Job rejections the day before Christmas Eve suck.

"Are you ready for Christmas?" If by that you mean am I poised to do all I can to avoid shops and the gormless lying face of festive celebrity capitalism then thank the Goblin Animist Gods that these dispiriting mopwater days are getting lighter then yes, you bet, I am absolutely fucking ready.

Looking forward to speaking at this conference on the 'non-mothers' of the London Foundling Hospital.

Most of the time, Bertie is a little shit. But today, when life is falling apart, he decides he needs baby cuddles 💜

Deadline to submit an abstract to the always fabulous @histchild.bsky.social conference at the University of Sheffield, 1-3 July 2026, coming up on 14th December!* #histchild #histyouth #skystorians *this is also a reminder to myself www.histchild.org/pages/sheffi...

My next module with Aberystwyth Lifelong Learning is now available to book! The Weaker Vessel examines the lives of women in seventeenth-century Britain www.aber.ac.uk/en/lifelong-...

Ever get the feeling you're being watched?!

The call for papers for the @histchild.bsky.social 2026 conference at the University of Sheffield, 1-3 July, is now up on our website! Deadline 14 December www.histchild.org/pages/sheffi... #histchild #skystorians #histyouth

Working with oral histories of children who were in Cottage Homes in the early twentieth century. One old man said 'we had a sister too, I don't know where she went, we never saw her again'. These stories haven't actually changed as siblings are still split up today.

#Londonfoundlingmuseum Tokens in the street nearby tepresenting those ‘fallen women’ left with their babies in the hope of reclaiming them.

Kate Brooks has written a brilliant book on care and education systems from the nineteenth century. Do go and buy it! #histchild

When mothers admitted their children to the London Foundling Hospital, they often left tokens. Sometimes, just a cut of the child's clothing, as in this case. This child was reclaimed by its mother in 1760. Seeing the fabric in the archive this week was incredible.

Learn about girls in the workhouse, c.1880-1920, and the social concerns this prompted.  womenshistorynetwork.org/girls-in-the... #GenderHist #WomensHistory #WHM2025

I had to buy my own copy, but happy to see this out in the world

My latest article is out in the Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth. If you want a copy but don't have access, let me know #histchild “There Was no Goodnight Hug or Kiss”: The Foundling Hospital and the Feeling of Family, 1900–1950 muse.jhu.edu/article/938247

My latest article is out in the Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth. If you want a copy but don't have access, let me know #histchild “There Was no Goodnight Hug or Kiss”: The Foundling Hospital and the Feeling of Family, 1900–1950 muse.jhu.edu/article/938247

I wrote this last year for my Women's History Network fellowship #womenshistorymonth womenshistorynetwork.org/girls-in-the...

Bobbie Charlton and his mum Cissie photographed in Ashington in 1953.