Newsletter – July 2026 (Part 1)

Thank you, Maureen Galbraith

After 28 years, Society administrator, Maureen Galbriath, has left the Society to enjoy a well-deserved retirement.

Maureen worked with 10 Presidents, organised over 20 conferences and was at the heart of everything the Society did since 1998. Her outstanding service to the Society was recognised at the Centenary Conference, held in April this year.

Before retiring, Maureen answered a Q&A with Dr Alka Raman, Chair of the Women’s Committee. You can read this on our website.

From everyone at the EHS – thank you Maureen, you will be missed!

(Re)Introducing Alice Whiteoak

Many of you will have met our administrator, Alice Whiteoak, at the Conference or by email already, but to introduce her to those who have not had the chance to chat with her, we asked her to answer a few questions about herself.

—

What drew you into Economic and Social History?

A mixture of Horrible Histories, my dad’s book collection and a wonderfully energetic History teacher. Curiosity grew into genuine interest that became more focused on women’s history as I went from BA to PhD (with a gap in between to do a MA in Gender Studies).

How did you first get involved in the Economic History Society?

I applied to the Residential Training Course and was accepted, much to my surprise. I then became a student member on Council and, shortly after, started working with the Public Engagement Committee doing social media for the Society.

Can you tell us what your PhD was about?

I looked at widows litigating in the Court of Exchequer between 1620-1670, exploring the type of cases they brought, their expression of female legal identity and the contradiction between widowhood and patriarchal ideals in practice. Whilst I don’t miss being mid-PhD, I do occasionally find myself yearning for a trip to an archive.

What do you enjoy most about working with the Society?

Every day is different. Whilst the Society has a yearly cycle, the job keeps you on your toes and I’m able to interact with such a wide variety of people. It’s also great to see the Conference come together every year.

What might surprise members about you?

I enjoy rock/metal music (with a good old mosh pit) and I loved playing football until an injury in my early twenties.

Officer Nominations

The term of the current Honorary Secretary will end at the next AGM (Spring 2027) when Professor Judy Stephenson will step down. The Honorary Secretary is one of the three main Officers of the Society, and is a member of Executive and Council, chairs the Awards Committee, and is responsible for organising the Society’s main meetings. Members of the Society are invited to contact the President or any Council members with suggestions for the office of Honorary Secretary or if they would like to discuss the post.

The deadline for response is 31 July.

2026 Tawney and Plenary Videos

The video recordings of the 2026 Tawney and Plenary Lectures are now available to watch on our website and YouTube channel.

Bursary Scheme of PhD Students

The Society invites applications for one-year bursaries of up to £5,000 to assist doctoral students (PhD) in United Kingdom colleges and universities; scholars who are visiting students at UK universities are ineligible to apply. The bursaries will be open to students (full or part-time), at any stage of their PhD career in economic and/or social history, although priority may be given to students who are close to completion; note that the PhD must be under way at the time of application. Please note also that applications from students currently in receipt of a full stipendiary award, or a fully-funded studentship covering fees and living costs, will not be considered.

Deadline – 31 July

A Tribute – Professor Melvyn John Hatcher, 1942-2026

Members of the Economic History Society will be greatly saddened to learn of the death of Professor Melvyn John Hatcher, who died in Cambridge on Saturday 13 June 2026, aged 84. John was a distinguished historian of the economic and social history of England from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century. Appointed Professor of Economic and Social History in the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge in 1976, and later Professor Emeritus, he was also for many years editor of the Economic History Review, the Society’s leading international journal, between 1996 and 2001. A long-standing member of the Economic History Society, John made an enduring contribution to the field through his scholarship, teaching, supervision and service to the discipline.

Of his early life John wrote: “I grew up in pre-gentrified Islington [the son of a printworker at the Bank of England] and went to the local grammar school, Owen’s. The premature death of my father on my nineteenth birthday compelled me to abandon my plans to go to university. Instead, I went to work as a salesman for H J Heinz and then J & J Coleman while studying for a BSc (Econ) degree as an evening student at LSE [he graduated with First Class Honours]. After graduation I enrolled full-time for a PhD at LSE and in 1967 I was appointed to a lectureship at the University of Kent.  I came to Cambridge in 1976.” In 1967 John married Janice Miriam Ranson and the couple had two daughters.

John’s London University doctoral dissertation on ‘Rural Society and Economy of the Duchy of Cornwall, 1300-1500’ was published in 1970 and followed by important monographic work including English tin production and trade before 1550 (1973), A history of English Pewter (1974) and a volume of the history of the coal industry (1993). John published widely on medieval English rural society, population and economic change; notably with Mark Bailey, Modelling the Middle Ages: the History and Theory of England’s Economic Development (2001). John is however perhaps best known for his innovative and evocative work on the biggest demographic event of the medieval era: The Black Death: A Personal History (2008).

Of his work and writings John wrote “My general field of research is the economic and social history of England from the middle ages to the eighteenth century. Within this broad area the focus of my attention in recent years has included the population history of medieval and early modern England; the rise of the British coal industry; the Black Death; wages, living standards, working habits and leisure in medieval and early modern England; and the history and theory of economic development in the middle ages.  My most recent publications include a book on the experiences of the ordinary individuals who lived and died in the Black Death, which combines history with fiction, a reappraisal of Marxist interpretations of feudal society, an extended critical study of the methods and sources used to measure living standards and real wages from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries, and a bold challenge to traditional historiography and many of the models and interpretations of economic and social development it supports by arguing for a radical upward revision of the productivity of peasants who for centuries cultivated the bulk of English farmland.”

He was elected to a fellowship of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 1976 (and on his retirement he became Life Fellow) and was for many years the college’s Director of Studies in History. It was in that role he became a renowned, inspiring and much-loved supervisor, with many of his undergraduate and graduate pupils going onto enjoy distinguished careers, several following John into academic life. As a Corpus Fellow he was an early advocate of widening access and a strong supporter of the admission of women to the College, as well as a strenuous supporter of early-career academics in the field of economic history. John will be remembered with admiration and affection by generations of students, colleagues and fellow economic historians, and with gratitude by the Society to which he contributed so much.