgian England. Journal of Urban History. 31(4), pp.479-503.
A. Hann, J. Stobart (2005). Sites of Consumption: The Display of Goods in Provincial Shops in Eighteenth-Century England. Cultural and Social History. 2(2), pp.165-187.
J. Stobart (2004). Building an urban identity. Cultural space and civic boosterism in a 'new' industrial town: Burslem, 1761-1911. Social History. 29(4), pp.485-498.
J. Stobart (2004). Personal and commercial networks in an English port: Chester in the early eighteenth century. Journal of Historical Geography. 30(2), pp.277-293.
J. Stobart, A. Hann (2004). Retailing Revolution in the Eighteenth Century? Evidence from North-West England. Business History. 46(2), pp.171-194.
J. Stobart (2004). The economic and social worlds of rural craftsmen-retailers in eighteenth-century Cheshire. AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW. 52(2), pp.141-160.
JON. STOBART (2003). Identity, competition and place promotion in the Five Towns. Urban History. 30(2), pp.163-182.
J. Stobart (2002). Culture versus commerce: societies and spaces for elites in eighteenth-century Liverpool. Journal of Historical Geography. 28(4), pp.471-485.
J. Stobart (2001). Regions, Localities, and Industrialisation: Evidence from the East Midlands Circa 1780 – 1840. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. 33(7), pp.1305-1325.
J. Stobart (2000). In Search of Causality: A Regional Approach to Urban Growth in Eighteenth-century England. Geografiska Annaler, Series B: Human Geography. 82B(3), pp.149-163.
J. Stobart, AG. Hallsworth (1999). Change and stability, structure and agency in retailing: the case of Stoke-on-Trent. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research. 9(2), pp.203-221.
J. Stobart, R. Ball (1998). Tourism and Local Economic Development. Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit. 13(3), pp.228-238.
J. Stobart (1998). Shopping streets as social space: leisure, consumerism and improvement in an eighteenth-century county town. Urban History. 25(1), pp.3-21.
R. Ball, J. Stobart (1998). Local Authorities, Tourism and Competition. Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit. 12(4), pp.342-353.
J. Stobart (1998). Textile Industries in North-West England in the Early Eighteenth Century: A Geographical Approach. Textile History. 29(1), pp.3-18.
J. Stobart (1996). An eighteenth-century revolution? Investigating urban growth in north-west England, 1664–1801. Urban History. 23(1), pp.26-47.
J. Stobart (1996). The spatial organization of a regional economy: central places in North-west England in the early-eighteenth century. Journal of Historical Geography. 22(2), pp.147-159.
R. Ball, J. Stobart (1996). Community identity and the local government review. Local Government Studies. 22(1), pp.113-126.
J. Stobart (1996). Geography and Industrialization: The Space Economy of Northwest England, 1701-1760. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 21(4), pp.681-681.
J. Ilmakunnas, J. Stobart (2023). Material cultures of warmth in England and Sweden during the long eighteenth century. In: Energy in the Early Modern Home. Routledge, pp.117-136.
H. Brown, J. Stobart (2021). The rhythms and routines of the English country-house garden. In: Daily Lives and Daily Routines in the Long Eighteenth Century. pp.82-101.
G. Andersson, J. Stobart (2021). Conclusion. In: Daily Lives and Daily Routines in the Long Eighteenth Century. pp.232-236.
J. Stobart (2021). Servants' Furniture. In: At Home in the Eighteenth Century. Routledge, pp.245-265.
JV. Stobart (2017). Forbrugssteder: Butikkernes fysiske og oplevede rum I England 1700-1820. In: Forgrugets Kulturhistorie: Butik, by og Forbrugere efter 1660.
J. Stobart (2015). Rich, Male and Single. In: Single Life and the City 1200-1900. Palgrave Macmillan, pp.224-243.
J. Stobart (2015). Rich, Male and Single: The Consumption Practices of Edward Leigh, 1742–86. In: Single Life and the City 1200–1900. Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp.224-243.
J. Stobart (2015). Lost Aspects of the Country Estate. In: Lost Mansions. Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp.23-43.
JV. Stobart (2015). Lost Mansions. J. Raven. In: Lost Mansions. Essays on the Destruction of the Country House. Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp.23-43.
J. Stobart (2013). Comparative Responses to Globalization. M. Umemura, R. Fujioka. In: Comparative Responses to Globalization: Experiences of British and Japanese Enterprises. Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp.23-44.
B. Russell, J. Stobart, N. Kakabadse (2012). Global Elites. A. Kakabadse, N. Kakabadse. In: Global Elites: The Opaque Nature of Transnational Policy Determination. Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp.262-285.
JV. Stobart (2009). In and out of fashion? Advertising novel and second-hand goods in Georgian England’. B. Blonde, N. Coquery, J. Stobart, I. Van Damme. In: Fashioning Old and New Changing Consumer Preferences in Europe (seventeenth-nineteenth Centuries). Brepols Pub, pp.133-144.
JV. Stobart (2009). A settled little society? Networks, friendship and trust in eighteenth-century provincial England. E. Baigent, R. Mayhew. In: English Geographies 1600-1950 Historical Essays on English Customs, Cultures, and Communities in Honour of Jack Langton. St Johns College,
J. stobart (2007). Rus et Urbe? The hinterland and landscape of Georgian Chester. M. Palmer, P. Barnwell. In: Post-Medieval Landscapes in Britain: Landscape History after Hoskins, Volume 3. Windgather press, pp.107-118.
JV. Stobart (2006). Clothes, cabinets and carriages: second-hand dealing in eighteenth-century England. B. Blonde, P. Stabel, J. stobart, I. Van Damme. In: Buyers and Sellers. Retail circuits and practices in medieval and early modern Europe. Brepols Publishers, pp.225-244.
JV. Stobart (2003). City centre retailing in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: structure and processes. J. Benson, L. Ugolini. In: A Nation of Shopkeepers Five Centuries of British Retailing. I. B. Tauris, pp.155-178.
JV. Stobart (2002). County, town and country: three histories of urban development in eighteenth-century Chester. P. Borsay, L. Proudfoot. In: Provincial Towns in Early Modern England and Ireland Change, Convergence, and Divergence. Oxford University Press,
J. Stobart (2000). Social and geographical contexts of property transmission in the eighteenth century. In: Urban Fortunes: Property and Inheritance in the Town, 1700-1900. pp.108-130.
In recent years, I have been invited to give papers on various aspects of retail and consumption history to academic audiences. These include:
German Historical Institute, London, UK (2014, 2019)
Odense City Museums, Denmark (2015)
Osaka University, Japan (2015)
Senshu University, Japan (2015)
Tokyo University, Japan (2015)
University of Uppsala, Sweden (2013, 2014, 2018)
University of Bern, Switzerland (2018)
University of Tubingen (2019)
I have organised a number of internationl conferences in recent years, including:
Houses of Politicians (with Joan Coutu, University of Waterloo, Canada), Manchester Metropolitan University, 2019
Reading the Country House, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2018
Home Comforts: the physical and emotional meanings of home in Western Europe, 1650-1900, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2017
Travel and the Country House: Places, Cultures and Practices, University of Northampton, September 2014
Consuming the Country House: from Acquisition to Presentation (with Andrew Hann, English Heritage), University of Northampton, April 2012
Visiting rites: accessing the English home, c.1650-1850 (with Sara Pennell, University of Roehampton), University of Northampton, September 2009
Selling textiles in the long eighteenth century: comparative perspectives from western Europe, University of Northampton, June 2009
Urban Living: society, culture and politics in the English town, 1700-1850, University of Northampton, July 2007
I have reviewed papers for a wide range of academic journals including: Economic History Review, Cultural and Social History, Geography, Journal of Historical Geography, Urban History, Southern History, Business History Review, Historical Journal, and Journal of Consumer Culture.
I have also reviewed book proposals and manuscripts for Oxford University Press, Palgrave, Routledge, and Manchester University Press.
2021-23 Gerda Henkel Stiftung (c.£65,000): 'Morality and materiality: the English clergy as consumers, c.1660-1830' (PI)
2015-17 Marie Curie Fellowship (c. €185,000): 'House and home: physical and emotional comfort in the country house, England and Sweden c.1680-1820' (Fellow: Cristina Prytz, Uppsala University)
2010-12 AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award (c.£50,000): ‘Country house consumption and material culture at Audley End, c.1750-1850'
2010-11 AHRC (£165,000): ‘Consumption and the Country House, c.1730-1800’ (PI)
2008-11 AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award (c.£45,000): ‘The consumer behaviour of Caribbean settlers in Northamptonshire, c.1955-1975’
2006-09 AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award (c.£45,000): ‘Material culture and consumption on an English estate: Kelmarsh Hall, c.1687-1845’
2002-04 The Leverhulme Trust (£65,000): ‘Leisure and consumption: regions and hierarchies 1700-1830’ (PI)
2002-03 British Academy (£1500): ‘Rural retailing in the eighteenth century’
1998-2001 The Leverhulme Trust (c.£70,000): ‘Urban and industrial change in the Midlands, 1700-1840’ (Co-I with Prof. Peter Clark)
My work on Consumption and the Country House has involved collaborative initiatives with a number of heritage organisations representing country houses in the Midlands. My aim here is to facilitate different ways of interpreting and presenting the history of these houses, focused on the owners' consumption practices.
I have worked with the National Trust at Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire. One aspect of this was facilitating story-telling centred on the lives of Sir John Turner Dryden and his wife Elizabeth Dryden, the story culminating with the chance to see his dress suit, held at the house but rarely on publlic display. Another was producing interpretative materials for the house, including a smart phone app which provided an alternative mechanism for navigating the house. This proved especially popular with younger visitors, one of whom reported that it was 'better than talking to old people'!
I have also collaborated with Stoneleigh Abbey Trust, again producing a range of interpretive materials and a small exhibition which told the story of the Honourable Mary Leigh who had a life interest in the house in the late eighteenth century. The purpose here was to throw light on one of the neglected episodes in the history of the property and challenge visitors to think about the impact of apparently minor characters in shaping the house as it is seen today.
I co-curated, with Michala Hulme, an exhibition at Manchester Central Library called 100 Manchester Shops. Together with an associated website, this explored histories of local shops, drawing on people's memories of working or shopping there to provide a rich and human perspective on important parts of our urban milieu.
I am a member of the Peer Review and Strategic Review Colleges of the AHRC and of the history and archaeology panel for FWO , Belgium
I am Honourary Treasurer of the Royal Historical Society
I am the founding co-editor of History of Retailing and Consumption
Economic History Society (council member, 2005-2013)
Social History Society (executive committee, 2005-2013)
Northamptonshire Record Society (council member, 2005-2015)
Historical Geography Research Group, Royal Geographical Society