We are VERY VERY close to launching our Resources webpage for our members. If you're a freelance historian seeking advice and peer support (and drinks and friendly chats!) join up here for a TENNER! independenthistorians.org

Independent Historians Network

The place for independent and freelance historians to connect

independenthistorians.org

New on the blog! Elizabeth Strange explores the life of Mary Theresa Whitby and her contribution to silk making in the 19th century #womenshistory womenshistorynetwork.org/mary-theresa...

Mary Theresa Whitby: Landowner, Silkworm Expert, Silk Producer and Correspondent of Charles Darwin – Elizabeth Strange

Early Life Mary Anne Theresa Whitby was born in 1783. She was the daughter of a naval officer named Thomas Symonds and had seven siblings. Marriage and Meeting Admiral Cornwallis In 1802, Mary marr…

womenshistorynetwork.org

We have just sent out our first ever newsletter to our Members! What a nerve-wracking moment! If you would like to receive news, access resources and meet other historians you can sign up for IHN for just £10 a year! independenthistorians.org

Independent Historians Network

The place for independent and freelance historians to connect

independenthistorians.org

@midlandhistory.bsky.social

Independent Historians Network (UK)@indyhistnetwork.bsky.social · last mo.

Indy Historians in the Midlands - we want to meet you! Come along to our meet up on Weds 16th September! It's just by New St so very easy to get to, and it's a drop-by-whenever-you-can format. DM or sign up here: forms.gle/4svnEKhdTDRL...

UK history is at a crisis point in academia. More & more people are going freelance on a part time basis, or as a whole new form of employment. IHN is creating support network for all historians who work independently. We aim to bring people together, promote your work, and be a hub of information.

Lucy Delap@lucydelap.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Great discussion at the 'crisis in UK history' meeting hosted by @ihr.bsky.social, @royalhistsoc.org, @histassoc.bsky.social and History UK. Horror stories of closures and redundancies, balanced by new resources. Check out for ex. the new Independent Historians Network independenthistorians.org

A glance inside The British Women’s Suffrage Campaign in 100 Objects-now pub by @bloomsburyhist.bsky.social Covers 19th & 20thc campaign,from Dublin & Orkney to the 2018 grand finale in Parliament Sq. I hope general readers as well as historians will find it diverting. #womenshistory #suffragettes

Want to join IHN? You can now sign up as a member for just £10 a year! You'll get our newsletter, access to free online events with experts, invites to our meet-ups and access to online resources. The more of us, the better! Do join up! membermojo.co.uk/independenth...

New on the blog! @janetsmith1831.bsky.social explores the remarkable life of Helen Taylor, a prominent campaigner, founding member of the Democratic Federation, first prospective parliamentary candidate & member of the London School Board #womenshistory womenshistorynetwork.org/rediscoverin...

Rediscovering Helen Taylor (1831-1907) – Dr Janet Smith

My first encounter with Helen Taylor Whilst researching my M.A. dissertation on the feminist Irish nationalist, Anna Parnell, a brief reference to Helen Taylor in a newspaper piqued my interest.  I…

womenshistorynetwork.org

womenshistorynetwork.org/rediscoverin...

Rediscovering Helen Taylor (1831-1907) – Dr Janet Smith

My first encounter with Helen Taylor Whilst researching my M.A. dissertation on the feminist Irish nationalist, Anna Parnell, a brief reference to Helen Taylor in a newspaper piqued my interest.  I…

womenshistorynetwork.org

'What’s the value of a History PhD? A view from business' bit.ly/4elv1cW In this new post, Richard Marks charts the skills gained from completing a doctorate. From project design & management to data retrieval & analysis, History PhDs bring capacity and experience that are in demand #Skystorians

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0GF... Kindle edition of my recent biography of Helen Taylor now available on Amazon

New on the blog! Esther Dobson and Elspeth King look at the role of women in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the #SecondWorldWar. Many women were involved by employing their hard-earned ‘feminine’ needlecraft skills which the blog explores womenshistorynetwork.org/hidden-heroi...

Hidden Heroines: Secret Stitching on the Home Front – Esther Dobson and Dr Elspeth King

‘Not all heroes wear capes’, a common refrain during and since the Covid pandemic, but the ideas behind that phrase go back much further and certainly played a part in the Home Front during the Sec…

womenshistorynetwork.org

www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/blog/5-ways-...

5 ways by which previous generations of women’s rights campaigners prepared the way for the granting of women’s suffrage in 1918. - Pen & Sword Blog

Women’s History Month guest post from Janet Smith. Francis Soutter, in his Recollections of a Labour Pioneer (1923), lamented how modern-day feminists, who had won the

pen-and-sword.co.uk

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0GF... Kindle edition of my recent biography of Helen Taylor now available on Amazon

In 1866, the first mass petition for women's suffrage was presented to Parliament. Dr Kathryn Rix explores the petition with 1,500 signatories and its reception in the House.

‘The first humble beginnings of an agitation’: the women’s suffrage petition of 7 June 1866 - The History of Parliament

A. Dingsdale, '"Generous and lofty sympathies": the Kensington Society, the 1866 women's suffrage petition and the development of mid-Victorian feminism'

historyofparliament.com

Join us on Tuesday, 24 February to hear Dr Valerie Schutte kick off our Spring Seminar Series with a fascinating paper on 'Katherine Basset as a Case Study of the Household of Anne of Cleves'. Please find the sign-up link via this page: womenshistorynetwork.org/sign-up-now-...

Sign up now for the first session of our Spring Seminar Series, featuring Dr Valerie Schutte.

Tuesday, 24 February 2026, at 5pm GMT Sign-up now for our online-only zoom webinar here. “Katherine Basset as a Case Study of the Household of Anne of Cleves”, Dr Valerie Schutte This p…

womenshistorynetwork.org

I’m very happy to announce that I won a book prize from the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians. You can download the book for free at tinyurl.com/kahnbk. It’s about the history of Turkish migration to Germany and anti-migrant racism. @ghiwashington.bsky.social @universitypress.cambridge.org

We’re always happy to announce our members’ successes, so congratulations to Dr Janet Smith (Brighton, UK) on the publication of her monograph Helen Taylor and her Fight for the People.

Jeannette Rankin (1880‑1973): the first woman elected to U.S. Congress, a principled pacifist & the only congressperson to vote against entering both World Wars. 1971, at age 91, Jeannette Rankin appeared on The Merv Griffin Show & championed electoral reforms. #WomenInHistory tinyurl.com/mr3hs7nu

We are delighted to share the Call for Papers for our Spring Seminar Series 2026:

Delighted to have just received my contributor copy of the Oxford Handbook of American and British Women Philosophers in the Nineteenth Century. I wrote the chapter on C19 feminism and women's rights

September 6, 1870: Louisa Ann Swain, age 69, cast her 🗳️ballot in Laramie, Wyoming, becoming the first woman in the U.S. to vote in a general election decades before women nationwide won that right #WomenInHistory #ExtraordinaryWomen

Liverpool University Press is delighted to partner with @jstor.bsky.social on this new initiative, continuing our shared commitment to mission-led scholarly publishing by offering our entire digital catalogue in one place for the first time.

JSTOR@jstor.bsky.social · last yr.

Publisher Collections: JSTOR’s #nonprofit model simplifying #ebook acquisition and access. Perpetual license to current-year + earlier titles while participating. 20 presses are already onboard! Learn more: https://bit.ly/472mYQh

Already received submissions from all over the world for the conference 'opposition to Thatcher' that me and Ciara are facilitating this autumn. Still time to submit abstracts. Please share to anyone who might be interested. Multidisciplinary. @irishstudiesqub.bsky.social @qubhistory.bsky.social

Died #OnThisDay 1903 Henry Liddell, 2nd Earl of Ravensworth, who was Conservative MP for Northumberland South, 1852-78. He was among the MPs who voted in the minority for John Stuart Mill’s women’s suffrage amendment, 20 May 1867: victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2017/05/19/t...

‘The only really important public service I performed’: John Stuart Mill’s women’s suffrage amendment, 20 May 1867

Our MP of the Month is John Stuart Mill (1806-73), who sat as Liberal MP for Westminster, 1865-8. One hundred and fifty years ago this week, the House of Commons voted for the first time on the que…

victoriancommons.wordpress.com

Delighted to have my chapter on Feminism and Women's Rights included in the just published Oxford Handbook of American and British Women Philosophers in the C19

Lydia Moland@lydiamoland.bsky.social · last yr.

Weighing in at 827 pages and 2 1/4 inches, our Oxford Handbook of American and British Women Philosophers in the 19th Century is HERE! Huge thanks to @oupphilosophy.bsky.social and our 50+ authors. Restoring women to the philosophical canon is a matter of justice, but it is also better scholarship!

📢 Just announced! The programme & booking is now live for our Annual Conference 2025. 🗓️ Join us online & free on 4–5 Sept for Hidden in Plain Sight: Women in Archives, Libraries, Museums & Personal Collections. 🔗 womenshistorynetwork.org/the-womens-h... #WHN2025 #WomensHistory #Archives #Heritage

🗳️ #OTD 2 July 1928: The Equal Franchise Act received royal assent in the UK, granting all women over 21 the vote—regardless of property. It gave women electoral equality with men, adding 5 million to the roll and making them the majority in the 1929 election. #VotesForWomen #Suffrage #GenderHist

2/3 Elected to the London Schools Board to represent Southwark in 1876, she pressed for free education for all. Partly driven by pique, she announced her candidature for MP in North Camberwell in 1885 and campaigned for better laws for women ...

I'm delighted to have again been a guest on The Tudor Chest podcast with Adam Pennington - thank you for having me! A really interesting discussion on perceptions of Anne Boleyn! Apple: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5bJL... @penandswordbooks.bsky.social

The Many Faces of Anne Boleyn with Helene Harrison

Podcast Episode · The Tudor Chest Podcast · 25/06/2025 · 1h 18m

podcasts.apple.com