I am currently a PGR Lead Supervisor at the School of Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham/ CRQS Woodbrooke College, Birmingham. Formerly a Reader in Early Modern Cultural History and a Fulbright-Robertson Visiting Professor of British History at Westminster College, Missouri, I am now a Research Fellow at Newcastle University, UK, and at The Australian National University, Humanities Research Centre, Canberra, Australia.

Qualifications

Ph.D. Welsh History. Aberystwyth University

PGCE (History). Aberystwyth University

BA (Joint Hons) History and Welsh History. Aberystwyth University

Teaching and supervision topics

I have taught various undergraduate and postgraduate modules on early modern-modern British and transatlantic history c. 1600-1850.

I have supervised the following to completion:

PhD

‘Magic and the Supernatural in Eighteenth Century Wales: the world of the Rev. Edmund Jones, 1702–1793’;

‘The Heritage Industry in a Politically Devolved Wales’;

‘Spatio-Temporality and Digital Tourism in UK Industrial UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site’;

‘Toeing the Scratch’: A historical analysis of the transition of Welsh Prize-Fighting, c.1750–1914;

‘The distribution and ownership of chapbooks and other cheap print in south Wales and its borders, 1640–1730:Developmental influences on commerce, religion and education’.

 MA in Historical Research

‘Pills and Potions’: An in-depth study of patent medicines in Cardiff between 1850 and 1900

Current Supervision as Lead Supervisor:

PhD

‘Rural Quakerism’: The Religious Society of Friends in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, c.1650–c.1720 (p/t).

MPhil/PhD

‘Looking Inward and Outward – Yorkshire Friends in Transition c.1750-1850’. (p/t).

I welcome any future proposals.

Current Research

I have research interests in the social, cultural and religious history of Britain, Ireland, and America (and more recently Australia) from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. These include:

• Quaker History and religious history more broadly defined;
• Welsh and Irish social and cultural history c.1650-1850;
• Chartism;
• Peace Studies.

Other Activities

Generally catching up with friends and I enjoy watching various sports, particularly rugby union and cricket. Trekking down hills but not always relishing the uphill slog to get up there in the first place. The back-breaking but immensely satisfactory pursuit of having a summer garden. Watching the endlessly fascinating activities of my young cat, especially when I am trying to concentrate while working at my computer.

Publications

[published or in press]

• (co-authored with Rosemary Moore and specialist contributors), The Quakers, 1656–1723: The Evolution of an Alternative Community (University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2018), pp. x, 345;
• (ed. with David Ceri Jones), The Religious History of Wales: A Survey of Religious Life and Practice from the Seventeenth Century to the Present Day (Cardiff: Welsh Academic Press, 2014), pp. 281;
• (with Joan Allen), ‘“Radicalism within Boundaries”: Excavating Quaker Women’s Contribution to Radical Reform in Britain in the Nineteenth Century’, in Robynne Rogers-Healey (ed.), New Critical Studies on Quaker Women, 1800–1920: Finding New Voices (University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2021);
• ‘Industrial development and community responsibility: the Harford family and south Wales, c.1768–1842’, in Robynne Rogers Healey (ed.), Quakerism in the Atlantic World in the Long Eighteenth Century, 1680s–1830s (University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2021);
• Richard C. Allen, Oliver O’Hanlon and Aoife Whelan (eds), Freedom of Speech in France, Germany, and Ireland in Time of Conflict: Freedom of Speech in the Press in Times of Conflict: Historical Perspectives from Ireland and Europe (forthcoming. Bern: Peter Lang, 2021);
• ‘‘A Quiet Nationalist’ – the Pen and Politics of Maurice Walsh (1879–1964)’, in Richard C. Allen, Oliver O’Hanlon and Aoife Whelan (eds), Freedom of Speech in the Press in Times of Conflict: Historical Perspectives from Ireland and Europe (forthcoming. Bern: Peter Lang, 2021);
• Joan Allen, Richard C. Allen, and Emma Harris (eds), Perspectives on Exile in Nineteenth Century Britain, Europe and the Wider World (forthcoming. London: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2021);
• ‘“A Somewhat Rare Entity – An Honest Politician”: Liberalism and Free Trade in the Australian goldfields’, in Joan Allen, Richard C. Allen, and Emma Harris (eds), Perspectives on Exile in Nineteenth Century Britain, Europe and the Wider World (forthcoming. London: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2021);
• ‘The Merthyr Rising, 1831. Afterword: A Red Flag Raised’, in Ra Page (ed.), Resist (Manchester: Comma Press, 2019), pp. 105–18;
• ‘Quakers’, in Andrew C. Thompson (ed.), Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions Vol. II: 1689 to the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), pp. 77–98;
• ‘An Indefatigable Philanthropist: Joseph Tregelles Price (1784–1854) of Neath, Wales’, Quaker Studies, 23,2 (2018), 219–37;
• ‘“Providing a Moral Compass for British People”: The Work of Joseph Tregelles Price, Evan Rees and The Herald of Peace’, Journal of the Friends Historical Society, 67 (2018 for 2016), 3-15 – This paper was delivered at Friends’ House, London, in June 2016 as the presidential address of the Friends’ Historical Society;
• ‘Nantucket Quakers and Negotiating the Politics of the Atlantic World’, in Marie-Jeanne Rossignol and Bertrand Van Ruymbeke (eds), The Atlantic World of Anthony Benezet (Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. 106–26;
• ‘Samuel Meredith (1741–1817): American Patriot and Welsh Philanthropist’, in Maurice Jackson and Susan Kozel (eds), Quakers and their Allies in the Abolitionist Cause, 1754–1808 (London: Routledge, 2015), pp. 73–84, 167–75;
• ‘Afterword’, in Stephen W. Angell and B. P. Dandelion (eds), The Theological Thought of Early Quaker Leaders, 1650–1700 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 293–304;
• ‘The Peace Society and Joseph Tregelles Price (1784–1854) of Neath, Wales’, Kirke og Kultur (Norway) (2015), 178–87;
• ‘Introduction’ and ‘Quakers’ in Richard C. Allen and David Ceri Jones (eds), The Religious History of Wales: A Survey of Religious Life and Practice from the Seventeenth Century to the Present Day (Cardiff: Welsh Academic Press, 2014), pp. pp. 1–11, 55–68.

Current Work

• (co-authored with Erin Bell), Quakers in the North East of England, 1650–1850: Identities, Networks and Discipline (2021);
• (ed.), The Welsh Society of Philadelphia, Vol. I: 1789–1839 (Cardiff: South Wales Record Society, 2021);
• Welsh Quaker Emigrants and Colonial Pennsylvania, 1650–1775: Transatlantic Connections (2022).

Editorial Work

• Book Series Editor: ‘Britain and the World’, Palgrave. 2014–18;
• South Wales Record Society. 2018–
• Editorial Board: Quaker Studies. 2001–
• Guest Editor: Quaker Studies,1 (2003), 9.1 (2004);
• Publications Committee: North East England Historical Institute (NEEHI) Book Series, Regions and Regionalism (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2002–2007)

Additional Publications 

• ‘Wales and America: Revolution, Finance and Philanthropy’, Welsh History Month. Western Mail, 23 October 2015.

Select Publications 2000–2013

1. Quaker Communities in Early Modern Wales: From Resistance to Respectability (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2007), pp. 304;
2. (ed. with Joan Allen), Faith of Our Fathers: Popular Culture and Belief in Post-Reformation England, Ireland and Wales (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009), pp. 216;
3. (ed. with Stephen Regan), Irelands of the Mind: Memory and Identity in Modern Irish Culture (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008), pp. 240;
4. ‘Restoration Quakerism, 1660–1691’, in S. W. Angell and P. Dandelion (eds), Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), pp. 29–46;
5. ‘Nantucket Quakers and the Milford Haven Whaling Industry, c.1791–1821’, Quaker Studies,1 (September 2010), 6–31;
6. ‘The origins and development of Welsh associational life in eighteenth-century Philadelphia’, Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, New Series, 15, 2008 (2009), 105–26;
7. ‘The making of a Holy Christian Community: Welsh Quaker emigrants to Pennsylvania, c.1680–1750’, in Tim Kirk and Luďa Klusáková (eds), Cultural Conquests (Prague: Philosophica et Historica, Studia Historica, 2009), pp. 45–61;
8. ‘An Alarm Sounded to the Sinners in Sion’: John Kelsall, Quakers and Popular Culture in Eighteenth-Century Wales’, in Joan Allen and Richard C. Allen (eds), Faith of Our Fathers: Popular Culture and Belief in Post-Reformation England, Ireland and Wales (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009), pp. 52–74;
9. ‘The Administration of Poor Relief’, in M. Gray and P. Morgan (eds), Gwent County History, vol. III (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2009), pp. 272–84;
10. “I’ve come home, and home I’m gonna stay”. The Quiet Man (1952) in Irish-American cinematic history’, in Richard C. Allen and Stephen Regan (eds), Irelands of the Mind: Memory and Identity in Modern Irish Culture (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008), pp. 110–28;
11. “Turning hearts to break off the yoke of oppression”. The travels and sufferings of Christopher Meidel c.1659–c.1715’, Quaker Studies,1 (2007), 54–72;
12. (with Joan Allen), ‘Competing identities’: Irish and Welsh migration and the North-East of England’, in A. J. Pollard and A. G. Green (eds), Regional Identities in North-East England 1300–2000 (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2007), pp. 133–160;
13. ‘Brown, Henton (1697/8–1775), Quaker minister and banker’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
14. ‘Cook, Samuel (1786–1861), Chartist’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
15. ‘Erbery, Dorcas (fl. 1656–1659), Quaker preacher’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
16. ‘Evans, Philip [St Philip Evans] (1645–1679), Jesuit’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
17. ‘Griffith, John (1713–1776), Quaker minister’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
18. Harries, John (c. 1785–1839), astrologer and physician’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
19. ‘Hartley, David (bap. 1705, d. 1757), philosopher and physician’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
20. ‘Holme, Thomas (1626/7–1666), Quaker missionary’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
21. ‘John ap John (c. 1625–1697), Quaker leader’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
22. ‘Kemeys family (per. c. 1570–1747), landowners’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
23. ‘Kelsall, John (1683–1743), Quaker minister and diarist’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
24. ‘Lewis, David [St David Lewis; alias Charles Baker] (1617–1679), Jesuit and martyr’,  Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
25. ‘Lloyd, John [St John Lloyd] (c. 1630–1679), Roman Catholic priest’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
26. ‘Matthews, Marmaduke (c. 1606–c. 1683), clergyman and ejected minister’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
27. ‘Morgan, Robert (1608–1673), bishop of Bangor’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
28. ‘Owen, Hugh [alias John Hughes] (1615–1686), Jesuit’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
29. ‘Owen, Richard (1606–1683), Church of England clergyman’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
30. ‘Oxley, Joseph (1715–1775), Quaker minister’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
31. ‘Phipps, Joseph (1708–1787), religious writer’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
32. ‘Pugh, Ellis (1656–1718), Quaker minister in America’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
33. ‘Pugh, Hugh (1613/14–1683), Church of England clergyman’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
34. ‘Thomas [Evans], Lewis (1568?–1619?), Church of England clergyman’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004);
35. ‘In search of a New Jerusalem. A preliminary investigation into Welsh Quaker emigration to North America c.1660–1750’, Quaker Studies, 9.1 (2004), 31–53;
36. ‘Remember me to my good friend Captain Cook’: James Cook and the North Yorkshire Quakers’, in Glyndwr Williams (ed.), Captain Cook: explorations and reassessments (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2004), pp. 21–36;
37. ‘Establishing an alternative community in the north-east: Quakers, morals and popular culture in the long-eighteenth century’, in Helen Berry and Jeremy Gregory (eds), Creating and Consuming Culture in North-East England, 1660–1832 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004), pp. 98–119;
38. “Mocked, scoffed, persecuted, and made a gazeing stock”: The resistance of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) to the religious and civil authorities in post-toleration south-east Wales c.1689–1836’, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres de Nice (2003), 23–47;
39. ‘A most industrious well-disposed people.’ Milford Haven Quakers and the Pembrokeshire Whaling industry’, in Pamela O’Neill (ed.), Nation and Federation in the Celtic World (Sydney: University of Sydney Press, 2003), pp. 64–94;
40. ‘An Example of Quaker Discipline: The case of Dr. Charles Allen Fox and the Cardiff Quakers’, Journal of Welsh Religious History, New Series, 1 (2001), 46–73;
41. ‘Wizards or charlatans, doctors or herbalists? An appraisal of the ‘cunning men’ of Cwrt-y-Cadno, Carmarthenshire’, North American Journal of Welsh Studies, 1, 2 (2001), 68–85;
42. ‘Taking up her daily cross’: Women and the early Quaker Movement in Wales, c.1653–1689’, in Michael Roberts and Simone Clarke (eds), Women and Gender in Early Modern Wales (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000), pp. 104–28.
43. ‘Catholic Records in the Attic: Details of everyday life found in the seventeenth century Catholic household of the Gunter family of Abergavenny’, Gwent Local History, 86 (Spring 1999), 17–30;
44. ‘‘A Pilgrim’s Progress’. A Welsh Quaker’s Spiritual Journey. Four Papers written by Thomas Lewis of Shirenewton, Monmouthshire, c. 1741–2’, Transactions of the Third Conference of the North American Association for the Study of Welsh Culture and History, Ohio, and reprinted in Journal of Friends’ Historical Society, 58.2 (1998), 136–62.