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I have just finished a period of intensive academic research on the
question of protest in the county of Essex during the period 1783 to 1851.
Much of my work has been focused on the counties of Essex and Suffolk and
the conditions under which agricultural labourers were forced to live. I
am still extremely passionate about this specific area of social history,
especially as regards those who did not resort to crime to ameliorate
their lot.
Works-in-progress
 | I am currently engaged in cataloguing the extent of Rural Protest
Crime in Essex 1784 to 1884 using newspaper and court records. In so
doing I am working on some specific aspects of Essex protest crime
such as the trial of James Ewen of Rayleigh, December 1830, and the
trial of serial arsonist Abraham Rayner of Halstead. I am also
interested in the use of the anonymous threatening letter as a means
of intimidation and would appreciate any input on this crime.
In stark contrast to the foregoing I am also editing a hitherto
undiscovered minute book detailing meetings between a rural rector and
his curate during the 1890s. It is intended to publish the same as a
social snapshot of life in a small rural seaside parish.
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Future projects:
| I envisage carrying out some detailed work on the Rural Queries for
East Anglia during the immediate future. Has anyone else embarked on
such a project for their locality? |
Past Projects
| Unpublished MA Thesis University of Brighton 1990 entitled A Crime
to be Poor: protest in the Barstable and Rochford Hundreds of Essex,
1825 to 1840.
The Administration of the Social Security System in the Rochford
Hundred in the 1820s and 1830s, The Rochford Historian, volume 3 No 5
(1993)
The Parish Poor, Op. Cit vol 3 No 6 (1994) |
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Last Updated
21 Nov 2004
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