Professor Paul Wardp.j.ward@hud.ac.uk | 01484 478413
Paul Ward is Professor of Modern British History. He joined the university in 2000. He studied for his BA and PhD at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. He has taught at London Guildhall University, Middlesex University, the University of Westminster and Royal Holloway, University of London. He was visiting lecturer at the University of A Coruña in Spain in the spring of 2004, and Fulbright-Robertson Professor of British History at Westminster College, Missouri, 2004 to 2005.
Paul's research is concerned with national identities in the United Kingdom since the late nineteenth century. In particular, Paul is well known for his historical study of Britishness.
He is also interested in oral history and public history, especially the ways in which communities think about their histories.
He has written four books: Red Flag and Union Jack: Englishness, Patriotism and the British Left 1881-1924, published in 1998 (re-issued in paperback in 2011); Britishness since 1870 in 2004; Unionism in the United Kingdom in 2005 (funded by a grant from the AHRB); and Huw T. Edwards: British Labour and Welsh Socialism, published in 2011 (funded by a British Academy Major Research Grant).
In 2011 Paul was involved in a European Science Foundation funded workshop on Historiography and history teaching after empire.
Currently Paul’s projects include:
The Beefeaters, Britishness and the British World since the 1820s: This is a book-length project exploring representations and experiences of the Yeomen Warders at the Tower of London. It is linked to a broader project called Distant Britons? exploring British identities globally.
Imaging better communities and making them happen. ESRC-AHRC funded project under the Connected Communities Civic Engagement call. This is a major project led by Prof Graham Crow (University of Edinburgh) and involving ten universities. As one of the lead CIs, I am exploring co-production of research by community groups and academics and examining how community groups use history to develop their identities, as well as providing a historical overview for the project as a whole. 2013-2017.
Britain and Americanisation (including the transatlantic identities of James Mason, born in Huddersfield in 1909).
Ward, P (2013) ‘Did you see James Mason in town today? A case study in transatlantic and local identities in British stardom’ Journal of Transatlantic Studies . ISSN 1754-1018
Ward, P (2012) ‘Last Man Picked. Do Mainstream Historians Need to Play with Sports Historians?’ International Journal of the History of Sport , pp. 1-8. ISSN 0952-3367
Ward, P (2012) ‘Beefeaters, British History and the Empire in Asia and Australasia since 1826’ Britain and the World , 5 (2), pp. 240-258. ISSN 2043-8575
Ward, P (2012) When the British built Adelaide, they wanted to build a better Britain Huddersfield: University of Huddersfield
Ward, P (2012) The band playing and crowds sat watching: The world of the Coal Queen- An interview with Margaret Lister. n/a (Unpublished).
McAuley, J., Ward, P., Thomas, P., Mycock, A., Matthews, J., McGlynn, C., Hayton, R. and Webster, W. (2011) ‘Academy for British and Irish Studies, 2011’. In: Academy for British and Irish Studies (relaunch), December 2011, University of Huddersfield
Ward, P (2011) ‘Editorial: North American Journal of Welsh Studies Vol. 6, 1 (Winter 2011)’ North American Journal of Welsh Studies , 6 (1), p. 1. ISSN 1554-8112
Ward, P (2011) ‘The last bloke picked: does the mainstream need to play?’. In: What is the Future of Sport History in Academia?: a symposium, Wednesday 29th June 2011, University of Huddersfield
Mycock, A. and Ward, P. (2011) ‘Education, identity and empire: history teaching in multi-national post-imperial Britain’. In: Teaching The Nation-State After Empire In Europe: National Historiography And History, 10-12th June 2011, University of Huddersfield, UK
Ward, P (2011) Huw T. Edwards: British Labour and Welsh Socialism . Cardiff: University of Wales press . ISBN 978-0708323281
Ward, P. and Wright, M. (2010) ‘Mirrors of Wales - Life Story as National Metaphor: Case Studies of R. J. Derfel (1824-1905) and Huw T. Edwards (1892-1970)’ History , 95 (317), pp. 45-63. ISSN 0018-2648
Ward, P (2009) ‘The end of Britishness? A historical perspective’ British Politics Review , 4 (3), pp. 3-3. ISSN 1890-4505
Ward, P (2007) ‘Union is not Amalgamation Scotland is a Nation: Unionism and Scottishness in the Twentieth Century’ Angles on the English-Speaking World , 7, pp. 49-65. ISSN 0903-1723
Ward, P (2007) ‘'We have come a long way': the Labour Party and ethnicity in West Yorkshire’. In: Sons and daughters of labour: a history and recollection of the Labour Party within the historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Huddersfield: University of Huddersfield Press. pp. 157-170. ISBN 186218058X
Ward, P (2007) ‘Devolution and Britishness, 1966-1999’ Revue française de civilisation britannique , 14 (1). ISSN 0248-9015
Ward, P (2006) ‘[Various entries]’. In: The Home Front Encyclopedia: United States, Britain, and Canada in World Wars I and II. Oxford: ABC-CLIO. . ISBN 978-1-57607-849-5
Ward, P (2006) ‘Empire and Everyday: Britishness and Imperialism in Women's Lives in the Great War’. In: Rediscovering the British World. : University of Calgary Press. pp. 267-283. ISBN 1-55238-179X
Ward, P., Hellawell, G. and Lloyd, S. (2006) ‘WITNESS SEMINAR: Anti-Fascism in 1970s Huddersfield’ Contemporary British History , 20 (1), p. 119. ISSN 1361-9462
Ward, P (2006) ‘Welsh and Working Class (and British too): The Case of Huw T. Edwards’ North American Journal of Welsh Studies , 6 (2), pp. 15-26. ISSN 1554-8112
Ward, P (2005) Unionism in the United Kingdom, 1918-1974 . : Palgrave Macmillan . ISBN 978-1-4039-3827-5
Ward, P (2004) Britishness since 1870 . London, UK: Routledge . ISBN 978-0-415-22016-3
Ward, P (2004) ‘The Permissive Society and the Break-up of Britain’. In: About Culture. A Coruna: University of A Coruna. pp. 287-300. ISBN 8497491254
Ward, P (2003) ‘Nationalism and national identity in British politics, c. 1880s to 1914’. In: History, Nationhood and the Question of Britain. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. . ISBN 9781403912961
Ward, P (2002) ‘Preparing for the people's war: the left and patriotism in the 1930's ’ Labour History Review , 67 (2), pp. 171-185. ISSN 0961-5652
Ward, P (2002) ‘All that is solid melts into air?: Britishness in the twentieth century’. In: Aspects of Culture. A Coruña, Spain: University of A Coruña. . ISBN 8497490177
Ward, P (2001) ‘Women of Britain say go: women's patriotism in the First World War’ Twentieth Century British History , 12 (1), pp. 23-45. ISSN 09552359
Ward, P (1999) ‘Socialists and "true" patriotism in Britain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries’ National identities , 1, pp. 179-194. ISSN 1460-8944
Ward, P (1998) Red Flag and Union Jack: Englishness, Patriotism and the British Left, 1881-1924 . Royal Historical Society Studies in History New Series. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer Ltd . ISBN 9780861932399
Paul is a member of the AHRC Peer Review College.
He edits the North American Journal of Welsh Studies.
He was Fulbright-Robertson Professor of British History at Westminster College, Missouri, 2004 to 2005 and visiting lecturer at the University of A Coruña in Spain in the spring of 2004.
He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the Royal Historical Society.
He edits a book series for Peter Lang Publishing called ‘British Identities since 1707’.
He has examined research degrees at the University of York, Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Sheffield.
Paul is happy to supervise research students in any aspect of British political and cultural history since the mid-nineteenth century. The following are suggestions rather than an exclusive list:
Paul's current research students are conducting projects on the Festival of Britain (Cate Benincasa-Sharman), brass bands in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Stephen Etheridge, jointly with Dr Lisa Colton), oral history and migrant identities (Chris Webb), the location of oral history within the environment as augmented reality (Simon Bradley, AHRC-funded), an oral history of gender and performance in late 20th century Manchester (Jo Dyrlaga) Paul supervises a number of research Masters students including Phil Legard (MEnt on Delivering Geolocative Oral History and Sonic Art with Games Technology) and Jackie Harrison on the oral history of Huntington’s Disease.
Paul's successful supervisions include an MPhil on Conservatism in the 1920s, and PhDs in the history of the police, the oral history of football fandom and communities, and Mechanics Institutes in Yorkshire in the 19th century, Yorkshire identities in the nineteenth century (William Marshall, AHRC-funded) and memories of the Second World War in the islands of the United Kingdom (Daniel Travers).
Professor Ward is happy to provide professional advice related to his research and teaching interests. He has worked with colleagues, students and museum professionals to deliver a permanent exhibition on local mill heritage at Brooke’s Mill, Armitage Bridge, as well as a temporary exhibition on royal visits to Yorkshire at the Colne Valley Museum. In 2012, he compiled a report on Britishness for the office the Agent General of the Government of South Australia to encourage migration to Adelaide. Paul provides oral history training for community groups and students and through the Centre for Visual and Oral History Research is keen to provide advice and support for community history projects, including project design and management, interviewing, audio editing and exhibitions.
Paul is Head of the Department of History, English, Languages and Media. He is the deputy director of research for the School of Music, Humanities and Media. Paul is a member of the Academy for British and Irish Studies and the Centre for Visual and Oral History Research.
Paul leads two training courses through Staff Development for PhD students: ‘The Literature Review’ and ‘Research Project Planning’.
He is module leader for Twentieth-Century Britain and Punks, Pigs and Prawn Cocktails: Britain in the 1970s (on the module Decades of Discontent) at undergraduate level and The Oral History of Twentieth-Century Britain and Exploring Identities in the Medieval and Modern Worlds.
He makes extensive use of UniLearn for inter-active learning, such as blogging and Wikis and some Web 2.0 resources.
He has taught at universities in Spain and the USA, as well as giving guest lectures/seminars at around 10 overseas institutions, including the Xavier University of Louisiana, University of South Alabama and the University of Copenhagen.
He received a TQEF Extra Mile Award for teaching in 2006 and was nominated in 2008, 2009 and 2011.
He won the School of Music, Humanities and Media award for most innovative module assessment, 2010.
