Cambridge Group for the History of Population & Social Structure

Campop blog #59: Some say rises in lone motherhood since c.1950 indicate breakdown of the nuclear family & call for returns to Victorian values. But 19C levels of lone parenthood & reconstituted families were similar to today's ...
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/07...

Campop blog #56: >1 in 3 English men in the late 14th C were called John; in 2023 less than 1% of baby boys were given the most popular name, Muhammad. In today's blog Kevin Schurer charts the long evolution of British forenames
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/07...

<em>The Economic History Review</em> | EHS Journal | Wiley Online Library The reason for malaria's disappearance from northwestern Europe in the early twentieth century has long been discussed but remains an unresolved conundrum. This is partially due to a previous focus o...

Now on Early View:
'The disappearance of malaria from Denmark, 1862–1900'.
By Mathias Mølbak Ingholt, Maarten van Wijhe, Lone Simonsen & Daniel Weinberger.
@camunicampop.bsky.social @roskildeuni.bsky.social ‪@yaleemd.bsky.social‬
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Campop blog #55: Most weddings in the UK take place on Saturdays. @awakelam.bsky.social explains that this is a fairly recent phenomenon, but the rhythms of the working week (as well as costs) have always been important
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/06...

Campop blog #53: the word 'spinster', like so many words for women, has derogatory implications. Amy Erickson describes its origin in an occupation so ubiquitous for women that it came to be used as a term for any unmarried woman
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/06...

Campop blog #51: Are uber/deliveroo workers employees? Bob Bennett discusses changes in self-emploment linked to tax structures, and examines how builders, publicans, sales agents and outworkers (etc) were defined in the past
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/06...

Campop blog #50: In 2021, 76% of UK women with children at home were employed: a century earlier about the same % were engaged in 'home duties'. @awakelam.bsky.social explores patterns and implications from the 1921 census
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/05...

Campop blog #48: Are Mrs and Miss, for married/unmarried women, relics of a patriarchal system? Amy Erickson explains that Mrs used to denote a woman of status irrespective of marital status. Read the blog for the history of Miss!
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/05...

If you don’t know your Miss for your Mrs I strongly suggest you read our new @camunicampop.bsky.social blog by Amy Erickson on the history of these titles. www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/05...

31 of England’s prisons are Victorian. Do they work? – visual investigation More than 30 jails still in use today were built by the Victorians. They house a quarter of the prison population. Here we explore how 19th century design is contributing to a 21st century crisis

Great to spot @camunicampop.bsky.social ‘s data used in the Guardian www.theguardian.com/society/ng-i...

Look at this wonderful new paper by @emvchung.bsky.social from @camunicampop.bsky.social !

Image: Sydney Curnow Vosper, Interior with Large Fireplace. Royal Watercolour Society.

2/2 As the pursuit of net zero policies dominate headlines, the next #CAMPOP blog from Prof Paul Warde explains how and why organic fuel gave way to coal - a shift we now know brought hazards on a global scale.

www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/

@camunicampop.bsky.social @amrcampop.bsky.social

📣New blog post alert!📣
Why did the transition to a coal-fuelled economy happen where it did, when it did? Paul Warde charts the history of a crucial shift that we now know has brought about dangerous consequences on a global scale.
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog
#skystorians

Campop blog #46: For World Vaccination Week, Romola Davenport explains the long history of lockdowns and quarantines (used to control COVID-19 before the vaccine), and how they were used to control plague and smallpox
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/04...

Campop blog #45: before universal state pensions, did older people rely on family, charity, or community support? Richard Smith explains
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/04...

📣New blog post alert!📣
Continuing our discussion of older adults in the English past, today's post asks: who looked after the elderly when they were no longer able to work and earn? Did they rely on family, or could they turn to the community for support?
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog
#skystorians

Campop blog #44: The law has often been seen as a tool of particular benefit to the rich, particularly in the past. In today's blog Chris Brig outlines ways medieval manorial law could be used to benefit more disadvantaged people
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/04...

📣New blog post alert!📣
What relationship did ordinary peasants have with the institutions of the law in medieval England? Find out in our latest post from Chris Briggs:
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog
#skystorians #medieval

Try the garden kitchen at kettles yard - vegetarian and vegan, plus you're in an art gallery :) @kettlesyard.bsky.social

📣New blog alert!📣
Did anyone retire in the past? What options did older people have before widespread retirement (funded by a pension) became the norm- were they expected to labour until work was no longer physically possible? Find out in our latest post:
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog
#skystorians

Campop blog #43: Did anyone retire in the past? Richard Smith explores the options for older people in the past, differing by gender and social status. Until the mid-20C retirement was a luxury not an entitlement
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/04...

Read the full paper here: doi.org/10.17863/CAM...
Learn more about the Cambridge Working Papers in Economic and Social History: www.econsoc.hist.cam.ac.uk/working_papers.php

How can we raise the Human Development Index? Life expectancy at birth = 1/3 of the HDI. Infant and maternal deaths started to fall around 1650 – but why? Alice Reid's analysis of a complex, 300-year story. @amrcampop.bsky.social @camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/03...

Campop blog #41: UK children are leaving home at older and older ages, or returning to live with parents. Kevin Schurer shows this is not just a recent trend: before the 20th century many children left home in their early teens
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/03...

Campop blog #40: today malaria is a major cause of illness and death in tropical countries, but a milder form used to be endemic in the UK; Mathias Ingholt explains what we know about this disease in northern Europe
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/03...

University of Cambridge on LinkedIn: #internationalwomensday #cambridgeuniversity | 37 comments Women in business aren’t newcomers – they’re part of a long legacy 👭 International Women&#39;s Day (IWD) originated in 1908 with demands for better working… | 37 comments on LinkedIn

Did you see our special #IWD post on Saturday? Amy Erickson explores the legacy of women in business, providing a crucial historical context for the call to "accelerate action"
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog
And a great discussion happening on Linkedin:
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
#skystorians

Campop blog #39: A bonus blog for International Women's Day! Amy Erickson reveals a long history of female businesswomen, arguing this should change to way we see women in history and question the extent of progress to the present
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/03...

A double bill this week to celebrate International Women’s Day!!

📣New (extra) blog post alert!📣
To mark International Women's Day, we have a special post from Amy Erickson on the history of female entrepreneurs. Women in business aren’t newcomers – they’re part of a long legacy.
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog
#skystorians #IWD

Campop blog #38: Servants in the past were not all like those in Downton Abbey! Charmian Mansell describes the wide variety in servants' social status, tasks and living conditions in pre-industrial Britain
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/03...