Professor Melanie Tebbutt

Professor in History

My profile

Biography

I was the first in my family to receive a university education and have never lost the desire to teach, research and spread the word about learning to as many people as possible. My early research focussed on the role of working-class women in the family economy, particularly their use of credit and the pawnbroker. I’ve alsoexplored gossip networks in working class neighbourhoods and institutions. More recently, I’ve been researching and teaching the history of youth and exploring its implications for young people growing up in the present day.

You only have to speak to me to know that I’m only an adopted northerner, but I’ve lived in and loved the North West for many years. Manchester and northern England are wonderful places in which to live and learn. I’ve written about the moorlands of the north and love these great open spaces, although I retain a soft spot for the rural settings of the East Midlands, the landscapes of my childhood.

My career has not always been within universities. I’ve also taught and developed outreach and guidance provision in adult, community and further education, experiences which shaped my views of the importance of breaking down barriers to learning, opening up access and opportunities across communities and age groups, and researching radical histories which test and challenge accepted wisdom.

We’re lucky in the North West to be able to draw upon the cultural richness of many different organisations, groups and individuals who have a common enthusiasm and curiosity about local histories and heritage. History is for everyone and finding ways to share research and ideas by breaking down academic barriers and communicating our work is an important part of what we do as historians at Manchester Met.

Academic and professional qualifications

I am a specialist in British social and cultural history whose published books range from the history of pawnbroking and working-class credit, to gossip and social relationships in working-class neighbourhoods and the leisure identities of youth in the 1920s and 1930s. University/AHRC research leave in 2009/10 enabled me to complete Being Boys: Youth Leisure and Identity in the Inter-war Years (Manchester University Press, 2012). Since then I have been involved in several history-based community engagement projects with local communities in North West England, all of which have been defined by the importance of young people telling their own stories. AHRC Follow-on Funding, The Passions of Youth, 2014-15, allowed me to apply some of the findings of Being Boys work, by working with local artists, youth work practitioners and educationalists to explore changes and continuities of working-class boys and young men over the past sixty years. Other projects, such as the film, Forever Young, have explored childhood and the teen years from the perspective of older participants. Returning Home, another film-based project, with the North West Film Archive, is researching the repercussions and emotional implications of ‘delicate’ children’s recuperative holidays with foster families in Switzerland after the Second World War and placing this research within the context of the broader international context of similar humanitarian initiatives.

Other academic service (administration and management)

Formerly

  • Head, History Research Centre
  • Director, Manchester Centre for Regional History
  • Co-director/Head of Youth History, Manchester Centre for Youth Studies

External examiner roles

External PhD examining since 2010: University of York; University of Wolverhampton; Edith Cowan University, Western Australia; University of Lancaster; University of Central Lancashire; De Monfort University; University of Northampton; University of Birmingham. I have examined many MA and M.Res dissertations on youth topics.
And regional history.

Expert reviewer for external funding bodies

Reviewer/referee international journals and publishers, including the following in the last five years: Agricultural History Review, Comparative Studies in Society and History, University of Michigan, Contemporary British History, Cultural and Social History, English Historical Review, Economic History Review, Human Relations, Journal of British Studies, Journal of the Early Republic (University of Pennsylvania Press), Journal of Intercultural Studies, Journal of Social History, Journal of Tourism History, Journal of Urban History, National Identities, Twentieth Century British History, Women’s History Review
Reader for Oxford University Press, Bloomsbury, Manchester University Press, Ashgate and Routledge

Government and industry links

Since 2010: 

  • 2014: AHRC Follow-on Funding Award, The Passions of Youth (PI)
  • 2011 British Academy Small Grant, Writing, Asking and Advising
  • 2009-10 AHRC Research Leave Award, Working-class Masculinities in the Interwar Years 

Editorial Board membership

  • 2018 - Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire (Editorial Board)
  • 2007 -International Journal of Regional and Local Studies (Editorial Advisory Board)
  • 1999-2015: Manchester Region History Review (co-editor)

Membership of professional associations

Since 2010

  • 2016: Committee member, Children’s History Society UK
  • 2016: International Networking Officer, Children’s History Society UK
  • 2015: Trustee, Manchester Histories Charity UK: https://manchesterhistories.co.uk
  • 2012: Board member, Manchester Histories Charity UK
  • 2008- 2014: Council member, Chetham’s Society

Get in touch

0161 247 6491
103 Geoffrey Manton Building

Teaching

Why study…

History is about what makes us human, what roots us in time and what shapes the future. It’s about identifying patterns, developing critical abilities and making sense of the messiness of past lives. It’s about learning to interpret, debate and challenge on a basis of evidence, to acquire skills which will allow you not only to understand the past but also how to critique the present.

Studying History is about rigour, but also about developing your confidence, ability and humanity. Whatever type of history you study, after three years, you’ll emerge as a different individual with a deeper awareness of both yourself and the society around you.

Postgraduate teaching

  • MA History 

Subject areas

History

Supervision

In progress

  • Isabel Taube, ‘Granadaland: Histories and Legacies’. (DoS)

Completed since 2010

  • Michala Hulme, ‘Death in the world’s first industrial city, 1800-1850’. (DoS)
  • Jo Darnley, ‘Co-operative responses to gender in interwar Britain: a critical archival case study of historical collaboration and contemporary participation embodied in co-operative movement visual and material culture’. (Phd in School of Art. On supervisory panel.)
  • Andrew, Rebecca, ‘An examination of young working-class women’s leisure in three Cumbrian rural communities between the 1930s and the 1950s’ (DoS)
  • Ngo, Hga Nan, ‘Fatherhood and masculinity in rural and urban Vietnam: a comparative study of generational and class differences in men’s attitudes and experiences’. (On supervisory panel. Director of Studies, Dr Susie Jacobs, in the Department of Sociology)
  • Jackson, Veronica, ‘Technical and vocational training of young women in the North-West, 1950-1965’: Underachievement and opportunities missed?’ (DoS)
  • James, Gary, ‘The Emergence of an Association Football Culture in Manchester 1850-1904’ (On supervisory panel. Director of Studies, Prof. Dave Day, Sports History)
  • Jones, David, ‘Power and powerlessness in inter-war rural England’ (DoS)
  • Nuttall, Pamela, ‘Corruption in public life: a study of the exercise of power in Manchester and Salford in the late-Victorian period, 1871-1902 (DoS)
  • Whitfield, Matthew, ‘Multi-storey public housing in England during the inter-war years’ (DoS)

Research outputs

My research interests include the history of childhood and youth; gender and working-class masculinities; sense of place and regional identities; landscape and the outdoor movement; working-class communities; history of emotions.

  • Books (authored/edited/special issues)

    Tebbutt, M., Kidd, A. (2016) People, Places and Identities: Themes in British Social and Cultural History, 1700s-1980s. Manchester University Press.

    Tebbutt, M.J., Kidd, A. (2016) Introduction. Manchester University Press.

    Tebbutt, M. (2016) Making Youth: A History of Youth in Modern Britain. Palgrave Macmillan.

    Tebbutt, M. (2012) Being Boys. Manchester University Press.

    Tebbutt, M.J. (2004) Rural and Urban Encounters in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Regional Perspectives. Manchester: Conference of Regional and Local Historians.

    Tebbutt, M. (1995) Women's talk?. Scolar Pr.

    Tebbutt, M. (1983) Making Ends Meet. Taylor & Francis.

  • Chapters in books

    Tebbutt, M. (2020) 'Fears of the Dark: Children, Young People and the Cinema in World War One.' In Andrews, Maggie, M., Fleming, N., Morris, M. (ed.) Histories, Memories and Representations of Being Young in the First World War. Palgrave Macmillan,

    Tebbutt, M. (2020) '‘Fears of the Dark: Children, Young People and the Cinema in World War One’.' Histories, Memories and Representations of Being Young in the First World War. Palgrave Macmillan,

    Tebbutt, M. (2017) 'From "marriage bureau" to "points of view": Changing patterns of advice in teenage magazines: Mirahelle, 1956-77.' People, places and identities: Themes in British social and cultural history, 1700s-1980s. pp. 180-201.

    Tebbutt, M.J. (2016) 'From “Marriage Bureau” to “Points of View”. Changing patterns of advice in teenage magazines: Mirabelle, 1956-1977.' In Kidd, A., Tebbutt, M. (ed.) People, Places and Identities: Themes in British Social and Cultural History, 1700s-1980s. Manchester University Press,

    Tebbutt, M. (2016) 'Policing Sexual Behaviour.' Making Youth. Macmillan Education UK, pp. 104-130.

    Tebbutt, M. (2016) 'New Youth Identities.' Making Youth. Macmillan Education UK, pp. 156-181.

    Tebbutt, M. (2016) 'Troublemaking and Imposing Order.' Making Youth. Macmillan Education UK, pp. 50-74.

    Tebbutt, M. (2016) 'Youth Transforming.' Making Youth. Macmillan Education UK, pp. 182-200.

    Tebbutt, M. (2016) 'Youth Transforming.' Making Youth. Macmillan Education UK, pp. 182-200.

    Tebbutt, M. (2016) 'Organised and Unorganised Youth.' Making Youth. Macmillan Education UK, pp. 75-103.

    Tebbutt, M. (2016) 'Working Youth and Educating the Young.' Making Youth. Macmillan Education UK, pp. 20-49.

    Tebbutt, M. (2016) 'Leisure and Consumption.' Making Youth. Macmillan Education UK, pp. 131-155.

    Tebbutt, M.J. (2013) 'Healing landscapes: psychology and the outdoor movement in the 1920s.' In Day, D. (ed.) Sport and Leisure Histories. Manchester Metropolitan University,

    Tebbutt, M. (2012) 'Bodies and appearance.' Being Boys. Manchester University Press, pp. 106-131.

    Tebbutt, M. (2012) 'Looking at youth.' Being Boys. Manchester University Press, pp. 44-62.

    Tebbutt, M. (2012) 'Sex and sentiment.' Being Boys. Manchester University Press, pp. 141-161.

    Tebbutt, M. (2012) 'Dancing and gender.' Being Boys. Manchester University Press, pp. 201-224.

    Tebbutt, M. (2012) 'Place and mobility.' Being Boys. Manchester University Press, pp. 233-251.

    Tebbutt, M. (2012) 'Ordinary boys and masculine men.' Being Boys. Manchester University Press, pp. 70-97.

    Tebbutt, M. (2012) 'Seeking advice.' Being Boys. Manchester University Press, pp. 169-194.

    Tebbutt, M.J. (2011) 'Exhibition and inhibitions: new narratives of working-class boys and leisure in the 1920s and 1930s.' In Snape, R. (ed.) Recording Leisure Lives.

    Tebbutt, M.J. (2004) 'Gendering an upland landscape: masculinity and place identity in the Peak District, 1880s - 1920s.' Society, Landscape and Environment in Upland Britain. Birmingham: Society for Landscape Studies,

    Tebbutt, M.J. (2004) ''Men of the Hills and Street Corner Boys’: Northern Uplands and the Urban Imagination’,.' Rural and Urban Encounters in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Regional Perspectives. Manchester: Conference of Regional and Local Historians,

    Tebbutt, M.J. (2000) 'In the Midlands but not of them’: Derbyshire’s Dark Peak, An Imagined Northern Landscape.' Northern Identities: The Construction of Identity in Northern England from 1800 to the present. Aldershot: Ashgate, pp. 163-194.

    Tebbutt, M.J. (1997) 'Workplace Gossip: Management Myths in Further Education.' Languages of Labour. Aldershot: Ashgate, pp. 131-152.

    Tebbutt, M.J. (1992) 'Women’s Talk? Gossip and women’s words in working class communities, 1880-1939.' Cultures and Communities in Manchester and Salford, 1880-1939. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 49-73.

  • Journal articles

    Tebbutt, M. (2022) 'Crying for Flicka : boys, young men and emotion at the cinema in Britain in the 1930s and 1940s.' Journal of Social History, 56(1) pp. 144-167.

    Tebbutt, M. (2019) 'Questioning the Rhetoric of British Borstal Reform in the 1930s.' Historical Journal, 63(3) pp. 710-731.

    Tebbutt, M. (2017) 'Listening to youth? BBC youth broadcasts during the 1930s and the Second World War.' History Workshop Journal, 84pp. 214-233.

    Kidd, A., Tebbutt, M. (2017) 'Introduction.' pp. 1-18.

    Kirby, P.G. (2016) 'Introduction.' FAMILY LAW QUARTERLY, 50(1) pp. 1-2.

    Tebbutt, M., Bourne, D. (2014) 'Shebeens and black music culture in Moss Side, Manchester, in the 1950s and 1960s.' Manchester Region History Review, 25pp. 21-34.

    Tebbutt, M. (2012) 'Imagined Families and Vanished Communities: Memories of a Working-class Life in Northampton.' History Workshop Journal, 73(1) pp. 144-169.

    Tebbutt, M.J. (2011) 'Teen “angst” in the 1930s.' Manchester Region History Review, 22

    Tebbutt, M.J. (2011) 'Introduction, ‘Growing up in the North West, 1850s- 1950s.' Manchester Region History Review, 22

    Tebbutt, M.J. (2011) 'Teen “angst” in the 1930s.' Manchester Region History Review, 22

    Tebbutt, M.J. (2011) 'Growing up in the North West, 1850s- 1950s.' Manchester Region History Review, 22

    Tebbutt, M.J. (2011) 'Special edition, Manchester Region History Review.' Manchester Region History Review, 22

    Tebbutt, M.J. (2006) 'Rambling and manly identity in Derbyshire’s Dark Peak, 1880s-1920s.' Historical Journal, 49(4) pp. 1125-1153.

    Tebbutt, M.J. (2004) 'Landscapes of Loss: Moorlands, Manliness and the First World War.' Landscapes, Autumnpp. 114-127.

    Tebbutt, M.J. (1999) 'Centres and peripheries: reflections on place identity and sense of belonging in a North Derbyshire cotton town, 1880-1990.' Manchester Region History Review, Summer

    Tebbutt, M., Marchington, M. (1997) ''Look before you speak': Gossip and the insecure workplace'.' Work, Employment and Society, 11(4) pp. 713-735.

    Tebbutt, M.J. (1997) ''Look before you speak': Workers’ words in the insecure workplace.' Work, Employment and Society, December(1997)

    Tebbutt, M. (1992) ''You couldn't help but know': public and private space in the lives of working class women, 1918-39..' Manchester Region History Review, V1pp. 72-79.

Press and media

Media appearances or involvement

  • 2014: Consultant and contributor to BBC Television documentary (BBC 4), Sex, Lies and Love Bites: The Agony Aunt Story
  • 2014: Consultant and contributor to BBC Radio Four programme, The First Generation X, broadcast March 2014, part of Lives in a Landscape series
  • 2013: BBC 2, The Great British Bake Off (consultant and participant, discussing courtship in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries)