Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Matthew developed an interest in British history as an undergraduate at York and as postgraduate and ESRC postdoctoral fellow at Manchester. His PhD on the idea of ‘independence’ in Georgian England started out as a study in political culture, but increasingly became focused on issues of gender as he tried to understand the role of masculinity in debates about citizenship.
Matthew arrived in Northampton in 2004 and is now Professor of History and Head of the Graduate School. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Higher Education Academy. He is currently Vice President of the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies.
Research Interests
Matthew built on his doctoral work by focusing upon the wider relationships between politics, war and masculinity in modern Britain. His first book, The Independent Man, explored the ways in which political and personal freedom were conceived of in terms of ‘manly independence’, particularly in relation to the vote. He examined this further in a textbook, Citizenship and Gender in Britain, 1688-1928.
Matthew has also worked on the social and cultural history of the military in the long eighteenth century. He explored the themes of gender and citizen soldiering in Embodying the Militia in Georgian England. More recently, he has focused on material culture, thinking about shoes in relation to masculinity and the body.
He edited Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies (2015-20) and sits on the Council of the Northamptonshire Record Society.
Supervision
Ruth Barton; History
Comfort in the country house
Kerry Love; History
Political literature in Georgian Britain
Kathrina Perry; History
Philanthropy in the Northampton boot and shoe industry
Martyn Green; History
Motivations of Volunteers in Napoleonic Britain
Teaching Interests
Matthew teaches on a range of modules relating to his research on British history:
- Themes and Perspectives in History
- Citizenship and Gender in Britain, 1760-1918
- Narrating the Nation: Rethinking Modern British History
- MA History Research Methods
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
Projects
- 1 Finished
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Innovations in teaching the eighteenth century
20/12/19 → 26/06/20
Project: Research › Charitable Funding
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Embodying the history of shoes: footwear and gender in Britain, 1700-1850
McCormack, M., 30 Aug 2023, (Accepted/In press) The Material Body: Embodiment, History and Archaeology in Industrialising England, 1700-1850. Craig-Atkins, E. & Harvey, K. (eds.). Manchester: Manchester University Press, (Social Archaeology and Material Worlds).Research output: Contribution to Book/Report › Chapter › peer-review
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Shoes, stockings and feet
McCormack, M., 9 Nov 2023, Encyclopedia of Smell History and Heritage.Research output: Contribution to Book/Report › Entry for Dictionary/Encyclopedia
Open Access -
"So manly and ornamental": shoe buckles and Britain's eighteenth century
McCormack, M., 25 Aug 2023, In: The English Historical Review. 23 p., cead102.Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Buckles
McCormack, M., 23 Mar 2022, DIGIT.EN.S: The Digital Encyclopedia of British Sociability in the Long Eighteenth Century.Research output: Contribution to Book/Report › Entry for Dictionary/Encyclopedia › peer-review
Open Access -
Power dressing: clothing and masculinity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
McCormack, M., 1 Sept 2022, Modern History Review, 25, 1, p. 18-21.Research output: Contribution to Specialist Publication › Article
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Shoes
McCormack, M., 24 Nov 2022, DIGIT.EN.S: The Digital Encyclopedia of British Sociability in the Long Eighteenth Century.Research output: Contribution to Book/Report › Entry for Dictionary/Encyclopedia › peer-review
Open Access -
Manliness in Britain 1760–1900: bodies, emotion and material culture: by Joanne Begiato, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2020, xii + 225 pp., £80.00 (hardback)
McCormack, M., 2 Jan 2021, In: Social History. 46, 1, p. 99-101 3 p.Research output: Contribution to Journal › Book Review
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Smell in eighteenth-century England: a social sense
McCormack, M., 15 Feb 2021, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Cultural and Social History. p. 1-2 2 p.Research output: Contribution to Journal › Book Review
Activities
- 1 Seminar/Workshop
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Numbering the fighting men: population, bodies and the Militia lists of the eighteenth century
Matthew McCormack (Speaker)
19 Nov 2013Activity: Academic Talks or Presentations › Seminar/Workshop › Research
Press/Media
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New English History Study Results from University of Northampton Described ('so Manly and Ornamental': Shoe Buckles and Britain's Eighteenth Century)
3/10/23
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media
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Prince Andrew's predecessor and his lover were also caught in scandals
31/01/23
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media
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Prince Andrew's predecessor and his lover were also caught in scandals
30/01/23
3 items of Media coverage
Press/Media
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Students praise Postgraduate Research Support at Northampton
Matthew McCormack & Cathy Smith
26/08/22
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media
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