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The Value of Studying History: A Subject at Risk

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“So, you’re going to be a history teacher?” This is the most common question I hear as an undergraduate History student. While teaching is certainly an option for some, it is not for me and is far from the only career path available to history graduates. Yet, the assumption that history is only valid for teaching or academia is a concerning factor in its under appreciation. Whether openly stated or implied, history as a subject is increasingly undervalued by our society. I’ll admit my bias—I chose to study history. But why? My path to this degree wasn’t straightforward. Initially, I intended to pursue a science-based degree, selecting A Levels in Biology, Chemistry, History, and English Literature. However, after the immense stress of Chemistry led me to drop it, I was drawn more toward History and Biology. The UK education system tends to push students toward the sciences or the humanities, making it difficult to pursue both. By dropping an additional science, my university options be...
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To Change or Not to Change: Marriage, Names, and Modern Identity

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Dedicated to my cousin who got married this summer! In April 2025, YouGov released data on how a sample of the British public believes married couples should choose their married name. Like many other Western countries, Britain has traditionally followed a naming pattern in which, in a heterosexual relationship, the wife adopts her husband’s surname as her own. However, there has been a slow growth in naming choices away from surnames in the patriarchal tradition. In this post, I outline these changing attitudes and posit why changing your name is unnecessary.     The YouGov Data As part of the survey, participants were asked whether they viewed each option as positive, negative, don’t know or neither positive nor negative. They were provided with the following options: a woman taking their spouse’s surname, a couple both keeping their original surnames, a couple combining their names into a double-barrelled one, a man taking their spouse’s surname, a couple taking eac...
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Death, A Case of Governing the Natural

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After a vacation to the archive, I am back with some thoughts on death and its governance. Why is it governed? What does this governance look like? All thoughts I have late in the evening after a day at the archive... Since I started thinking about what I wanted my thesis to be on, I have spent a considerable amount of time surrounded by death. I have visited the crematorium, studied documents,  spent long hours in the archives , and had my own personal experiences of death that have furthered my questioning. Yet, I am struck continually by the structure of death—its rules, regulations,  and requirements.  Death is the most natural thing. We are all born and we all die. Life is, to an extent, free from strict rules of who can do what and when and where and why, and yet death appears to be the very opposite.  Death itself is not governable — most people cannot choose when, where, or how they will die. Yet everything around death is subject to rules. So, for the sake o...
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In Perpetuity: Landscapes of Memory Against the Fenland

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Ramsey St Mary’s lies three miles from Ramsey, on the threshold of the Cambridgeshire Fens — a flat, formerly marshy terrain that poses challenges for both the living and the dead. This post argues that the Fenland’s environmental fragility challenges Christian ideals of perpetual rest, revealing tensions between faith, memory and environmental challenge. “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” these are the words uttered at the committal of the deceased’s body into the ground during a Church of England service. [1] Placing the body back to the earth, to return to it, seems to be at the essence of burial. An act of reconnecting man with nature, specifically with the earth created by G-d. Yet, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, communities worked fervently to claim these spaces as their own — not just in life, but in perpetuity. Christian doctrine taught that humanity would be judged at the Second Coming of Christ. All who have ever lived will be raised from the dead, ...
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It’s a Man’s World, Even in Death: Mary Ann Weems, Murdered and Remembered at The Hands of Her Husband

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“As a warning to the Young of both Sexes This Stone is erected by public Subscription.” These words greet passersby in Godmanchester’s St. Mary the Virgin Church.  The gargantuan headstone above Mary Ann Weems’ grave serves not only as a memorial of her 1819 murder, but also invites a troubling tarnish of her identity. Her story has stood in this cemetery for centuries, visible to onlookers. Unlike other headstones, her role as the victim, murdered, perhaps even blamed, is attributed to her memory. Mary Ann arguably cannot rest in peace. The events of her life and death are brought up each time her final resting place is passed. Unlike other headstones in this cemetery, her life is memorialised, made permanent, in this stone. A community decision to immortalise this event is crucial for examining the involvement of gendered expectations being perpetuated even in death. Murder is brutal. It is the action of intentionally taking away the life of another human. Thomas Weems, her h...
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History with a Hook: How Horrible Histories Makes the Past Stick

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Let’s face it, not all of us enjoyed school, but regardless of what grade you achieved in GCSE History, we are all united by our enjoyment of the funky Horrible Histories songs. The programme first aired in the UK on the 16 th of April 2009 and has continued to be a cult classic to this day. From singing ‘We sell any monk’ to the iconic Charles the Second, what’s not to love? This blog post analyses the role of Horrible Histories through the medium of their historical songs, exploring how history is made accessible whilst not detracting too far from the actual events as they happened.   Tonight, We’re Gonna Party Like It’s 1066 In this section, I shall introduce three songs from the programme. After establishing the context of the song, the historical agents present in it, and the message behind it, I will analyse the relationship between these elements in how the medium presents history. First up it’s good ol’ Charles the Second. [1] The song features a rather interest...
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Survival, Societies, and Staring at Manuscripts: Year Two Recap

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I blinked, and the second year of university happened. Whilst Oxford remains a strange microcosm, a lot has happened since October, and, like last year, I think it would be a good idea to write down how I feel it has gone. Now, anyone who knows me knows I am exceptionally critical of myself. This can be a slight problem when it comes to doing work at my university. With quite a few deadlines in short succession, there is often not the time to obsess over every detail. However, this year I think some of my decision-making skills have sharpened, albeit only slightly in some cases. This is mainly in part to me finally, yes, finally, joining some societies. Participating in societies has given me a sense of confidence and a new sense of community. I am a member of the Oxford Labour Club and have served on the committee since Hilary this year. Having spent time as Women's Officer and the Secretary, I found that I developed new skills and was given amazing opportunities to network an...
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Crosses, Archers, and Birth Certificates: Diplomacy as Theatre

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  So often is the case that I see a news headline and go ‘hmm, that reminds me of something.’ I have written about history on many occasions, emphasising how it can teach us valuable lessons. Many of the rituals and observances that we keep are centuries old; diplomacy is no different. This week, I take a comparative approach to diplomacy in both late medieval society and today, highlighting how its position has remained largely unchanged for most of history.   -- Diplomacy is an age-old interaction between leaders and their representatives and another polity. As part of my degree, I recently studied late medieval diplomacy, and in light of recent interactions between Germany’s Chancellor and the United States President, an abundance of posturing can be observed.  Posturing, in this post, can be defined as an event by one party to provoke a response from another party to give the original party a position of superiority. This article highlights the importance of ...
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