Honorary Research Fellow

Contact Details

• Email: psj4@le.ac.uk

Research Interests

I have a long standing interest in the problems of public office holding in nineteenth century and twentieth century British urban society. Much of this work has been comparative looking at the nature of office holders in different types and sizes of towns. This has led, additionally, to an examination of the nature of the middle classes in different types of urban communities.

Current Research Projects

I am pursuing, currently, an investigation into the problem of corruption in British urban society c.1930 -1990. In particular I am interested in its political ramifications as well as its impact on urban planning and its implications for the morality of office holders and the wider issue of the nature of civil society. I have recently completed an investigation of the 1960s architect, John Poulson, and how his activities shaped so much the urban landscape and also had such negative consequences for urban government in Britain.

Publications

Forthcoming Publication

‘Re-thinking Corruption in Post-1950 Urban Britain: The Poulson Affair 1972-1976’, Urban History (2011)

Recent Publication

Unfinished Work: An Essay in Honour of H.J. Dyos 1921-1978 (University of Leicester 2010)

Pre-2000 Publications

The 1848 Revolutions (Longmans Seminar Studies in History first edition, 1981)

‘The Recruitment of Office Holders in Leicester 1861-1931’, The Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society: Transactions, 57 (1981-82) 64-77

‘Perspective, sources and methodology in a comparative study of the middle classes in nineteenth century Leicester and Peterborough’, Urban History Yearbook, (1987) 22-32

The 1848 Revolutions (Longmans Seminar Studies in History second edition 1992)

‘The 1848 Revolutions’, History Review, 14 (1992) 30-34

Leicester in the Twentieth Century ( Allan Sutton, 1996) with D.Nash, D. Reeder and R. Rodger.

Conference Papers

‘In Search of the Middle Classes in the East Midlands in the late Eighteenth Century’ Groupe Internationale d’Histoire Urbaine: Les Petites Villes en Europe Occidentale du XIII au XIX siècle, University of Lille (1987)

‘Urban Elites in the East Midlands c 1880-1930’, Seconde Conference Internationale D’Histoire Urbaine, University of Strasbourg (1994)