Professor Henry French

I am interested in the following research subjects:

• The identity and composition of the ‘middle sort of people’ in provincial England 1620-1750. I have published a number of articles on this subject in Past & Present, Social History and Historical Journal, and have written a monograph study, published by Oxford University Press in July 2007.
• (in association with Prof. R.W. Hoyle, of the University of Reading) land ownership in Essex and Lancashire, concentrating particularly on the decline of the small farmer, 1500-1800. We have published several articles on this theme, including one in Economic History Review in 2004, and have published a monograph on the land market in the Essex village of Earls Colne, 1500-1750, with Manchester U.P. in March 2007.
• Long-term processes of change in notions of masculinity among the landed elite in England, between the later seventeenth and early twentieth centuries, and I was awarded an AHRC standard research grant to pursue this research, which resulted in a monograph authored with Dr. Mark Rothery (Exeter), published by Oxford University Press in March 2012.
• Urban common field agriculture and the effects of enclosure 1550-1800, on which I have numerous journal articles and book chapters since 2001. I aided in the identification of at least 160 urban common lands as part of my consultancy work for English Heritage on their Town Commons project.
• Research into poor relief payments and their effects on the household economy of families, particularly in Terling, Essex in the later eighteenth century.
• Research on the way in which historical agrarian change impacted the environment, particularly in association with research into palaeobotany on Exmoor in southwest England. 

Biography:

I took my first degree and doctorate at the University of Cambridge (in 1989 and 1993 respectively), the latter under the supervision of Keith Wrightson and Margaret Spufford. Since then, I have taught at the Universities of Central Lancashire, Manchester, Essex, and East Anglia, before coming to Exeter in 2001, being promoted to Professor of Social History in 2009. I was awarded an 3-year AHRC research award in June 2007, to study masculinity and the landed gentry between the seventeenth and early twentieth centuries, with Dr Mark Rothery. This project resulted in a Oxford U.P. monograph published in 2012, and a number of subsequent publications. Between 2010 and 2016 I was Head of Department in History at Exeter, and am currently serving as Interim Head of Department between Jan. & July 2020.

Research supervision:

I am particularly interested to supervise undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations on various areas of seventeenth and eighteenth century social and economic history, including those on themes such as demographic or agricultural change, the social order, gender identity, crime, government, poverty, marriage and the family, industries and regions. I am also happy to supervise dissertations on other early modern themes, such as seventeenth century politics, popular religion and culture, and aspects of women's history. I can also give advice on using a range of sources particularly those relating to parish government, estate management, government and poor law administration, and printed pamphlets and newspapers.

Qualifications:
BA, PhD Cantab., FRHistS