Representing Coal Famine: Energy Crises and the British Press, 1870-1920

This project focuses on how coal shortages and high energy prices were discussed in the newspaper and periodical press. It considers the 1872-3, 1900 and 1921 'coal famines' as core case studies, but will reflect more widely on journalistic representation of energy crisis from the mid-Victorian period to the twenty-first century. In exploring the format and language both of news articles and of other media sources (e.g. cartoons, verse), this thesis will particularly investigate the representation of fuel poverty, and the ways in which consumer suffering was leveraged both for charitable ends, and in relation to assigning blame.