Responsibilities

Modern British and European History

• Year 1 Europe in Turmoil, 1900-1939
• Year 2 Europe Nazism & War 1930-1950
• Year 2 What is History?
• Year 2 Twentieth Century British History
• MA in the History of the Manchester Region

Background

Research Interests

• British Industrial Relations 1900-1930.
• Urban Politics 1900-1939
• Cooperators and Politics 1900-1939

Current Projects

This project will result in the publication of eight volumes providing a comprehensive reference for the annual municipal elections that took place in the 83 county boroughs of England and Wales between 1919 and 1938. The project also provides an analysis of municipal politics in the same period, in terms of both individual borough and of aggregate voting patterns. The study also seeks to illuminate the role of women in politics, the significance of religious and ethnic differentiation and connections between occupational and class divisions and party allegiance.

Drawing upon the evidence of municipal elections from a number of key urban centres: including Leicester, Wolverhampton, Manchester, Salford, Stockport, Bristol, Hull and Derby this study questions the findings of some recent analyses of Labour’s progress during the Edwardian period

My recent research for an article on Manchester Labour in the Manchester Region History Review (2000), also generated interesting material on the shifting social base of both Conservatism and Liberalism in Manchester between 1900 and 1914.

National Recognitions / Responsibilities

Editor Labour History Review

Affiliations

Society for the Study of Labour History
Economic History Society
Social History Society

Recommended Links

Society for the Study of Labour History

Publications

Main Publications

Labour vanguard, Tory bastion, or the triumph of New Liberalism? Manchester politics 1900-1914 in comparative perspective', Manchester Region History Review, XIV, 2000, pp. 25-38.

'Employers, labour and the state in industrial relations history: a reply to Gospel', Economic History Review, vol. LI, no. 3, Aug. 1998.

'Market and institutional forces in industrial relations: the development of national collective bargaining, 1910-1920', Economic History Review, vol. L, no. 3, Aug. 1997.

'Labour and the First World War: Economy, Politics and the Erosion of Local Peculiarity?', pp. 23-47, Journal of Regional and Local Studies, Vol. 10, 1990, ISSN 002221.

'Leadership and Oligarchy: British Rail Unions 1914-21', Studies in History and Politics, Vol. V. Labour Leadership in Comparative Perspective: Old and New Directions, 1987 (Bishops University, Canada).

'The Foundation of the Co-operative Party Re-considered', International Review of Social History, 32, 1987 (Amsterdam, Netherlands).

'Co-operators and Politics - A Rejoinder', International Review of Social History, 33, 1987 (Amsterdam, Netherlands).

Editorial Experience

• Editor - Labour History Review, 2002-4
• Editor - Manchester Region History Review, Jan 1996 to Dec 2001.
• Chair of Editorial Board, The Socialist History of Britain, Pluto Press Series, 1993-97.
• Editor of 'The Rise of Labour Revisited' Special Issue of Journal of Regional and Local Studies - The Labour Party 1900-1990. Vol. 10, 1990, ISSN 002221.

Miscellaneous

• Book Reviews: Economic History Review, Business History Review, & Urban History Yearbook
• PhD Supervisions - 1 complete 1994-97; 2 in progress

Forthcoming Publications

County Borough Elections in England and Wales, 1919-1938: A Comparative Analysis, Volume 3, forthcoming 2003. (With S. Davies & B. Morley).