Prf Paul Lawrence

Asa Briggs Professor of History

paul.lawrence@open.ac.uk

Biography

Professional biography

Paul Lawrence is Asa Briggs Professor of History. He is the Editor of the bi-lingual journal Crime, History & Societies and a member of the International Centre for the History of Crime, Policing and Justice,.

Contact:

Prof. Paul Lawrence
Department of History
Faculty of Arts
The Open University
Walton Hall
MILTON KEYNES MK7 6AA

Tel: + 44 (0)1908 652998
Fax: + 44 (0)1908 653750
E-mail: paul.lawrence@open.ac.uk

Research interests

All aspects of criminal justice history, c.1750-present; the historiography of nationalism; the social history of poverty and welfare; memoirs and autobiographies as historical sources.

Current research, in collaboration with a number of police forces, is focussed on ways to integrated police history into contemporary police training.

I am currently supervising two Ph.D. students, as below, but Ph.D. applications on any of the above topics are welcome. For informal advice, please contact me as detailed above..

Eve Lewis 'St Fagan's Museum and the representation of Welshness-as-folk, 1946-71'

Sophie Michell 'The Dynamics of Death: Peterborough Coroner's Court, 1854-1905'

Previous doctoral students, as main supervisor, include:

Jack Taylor, ‘Against his will? Recovering male on male sexual violence in London, 1761-1861’ (awarded 2021)

Louise Ryland-Epton, ‘Welfare Innovation in the Late Eighteenth-Century: Gilbert’s Act Workhouses 1782-1834’ (awarded 2020)

Ashley Paton ‘“A System of Maltreatment”: Marital Cruelty in Victorian Glasgow’ (awarded 2019)

Robert Hopps, ‘Newspaper Reporting and Robbery in late 18^th Century London’ (awarded 2017)

Calista Williams, ‘The National Library of Wales and National Identity, 1870-1917’ (awarded 2016)

Juliet Leigh, ‘Chief Constables in the North of England’ (awarded 2013)

Gonçalo Goncalves, ‘Civilizing the Police(man): Institutional Reform and Police Culture in Lisbon, c.1860-1910’ (awarded 2013)

David Churchill, ‘Crime, Policing and Control in Leeds, c.1830-1890’ (awarded 2012)

Janet Clark, ‘The police, the campaign for civil liberties and the dynamics of disorder inter-war Britain’ (awarded 2008

Teaching interests

I am currently working on the production of a new third level module: Europe 1914-2014 - The Remaking of a Continent. Previously, I prepared teaching materials on the 'History of Violence from 1500' for our new MA in History and served as production chair for A225 The British Isles and the Modern World, 1789-1914, which introduces students to the development of Britain and Ireland over the long nineteenth century, foregrounding interconnections with the wider world.