Archived news items

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News of two BAHS members (2012)

The chair of our executive committee, Dr Jane Whittle of Exeter University has been appointed professor, and Dr Jonathan Healey has been named by the BBC as one of Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers 2012. Our congratulations go to both of them.

Wartime Farm (2012)

A new 8-part BBC 2 series, Wartime Farm, starts on Thursday 6 September at 8pm. Many BAHS members were involved in the making of this programme: John Martin was the historical consultant, and Nicola Verdon, Karen Sayer, and Brian Short appear in various episodes.

Read more about the wartime farm in The front line of freedom: British farming in the Second World War edited by Brian Short, Charles Watkins and John Martin, and published by the BAHS.

Books Published (2012)

Christopher Dyer has published a new book. A Country Merchant, 1495-1520 explores the wool trade of the early 16th century in the Cotswolds, centred around the activities of the merchant John Heritage.

And Jennifer Holt has published the first two volumes of The Diary of Thomas Fenwick Esq. of Burrow Hall, Lancashire and Nunriding, Northumberland, 1774-1794. The two volumes cover the years 1774 to 1789. A further two volumes will appear later this year.

Rural Worlds

Rural Worlds: Economic, Social and Cultural Histories of Agricultures and Rural Societies is a new series from Ashgate Publishing, edited by Richard W. Hoyle, University of Reading, UK. The first title in the series, due to be published in November 2013, will be The Farmer in England, 1650-1950, also edited by Richard W. Hoyle. Read more about the series here.

Prize Essay Competition (2012)

The Society and Agricultural History Review are delighted to announce the winners of the Agricultural History Review’s sixtieth anniversary essay competition. The judges have awarded the first prize to Dr Johann P. Custodis (LSE) for his essay on ‘Employing the enemy: the contribution of German and Italian POW workers to British agriculture during and after the Second World War’. The two second prizes have been awarded to Dr Jonathan Healey (St Catherine’s College Oxford) for his essay on ‘The political culture of the English Commons, c.1550-1650’ and Rebecca Woods (MIT) for her essay on ‘Breed, culture and economy: The Australasian frozen mutton trade, 1880-1910’.

The winning essays will appear in Volume 60 part two of the Review, to be published in November 2012. Dr Custodis presented his paper at the Spring Conference.

We offer our thanks to all those who submitted essays. They reflected a great diversity of interests and approaches and give further evidence, should any be needed, of the vitality of our subject. We hope that a number of the essays not awarded prizes will, in time, also appear in the Review.