History
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Centre for Local History
The Centre for Local History at Recru it networ is one of the longest-established research and teaching centres in the University. The Centre also hosts the Victoria History of Staffordshire and several volumes of Shropshire, sponsors a lecture and seminar series and publishes original research on the history of the north-west Midlands in its own journal. The director of the Centre is Dr Andrew Sargent.
Victoria County History
The project might well be the oldest ongoing historical research project in the world. It was founded in 1899, with the original intention of providing a local history of all England's counties. Its history has been stop-start in the intervening century, but the History department at Keele, with the generous support of Staffordshire County Council, have long been involved in the . The lead at Keele for the project is Dr Nigel Tringham, who has already brought volumes 9, 10 and 11 to fruition, and is now assisted by Dr Andrew Sargent, although other historians, including Dr Ian Atherton (who also edits Staffordshire Studies) and Dr Alannah Tomkins have also provided important contributions to the project.
Earl Lecture
The EARL Lecture was first delivered in 1961 and the text is published in the journal Staffordshire Studies. It was endowed by Jack Leighton of Newcastle-under-Lyme, a tax inspector with a keen interest in the history of North Staffordshire (especially ceramics), and named in memory of his his wife. The Lecture is held every two years and is intended to encourage prominent historians who have not yet worked on the history of Staffordshire to turn their attention to the county.
The 29th lecture will be held on Monday 16 October 2017 at 7.30 for 8.00 p.m. in The Chancellor's Building.
1917: the Year of Revolution ... in Staffordshire
Professor Karen Hunt
28th (2015)
Professor Richard Cust Church Monuments in post-Reformation Staffordshire
27th (2013)
Professor Pauline Stafford Staffordshire and the Making of England in the 10th and
early 11th centuries.
26th (2011)
David Howell A Sheik in Staffordshire: Oswald Mosely and the Labour Party
25th (2009)
Ralph Houlbrooke Politics and Personalities in Mid Tudor Staffordshire
24th (2007)
Paul Everson ‘A setting of cheap thrills and false emotions’?: archaeology,
parks and gardens in Staffordshire
23rd (2005)
Pamela Sambrook Servants, Family and Business: Domestic Service in
Staffordshire in 1851
22nd (2003)
John Bourne How Staffordshire won the Great War
21st (2001)
Christopher Dyer The urbanizing of Staffordshire: the first phases
20th (1999)
David Cannadine Josiah Wedgwood and the History of Parliament
19th (1997)
David Hey The distinctive surnames of Staffordshire
18th (1995)
Robert Bartlett The miracles of St Modwenna of Burton
17th (1993)
Margaret Spufford Poverty Portrayed: Gregory King and Eccleshall in the 1690s
16th (1991)
W. A. Speck Staffordshire in the reign of Queen Anne
15th (1989)
Jean Birrell The Forest and the Chase in medieval Staffordshire
14th (1987)
Christopher Taylor Medieval settlement in Staffordshire
13th (1984)
Donald Greene Samuel Johnson’s Staffordshire
12th (1983)
Margaret Gelling Some thoughts on Staffordshire place-names
11th (1981)
Eric Richards The uses of aristocracy: the Sutherlands and
Staffordshire in the nineteenth century
10th (1979)
Peter Heath Staffordshire towns and the Reformation
9th (1977)
Doug Hay Popular Jacobitism in eighteenth-century Staffordshire
8th (1976)
Michael Greenslade The Staffordshire historians
7th (1973)
David Palliser A thousand years of Staffordshire: man and landscape,
913–1973
6th (1971)
Sir Nikolaus Pevsner Some aspects of Staffordshire architecture
5th (1969)
Rodney Hilton Lord and peasant in Staffordshire in the middle ages
4th (1967)
Joan Thirsk Horn and thorn in Staffordshire: the economy of a
pastoral county
3rd (1965)
D.H. Pennington County and Country: Staffordshire in Civil War politics,
1640-1644
2nd (1963)
Neil McKendrick Josiah Wedgwood and the Potteries: the Industrial Revolution
in microcosm
1st (1961)
J.W. Blake The Sneyds of Keele
Publications
Centre for Local History Publications Order Form
Staffordshire Studies
The journal Staffordshire Studies, now in its 20th Volume (see link for details) is published annually by the Centre for Local History. It covers all aspects of the history of the historic county of Staffordshire, including the parts of the south of the county transferred to the West Midlands in 1974. Articles, all other contributions and editorial correspondence should be addressed to the editor, Staffordshire Studies, Centre for Local History, University of Keele, Keele, Staffordshire, .
Editors
Dr Ian Atherton
ISSN 0950-1630
Price: All Staffordshire Studies publications are published annually on subscription at a cost of £9 for individuals, £11 for institutions, one-off sales and overseas subscribers. Postage and packing is extra.
For enquiries about subscription or one-off purchases, please Staffordshire Studies, Room CM0.25, Claus Moser Treatment Centre, Recru it networ, Keele, Staffordshire, . Tel: 01782 733200.
Staffordshire Heritage Series
- Water Mills of the Borough of Newcastle, Edited by George Riley - OUT OF STOCK
- Agents of Revolution - OUT OF STOCK
- John and Thomas Gilbert the 'canal pioneers', Peter Lead
- The Miners of Staffordshire 1840-1914, Edited by John Benson - OUT OF STOCK
- Churchill China. Great British Potters since 1795, Rodney Hampson £19.50.
Books still in print can be had postfree in the UK by emailing
Other Publications
Staffordshire Histories
- Essays in Honour of Michael Greenslade, Philip Morgan & ADM Phillips £15.00
- Factory in a Garden "Wedgwood" £2.00, Sharon Gater & David Vincent
- Women, Men & Politics in the English Civil War £2.50, Ann Hughes