After completing a PhD in History at the University of Cambridge and undertaking a visiting fellowship at Yale University in 2019, I decided to use my skills in the commercial sector as a freelance genealogical researcher. I also revived a passionate interest in genealogy and am now studying part-time towards a postgraduate diploma in Genealogical, Palaeographic and Heraldic Studies at the University of Strathclyde. In addition, I am currently conducting genealogical research projects for clients as well as contributing to the History of Parliament Trust’s Commons and Lords sections. I am a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists as well as the Society of Genealogists and a student member of the Register of Qualified Genealogists.
My historical research has focused on religion, politics and education in nineteenth-century England. I have degrees in History from Oxford and Cambridge, and have had peer-reviewed articles published in the English Historical Review, Studies in Church History and Church History. My PhD thesis, focusing on the early nineteenth-century Church of England, is available to read online. I served on the committee of the Ecclesiastical History Society from 2018 to 2021 and on the council of the Church of England Record Society from 2021 to 2023.
In my spare time, I am on the trail of my own ancestors, and am in the process of writing a book tracing one branch of my family from around 1750 to 1950. My genealogical research has taken me to one of the oldest family reunions in the United States, to a beach where an ancestor was shipwrecked in the eighteenth century and to a churchyard where my 6x great-grandparents’ headstone is still visible.
I also take a strong interest in local and institutional history. I have enjoyed exploring historic architecture and landscapes, particularly in Surrey and neighbouring counties in the south of England. I have researched the history of every place I have lived, and have developed my skills in tracing house history in the process. I am often struck by the amount of historical interest which can be found in supposedly ‘ordinary’ buildings and localities. I have thereby developed a fascination with suburbia, small towns, seaside resorts, rights of way and pubs.
Despite what I have written above, I do not spend all of my time in archives or on field trips! I enjoy music, literature and cinema. I also love spending time with friends and family. And when circumstances permit, I like to travel in North America.