I am a historian, writer and teacher. I have worked at Sheffield Hallam University for most of my career, teaching and researching in the fields of C19th and C20th British history, esp local/global history; empire, missions and abolition; women, travel writing and autobiography; Edward Carpenter/history of sexuality; public and community history & 'creative history'.

I live in Sheffield and I can’t think of a better place to have fetched up. I love the city’s lack of pretension, its history of independence and radicalism, its greenness, the proximity of the Peak District. I’m a reader, gardener, walker, learner-sewist, a music lover, telly watcher and football fan. I love to travel and am very enthusiastic about daughters who move to beautiful places and invite me to stay. Dog person, though sadly this gorgeous girl (below, right) is no longer with us.