The History of Parliament has a vacancy for a research fellow on its 1832-68 House of Commons project. The successful candidate will have a PhD (or be close to completing one) in British political history in the long nineteenth century. They will join a small team of professional historians completing MP biographies and accounts of constituency politics as part of research on the period 1832-68. They will also contribute to the project’s academic and public engagement activities and the development of new digital resources. The appointment will initially be for three years but may be extended. It is expected that the successful applicant will start in Autumn 2024. 

The History of Parliament

The History of Parliament Trust has been promoting research on the UK’s political history for over 60 years. Its publications include 65 volumes examining the House of Commons and House of Lords in periods from the 14^th century onwards, alongside a series of books aimed at wider audiences. The History’s related website provides detailed biographies of those who served in Parliament and in-depth studies of constituency politics. There are also survey volumes collating the findings of the research and examining the operation of Parliament as an institution.

The Trust undertakes a variety of engagement and outreach activities to promote interest in the history of the UK Parliament. This includes partnerships on AHRC, Leverhulme and British Academy funded projects, supervising PhDs, collaborations with History and Public History degree programmes, student internships, dissertation competitions, and running conferences and seminars, including the ‘Parliaments, Politics and People’ seminar at the Institute of Historical Research. It also develops historical resources, collaborating with organisations like the British Library, British History Online, the House of Commons Library and Parliamentary Digital Service on oral history and digitisation projects and the creation of open-access, web-based datasets. The Trust is funded by both Houses of Parliament with offices in central London. It is one of the most widely cited and regularly accessed historical resources in the UK, regularly attracting over one million annual visitors to its website and around 200,000 views of its related blog sites covering current research projects.

The 1832-1868 House of Commons project

Continuing the scholarship of previous publications, including the 1820-32 House of Commons volumes, this project is producing biographies of all the 2,591 MPs who sat between the first and second Reform Acts and detailed local studies of all the related 401 constituencies in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It will provide a key resource for political and local historians and all those interested in the United Kingdom’s early democratic development. A survey volume, interpreting the discoveries of the research and exploring the institutional operation of the Commons, is also being prepared. Taking advantage of the many digital resources now available, articles are being produced far more rapidly than previous publications and presented in a new web layout, in which the text will be supported by links to original sources. Parliament dealt with an unprecedented range of social, economic and local issues during this period, and it is hoped that this format will offer gateways into the most relevant digital collections and provide a hub for researchers working within a variety of different fields. A large selection of draft articles can be viewed on the 1832-68 project’s ‘preview’ website.

Alongside research and writing, staff give regular public talks, attend and help organise academic conferences and seminars, collaborate on related research programmes and exhibitions, and respond to public and media inquiries. Social media platforms are used to promote the project and its activities. Further information and shorter articles drawing on the research can be found on The Victorian Commons blog, which also has a twitter feed.

Job Description: Research Fellow

The History of Parliament is seeking a research fellow to work on the 1832-68 volumes and the compilation of new resources for the post-1832 period. The appointment will initially be for three years, although this may be extended. Under the supervision of the editors Dr Philip Salmon and Dr Kathryn Rix, and working alongside the project’s senior research fellow Dr Martin Spychal, the postholder will be responsible for:

- Researching, writing and revising articles for the 1832-68 volumes to a high academic standard, using online digital resources supplemented by work in libraries and archives

- Delivering articles to an agreed timeframe, making changes required by the editors, and uploading edited articles and supporting materials to project websites

- Actively assisting the History of Parliament’s social media, blogging and engagement activities, preparing and delivering public talks, conference / seminar papers on themes related to the project, supporting the Trust’s wider academic engagement activities, and assisting with inquiries from the public, Parliament and the media

- Contributing to the History of Parliament’s development of new digital resources and helping to maintain existing databases and websites

Full job description and person specification can be found here. 

Applications

Please email a completed application form, recent CV and a letter of no more than two A4 pages outlining your interest in the post to the office manager, Adam Tucker at atucker@histparl.ac.uk by 14 June 2024.

Click here to download the History of Parliament application form