Pam Lock

This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥

Did Victorians believe heavy drinking caused Spontaneous Human Combustion? Online and in-person talk - Arnos Vale Dr. Pam Lock from the University of Bristol will share insights on Victorian beliefs about spontaneous human combustion.

I'm talking about spontaneous human combustion again next year, this time at the wonderful and atmospheric @arnosvalecemetery.bsky.social . Join us on 18 March if you want to learn more about what the victorian's thought about this phenomenon and what it taught them

arnosvale.org.uk/spontaneous-...

The Victorian Commons team are looking forward to hearing this paper and congratulating Dr Wilson on her recent PhD!

A green field and blue sky on the edge of Portishead parish

Last week I went on a 'research walk', a new thing for me. I was attempting to 'beat the bounds' of the parish of Portishead, which is the central case study in my current book project about everyday life in 17th century villages. A good start; it was a dry day... 🧵

*goes to a natural history museum and holds up a bouquet to an Allosaurus skeleton so they can finally see some flowers*

A page from my book 'Temperance Lives'. The top half features a detail from a piece of headed notepaper from the Deansgate Hotel, dated July 1908, showing the 120-room hotel and boasting of its electric lights and elevator.

The Deansgate Temperance Hotel in Manchester opened at the end of 1895 and survived until 1940, when it was destroyed by enemy action.

It features in 'Temperance Lives: Life Assurance, Drink and Medicine in Britain, 1840–1918' (Bloomsbury, 2025) as part of a tour of temperance Manchester... 1/4

a cartoon cat is sitting at a desk with a computer and a clock Alt: Blue cat typing in a happy bouncy way

Lovely retreat today of the new ND PGR group at Bristol. Thanks to Kat Nelms for the invitation and hope to do more soon.

A Provincial Market in Second-Hand Books: Book Sales in Devon, 1688–1725 Abstract. Comparatively little is known about England’s early book-auction trade outside of London and the university towns, with few catalogues surviving

*small embarrassed voice*
A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s.
doi.org/10.1093/libr...

Final session of my 19th C unit for my brilliant mature students tonight so thought I'd dress as a Victorian heroine to entertain them. Its been such a blast to teach these brilliant students and awaken a new love of Victorian fiction in (most of) them. Finishing with Dracula so trying Mina vibes.

Adorable ancient little guy alert! 🦔 #DHmakes

Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The University of Edinburgh Discover an exciting academic career path as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at jobs.ac.uk. Don't miss out on this job opportunity - apply today!

Job alert! 🚨 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Edinburgh Uni to work w/a team of historians on a new project, Voices in Slavery's Archive: Law, Place and Testimony in British Guiana, which will build a digital archive out of the recorded words of enslaved people. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPN147/p...

Do I know anyone on here who went to a British boys boarding school -preferably the elite kind- within the last 20 years? If that doesn't describe you then retweet this until somebody it does describe sees this.

That's lovely to hear and I couldn't agree more. They are there all weekend and have more events etc coming up on their website and fb page (you can follow them on the latter if you want to be able to track them down)

@philmellows.bsky.social not far from your gaff - spread the word if you can - knowing Dan it'll all be delish x

If you are based in Brighton/Bevendean and want something warm on this cold evening, go and try a delicious spud from my brother in law's new van. Details and more info here: www.rathergoodspud.co.uk/new-page

Please share (and enjoy).

Is it just me or does the diaeresis above Brontë look like that little celebration emoji with confetti? I'm proof reading something today with lots of Brontës in it, and it keeps making me see those little bursts of confetti somehow 🎉 🎉 🎉

in the unlikely event anyone knows of academic work on Jewish brothel-keepers in Georgian London through to the early Victorian period, please let me know.

Aw thanks. Miss seeing you in the room. Hope all well. You can always persuade your current inst to hire me - though it might have to be online....

Associate Lecturer (Teaching) in Health Humanities at UCL Apply for the Associate Lecturer (Teaching) in Health Humanities role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.

Interesting role at UCL:

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPL769/a...

The Scientific Analysis of Renaissance Recipes: Proteomics, Medicine, and the Body in the Material Renaissance Abstract. Collaborations between the humanities and sciences allow for novel insights into the material world of Renaissance recipe cultures, and in partic

NEW PUBLICATION
Our @historians.org American Historical Review article presents a pathbreaking methodology to analyse the invisible biochemical traces that #earlymodern users left behind on the surface of paper recipes

doi.org/10.1093/ahr/...

The origin of ‘cake’ is actually dense bread. Egyptians added honey, but what we make today derives a lot from the 18th century Genoa ‘sponge.’ Professor Nicola Humble writes that, given its permutations and symbolism, “cake is an idea.” Hard to eat one of those. Maybe… nothing is cake?

Lovely retreat today for the University of Bristol CoSEM CDT at DesignWest on the harbour side. Everyone has gone for lunch so I'm admiring the view while I guard their laptops....

Thanks Charlotte, always loved working for you and your lovely groups!

Pam’s writing retreats are great! She’s previously run some for our PGRs at Portsmouth, and they always had excellent feedback 😊

Photo of block typing in a lovely pile by Amador Loureiro on Unsplash

Did you know that I run writers' retreats for PGRs & academics? So if you are looking for a way to offer a quiet space to write in a healthy and productive format that breaks the isolation of writing, get in touch. I do one day and residentials.

More info: writingwithpam.wordpress.com

Looking forward to this!

Graphic showing double page opening of emblem book from Stirling Maxwell Collection featuring portrait of a man on the left and a printed emblem of text and image on the right. The image is overlaid with information about the fellowship scheme welcoming researchers and repeating closing date and URL to follow.

📣Our UofG Library Visiting Research Fellowships are now open for applications!

We’re delighted to invite scholars from across the globe to apply to work with our internationally significant collections.

Apply at: www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/li...

📆Closing date: 5 January 2026

#UofGLibraryFellows

Thanks to @petebrownbeer.bsky.social for a brilliant talk last night at Small Bar. Great to bring your research & your new book to our lovely Bristol crowd. Thanks @beinghumanfest.bsky.social for the funding that made it possible!

Photo credits @dominicalder.bsky.social & @kellywasgcb.bsky.social

Upstairs in Small Bar looking lovely for our Think While You Drink Event for @beinghumanfest.bsky.social later. Thanks to @kellywasgcb.bsky.social and Bob for getting it all ready today. Looking forward to seeing all the happy tasters using those glasses for good later.

Congratulations! One for @drinkingstudies.bsky.social