I was awarded my PhD by the University of Manchester in 2010. My thesis on 'Death, Gender and the Citizen in Britain in the First World War' is available in the University of Manchester Library or via the British Library.
I achieved QTS in 2000 and was a secondary school teacher teaching history to pupils from 11-18 until 2002 when I left to begin my PhD (2003-2010).
I taught at the University of Manchester from 2004 to 2014, as both GTA and Lecturer. I taught seminars across the undergraduate levels and lectured on second and third year units. I spent four years (2010-2014) as course convenor for the third year unit 'Death in Britain in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries' and supervised the linked dissertation students. I also taught at postgraduate level on the MA unit 'The Fin de Siecle' for two years and have supervised MA dissertations.
I have been an Associate Lecturer at MMU since 2005.
Current Teaching 2016-17
Foundation
Modern Britain 1945-2000
1st Year
Europe in Turmoil
ROPS
2nd Year
Empires
3rd Year
Dissertation students
I supervised MA dissertations at the University of Manchester in 2012 on subjects including the 7/7 Bombings, First World War mourning practices, and computer games.
I work on 19th and 20th century Britain and am interested in death, war death and the processes for responding to it, industrial or industry related injury and death, munitions explosions, citizenship, gender, mourning practices and commemoration.
I am also interested in local history, specifically relating to Salford and Manchester, Ashton-under-Lyne and Droylsden, and Fairfield Moravian Settlement.
Currently, I am particularly excited about material culture and especially early twentieth century autograph books, printed commemorative napkins, and nineteenth and twentieth century postmortem photography of pets.
‘War, Gender and National Commemoration: The case of Edith Cavell’ in the European Review of History/Revue européenne d'histoire, Vol.12, Issue 3 (2005); pp.425-444.