Biography

After having graduated in history from the University of Northampton, I completed an MA in the history of warfare at King’s College London. I joined Keele in September 2014 as a Doctoral Student with a Graduate Teaching Assistantship.

Supervisors: Dr Anthony Kauders, Dr Philip Morgan, and Professor Karen Hunt

Research and scholarship

My current research investigates spy fever in Great Britain during the First World War as an expression of social emotions. Studying local responses to the war, I am looking at the relationships between popular concerns and official bodies. Also significant are the liaison between local constabularies and the intelligence branches of the home defence forces charged with protecting local areas of strategic importance. Rather than a focus on MO5(g) (the precursor to the current day Security Service or more commonly, MI5) this project will provide a bottom up study of British counter espionage to establish how far local 'spy fever' epidemics influenced policing and intelligence activities.

I am also involved in research on naval intelligence, with a particular interest in the work of the Admiralty's cryptology department, Room 40. 

Teaching

I currently teach on the first-year core module Historical Research and Writing (HIS 10030), offering a topic on the B.E.F. on the western front 1914-18.

I also teach on HIS-10029 Modern History; the second-year core module Sources and Debates (HIS 20067) on the Home Front in Britain in the First World War.

Conference papers

2015: Royal Air Force Museum (Hendon). British Commission for Military History: 'Spy fever and naval intelligence officers in the first world war: spycatchers or coast watchers?'.


2016: Lancaster University, Social History Society Conference: 'Spontaneous eruptions of fear - spy fever in  Britain in the First World War'.

Dresden Museum of Military History, International Intelligence History Association - 'Sigint and counter-insurgency: room 40 and German intrigue in Morocco in the First World War'.

School of Humanities
Chancellor's Building
Keele University
Staffordshire
ST5 5AA
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 733109

Head of School
Dr Nick Seager
Room: CBB1.038 (Chancellor's Building, 'B' Extension)
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 733142
Email: n.p.seager@keele.ac.uk

School and college outreach
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 734009
Email: outreach@keele.ac.uk