Everyday life and fatal hazard in sixteenth-century England
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: History Faculty
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Publications
Gromelski T.W.
(2014)
Smiercionosne rozrywki
in Newsweek Historia
Gromelski, T.W.
(2013)
Zycie i smierc w Anglii Tudorów
in Mówia wieki
Gunn S
(2012)
For whom the bell tolls: accidental deaths in Tudor England.
in Lancet (London, England)
Gunn, S. J.
(2015)
The perils of piety in Tudor England
in BBC History Magazine
Steven Gunn
(2013)
Deadly beasts of Tudor England
in BBC History Magazine
Steven Gunn (Author)
(2011)
'Drowning in Tudor England'
in BBC History Magazine
Steven Gunn (Author)
(2012)
'Toys and games that killed in Tudor England'
in BBC History Magazine
| Title | Hidden Killers of the Tudor Home |
| Description | We presented our research on domestic accidents in sixteenth-century England as part of this BBC4 documentary, first shown on 20 January 2015 and repeated thereafter. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Several reviews of the programme (e.g. Telegraph, Independent) noted the evidence of our research in their discussion of the programme and the BBC iWonder website used four accidents from our project website 'Discovery of the Month' section for their supporting 'How could you survive in Tudor England' feature. |
| URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z8r49j6 |
| Description | We have established the utility of sixteenth-century coroners' inquest reports on accidental deaths for exploring the history of early modern English society in four main ways. First, they can be used to investigate large-scale issues in social, economic and cultural history. These include the age at which children began work and the types of work they did; the characteristic nature and dangers of women's work, particularly fetching water; the effects on home and working life of various disabilities; the habit of sleeping in a wide range of places and at many times of day; the prevalence of open-water bathing by working men in high summer; the very wide social range of people who rode horses; the greater incidence of fatal house collapses than fatal house fires; the rapid spread of firearms towards the end of the century; and the habitual times and locations for different sports and recreations. These topics have generated most of our research collaborations. Second, they can be used to reconstruct everyday life in particular communities, from the general, for example the life of Newcastle as a busy port and entertainment centre, to the particular: bull-baiting in Selby, Palm Sunday cake-throwing at Chippenham, pottery-making at Low Toynton, scythe-making at Belbroughton. They include a large number of names of fields, woods, hills, watercourses and roads. They reveal communal activities from bell-ringing to road repair, provide frequent details of arrest and imprisonment and shed light on the working life and inter-relationships of servants in households. Much of our public outreach and knowledge exchange work has concentrated on these themes. Third, they can be used to reconstruct working practices in particular crafts and areas of agriculture. They preserve technical terms sometimes hundreds of years before their first mention elsewhere: springles for thatching, grigweels for eel-trapping, and so on. They show the times of year and times of day at which particular work was done. They show the characteristic dangers of activities such as scything, tree-felling and washing sheep before shearing and the steps taken to minimise them. They show the risks run by those using machinery of different sorts, from watermills, windmills and cider presses to the many carts that brought fatal traffic accidents long before the motor car. Similar practicalities can be investigated for sports, drama and even religious worship. Fourth, they can be used to reconstruct the lives and deaths of individuals great and small in otherwise inaccessible detail. The social span of those to whom the reports give us access ranges from beggars dying of exposure on moors through drunk women returning from market, minstrels juggling with daggers, labourers frolicking in haystacks and apprentices fooling about with the charcoal on top of blast furnaces, to gentlemen reading prayer books on crumbling clifftops and little George, Lord Dacre, trying to adjust his wooden vaulting-horse and causing its collapse. These cameos have occupied some of our more popular publications and will be combined with the larger themes in the book we are writing to present our findings. |
| Exploitation Route | We anticipate that our findings will be taken forward in three main ways. Once we have completed analysis of all the reports we have photographed, we shall write a book exploring the many different aspects of daily life in sixteenth-century England on which the reports shed light. Once our complete spreadsheet of the data contained in the reports is available through UK data service and our university website, other historians of early modern England will be able to use the data to investigate questions other than those we have explored, as those involved in the women's work project, for example, have already begun to do. And once the availability of the data is publicised by our book and other means, local and family historians will be able to use it to investigate the history of particular communities, families and individuals. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://tudoraccidents.modhist.ox.ac.uk/ |
| Description | While our research into sixteenth-century accidents has had some impact in providing context for current health and safety policy - for example in the campaign for a Farm Safety Charter - its main contribution has been to increase public interest in and understanding of everyday life in sixteenth-century England. Material on the BBC website, on BBC national and local radio stations, Radio New Zealand and Newstalk Ireland radio programmes and in newspapers has had the largest public reach. Our findings on the drowning while picking flowers of Jane Shaxspere, possibly a cousin of William, reached 246 websites in at least 20 countries from Mexico to Iran within a day of its appearance on the BBC site. A follow-up feature on '10 strange ways Tudors died' spent 22 hours amongst the site's ten most read stories. Our research on football deaths attracted stories in the Times and Telegraph and on the Daily Mail website, and radio interviews on Talksport FM and Italk FM. Our archery deaths have featured in Horrible Histories and football, archery and bell-ringing on Have I Got News for You. More extended coverage of our work came in BBC4's Hidden Killers of the Tudor Home. This programme used our material on house collapses, archery, wrestling, and bear attacks, but above all emphasized drownings, putting the presenter in a pond in Tudor clothes to show why water was so dangerous. In connection with the programme, findings from our project website's 'Discovery of the Month' feature were used in the BBC iWonder section on 'How could you survive in Tudor England'. Articles in BBC History Magazine, in The Lancet and in the Polish popular history magazine Mówia wieki have enabled us to explore particular themes for a general historical readership: the dangers of water and animals, Tudor understanding of physiology and death, children's games and the impact of the Reformation. Public lectures have enabled us to explain our findings in more depth to a wide variety of audiences. We have spoken to school students, school teachers and museum visitors, local history societies and Historical Association and Workers' Educational Association groups, across England from Devon to Yorkshire. The reach of several of these talks, for example that linking accidental deaths to everyday Tudor objects in the Ashmolean Museum, has been amplified by podcasting. Questionnaire returns and social media responses have shown that we have consistently re-shaped people's understanding of everyday life in the sixteenth century, encouraged them to investigate Tudor England in more detail, and inspired teachers and National Trust volunteers to pass on their increased awareness to others. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2011 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | History Faculty Research Committee Funds |
| Amount | £800 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2015 |
| End | 08/2015 |
| Description | Merton College Fellows Research Funds |
| Amount | £7,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Department | Merton College |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2015 |
| End | 09/2015 |
| Title | First deposit accidents spreadsheet |
| Description | This database contains details of the first 6,000 accident reports we have analysed |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Impacts are anticipated once the database is deposited with UK data service; the audience at lectures we have given have often enquired about its future availability and use. |
| Description | Occupational Structure and Living Standards |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Tomasz Gromelski conducted extensive pilot investigations into the use of 14th- to 19th-century coroners' records to extract data for projects on 'Occupational Structure, Industrialization and Proto-Industry in England and Wales 1418-1820' (led by Leigh Shaw-Taylor) and 'Living Standards and Material Culture in English Households, 1300-1600' (led by Chris Briggs). |
| Collaborator Contribution | They paid Dr Gromelski for his time - when he was working half-time on our project - and contributed their own expertise on a wide range of other records for the study of the different problems addressed by the two projects. |
| Impact | Dr Gromelski has been included as a full-time named researcher in applications to the Leverhulme Trust for funding for each project. He also gave a talk on 'Coroners' records in England and Wales, 1500-1700', at the Occupations Project Day (Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure,) Faculty of History, University of Cambridge, 23 March 2015. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Women's work project |
| Organisation | University of Exeter |
| Department | Department of History |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We are sharing all our data on women's working accidents with the Leverhulme-funded project on 'Women's work in rural England 1500-1700: a new methodological approach', based at the University of Exeter, PI Jane Whittle, and Steven Gunn is sitting on that project's advisory board. The next phase of Professor Whittle's study of work is now funded by an ERC grant for 'Forms of Labour: Gender, Freedom and Experience of Work in the Preindustrial Economy' and we are supplying our complete data for eleven counties to that project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The project team's research on other sources for women's work will help to set our evidence from coroners' inquests in context. |
| Impact | Jane Whittle and Mark Hailwood, 'The gender division of labour in early modern England' Economic History Review, 73 (2020), 3-32 acknowledges use of our data. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Occupations Project Day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Talk stimulated interest in the use of coroners' records for research into social and economic history. Talk stimulated preparation of funding bids for research projects which will have public impact. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Ancient House Museum, Thetford lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion. Audience expressed interest in learning more about daily life in Tudor England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://democracy.breckland.gov.uk/documents/s29575/AMC%20Breckland%20museums%20report%20Ancient%20Ho... |
| Description | Anhui University, Hefei lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Talk stimulated interest in archival research into English history and study as visiting students at British universities. Staff and students expressed interest in studying as visiting researchers / visiting students at British universities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Ashmolean Museum 'Fright Friday' presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Game based on our research ('Tudor accidents: what happened next?') generated public engagement with the realities of life in the past and the evidence available to us to reconstruct them. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://torch.ox.ac.uk/frightfriday |
| Description | Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 'Dead Friday' lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion and podcast enabled international dissemination. Audience expressed interest in learning more about daily life in Tudor England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/accidental-death-tudor-england |
| Description | Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives, Oxford lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion. Audience were stimulated to make more use of coroners' records in research into local and family history. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | BBC History Magazine 'Talking Tudor' public history day lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture sparked questions and discussion. The audience were surprised at the variety of information the sources for our project can provide about everyday life in the sixteenth century. Fifty-nine questionnaires were returned from a mixed audience (including 21 employed, 1 unemployed, 22 retired, 5 university students and staff and 8 school students). The average score on increased awareness of the topic was 4.3/5 and 29 intended to take action. This included reading more about Tudor life (16), attending more history lectures (4), reflecting on present safety measures (4) and, in the words of a school student, 'studying ordinary people as well as monarchs'. Four, including a primary school teacher, a secondary school teacher and a National Trust volunteer, said they would pass on what they had learned to others. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Beckenham and Bromley Historical Association lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture sparked questions and discussion. The audience were surprised at the variety of information the sources for our project can provide about everyday life in the sixteenth century. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Being Human festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We used a card game to present our research, explaining situations in sixteenth-century England in which people had accidents and encouraging members of the public to guess which of three outcomes happened. In the conversations generated by the game we explained more about our research and what it reveals about everyday life in sixteenth-century England. We also helped people search our spread-sheet of accident data to find accidents in places they knew. Those who attended expressed interest in the project and at what it can show about aspects of everyday life in the past they had thought inaccessible. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.torch.ox.ac.uk/lost-late-being-human-festival-2017 |
| Description | Bidford on Avon Historical Society lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion. Audience expressed interest in learning more about daily life in Tudor England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.bidfordhistory.org.uk/recent-meetings/meetings-programme-2014-15/ |
| Description | Bodleian Library Everyday Death in Shakespeare's England lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture linked to library exhibition generated questions and discussion and podcast enabled international dissemination. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/everyday-death-shakespeares-england |
| Description | Bournemouth Historical Association lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion and questionnaire returns suggested a positive impact on people's understanding of and interest in sixteenth-century history. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Bristol University lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | lecture sparked questions and discussion The audience were surprised at the variety of information the sources for our project can provide about everyday life in the sixteenth century. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Cardiff University seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Talk prompted questions and discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Carnival of Curiosity |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We used a card game to present our research, explaining situations in sixteenth-century England in which people had accidents and encouraging members of the public to guess which of three outcomes happened. In the conversations generated by the game we explained more about our research and what it reveals about everyday life in sixteenth-century England. We also helped people search our spread-sheet of accident data to find accidents in places they knew. Those who attended expressed interest in the project and at what it can show about aspects of everyday life in the past they had thought inaccessible. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.ox.ac.uk/curiosity-carnival/about |
| Description | Chipping Campden History Society lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion and questionnaire returns suggested a positive impact on people's understanding of and interest in sixteenth-century history. Questions and discussion suggested the talk generated connections with the interest and projects of local volunteer archaeology group. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.chippingcampdenhistory.org.uk/category/talks_and_lectures |
| Description | Dauntsey's School, History Society lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion. Audience expressed interest in learning more about daily life in Tudor England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Dr Steven Gunn talks about the perils of water in Tudor England |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Podcast discussing our research on drowning in sixteenth-century England. Permanently available - no end date? Permanently available - no end date? |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Exeter University graduate conference lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Keynote lecture on 'The idea of an accident in sixteenth-century England' contributed to postgraduate-run conference on 'Fate, chance and happenstance in the early modern period' an generated discussion and subsequent enquiries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/history/research/centres/earlymodern/events/conferences/ |
| Description | Friends of Sheffield Manor lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion. Audience expressed interest in learning more about daily life in Tudor England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Grimsby WEA lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk presenting general findings of the project with some specific material relating to North Lincolnshire prompted questions, discussion and very positive feedback, some of which was captured in questionnaire returns. The group's Facebook page described the lecture as 'sad, funny and so interesting'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://grimsbyminster.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/WEA-Notice.pdf |
| Description | Hampton Court lecture 24/11/2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk as part of study day on 'Untold Tudors' presented research findings and stimulated questions and discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/explore/study-day-untold-tudors/#gs.PHviML0 |
| Description | Honeywood Museum, Carshalton lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion and questionnaire returns suggested a positive impact on people's understanding of and interest in sixteenth-century history. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://www.facebook.com/events/1543266049315924/ |
| Description | Huntington Library, San Marino CA lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion. Audience (which included members of the public as well as academics) expressed interest in learning more about daily life in Tudor England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://dornsife.usc.edu/events/site/73/907468/tudor-history-in-honor-of-mary-robertson/ |
| Description | Institute of Historical Research seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Talk stimulated questions and discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Isle of Wight branch of the Historical Association lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk presenting general findings of the project with some specific material relating to the Isle of Wight prompted questions, discussion and very positive feedback, some of which was captured in questionnaire returns. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.history.org.uk/events/resource/1134/isle-of-wight-branch-programme-2016-17 |
| Description | James Ford lectures in British History |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lectures generated questions and discussion. Audience (including those listening to podcasts) expressed interest in learning more about war and daily life in Tudor England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/series/english-people-war-age-henry-viii |
| Description | Lincoln Workers' Educational Association lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture sparked questions and discussion. The audience were surprised at the variety of information the sources for our project can provide about everyday life in the sixteenth century. Fifty-one returned questionnaires (including 9 employed or self-employed, 39 retired and one member of staff at a university). The average rating given on the question 'To what extent did the lecture increase your awareness of everyday life in the sixteenth century' was 4.1/5. 27 commented on particular aspects of daily life on which their perspective or opinion had been altered, such as the prevalence of drowning (2), the variety of leisure activities (3), the lives of children (2), guns and traffic (1 each). 28 specified aspects of daily life about which they would have liked to hear more, such as women's lives and the importance of the landscape, thus helping to shape the future focus and presentation of the research. 28 said they would take action as a result of the talk, such as attending more history lectures or joining a local history group (14), reading more about the subject (7), or being more careful of their own safety (2). The branch website commented afterwards that 'The afternoon was extremely informative and thanks to Dr. Gunn's sharp sense of humour very entertaining.' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://learninlincs.wordpress.com/ |
| Description | Media interest (10 strange ways Tudors died) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Web news story widely shared (22 hours amongst the ten most read stories on the BBC website and was for 18 hours the most shared story on the site) and led to radio and newspaper interviews. Our research attracted wide comment on Twitter, with 401 posts between 14/6/2011 and 10/5/2013 including 'Fascinating stuff' and 'Macabre but irresistible' (5.6). This coverage led to interest from radio programmes, newspapers and magazines. On 8/6/2011 the BBC Radio 4 Today programme (estimated listeners 7.18 million) carried the story at 8.08am and interviews followed that day for BBC Radio 4 News, BBC Radio Oxford breakfast show, BBC Radio Scotland Newsdrive (estimated listeners 8.7% of national adult population), and BBC World Service (estimated weekly listeners 188 million), the last repeated in several programmes on 8-9/6/2011. Interviews followed on 9/6/2011 for Radio New Zealand Morning Report (estimated listeners 14.3% of national adult population) and Newstalk Ireland's 'Moncrieff!'. The Oxford Times carried an extensive interview feature on 23/6/2011, as did The Lancet on 28/1/2012. BBC History Magazine, August 2011 (estimated readership 0.5% of national adult population), carried a news item on the discovery, as did BBC Who Do You Think You Are Magazine, August 2011. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13762313 |
| Description | Media interest (Jane Shaxspere) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | News item about the drowning of a girl who may have been William Shakespeare's cousin spread to 246 websites within 24 hours including news and cultural sites in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar and the USA. Newspapers also carried the story on 8/6/2011: The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Mail, and Metro. It prompted wider interest in our research as detailed in separate entries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-13682993 |
| Description | Media interest (sports accidents) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Press release stimulated newspaper, web and radio interest Stories on sixteenth-century football accidents ran in the Times and Telegraph on 17/12/2011 as well as on the Daily Mail website. This led to interviews on two radio programmes, Talksport FM (Hawksbee and Jacobs show, 20/12/ 2011) (estimated listeners 2.1% of national adult population) and Italk FM (Maurice Boland show, 19/12/2011). Football, archery and bell-ringing accidents were featured on Have I Got News for You (BBC1, 23/12/2011), attracting 6.11m viewers (5.9). Archery deaths appeared in Horrible Histories' 'Stupid Deaths' section (BBC 1, 9/4/2012), subsequently posted on YouTube (in three versions totalling 65,193 views by 15/7/2013) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2075065/More-people-died-playing-football-SWORD-FIGHTING-Tud... |
| Description | Media interest (work accidents) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Press release stimulated interest from newspapers, websites and discussion of parallels with modern health and safety at work. The story was covered by the Daily Telegraph on 5/4/2012 and on the BBC website, widely shared and tweeted. Organisations and individuals concerned with contemporary health and safety tweeted it or used it on their websites to give historical context to their policies or campaigns. These included the NHS Health Improvement Network, the Health and Safety Executive of Indonesia and GK First Aid Training. The Farmer's Guardian website linked the story to their Farm Safety Charter campaign to cut accidental deaths in modern farming and Karen Thompson, a legal executive in the personal injury department of Blake Lapthorn solicitors, reflected in her blog on the parallels between sixteenth-century accidents and modern mishaps with potholes and cracks in the pavement |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17601616 |
| Description | Merton College, Oxford, London alumni lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture sparked questions and discussion. The audience were surprised at the variety of information the sources for our project can provide about everyday life in the sixteenth century. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Merton Society London dinner talk 1/3/2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk wiht questions aand discussion on 'The Perils of Education in Tudor England' based on research into Tudor accidental deaths delivered at dinner for college alumni. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.merton.ox.ac.uk/event/merton-society-london-dinner-3 |
| Description | Museum of Oxford lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A lecture on accidental death and everyday life in early modern Oxfordshire accompanied by the presentation by museum volunteers of relevant archaeological objects and an opportunity for audience members to look in our database for accidents local to their homes. Questions and discussion followed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.oxford.gov.uk/news/article/582/discover_oxford_s_tudor_accidents_-_and_help_fund_the_mus... |
| Description | Nanjing University lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Talk stimulated interest in archival research into English history. Several students came to study as visiting students at British universities |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Oundle School Everyday life and accidental death lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Lecture prompted questions and discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/oundleschool?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor |
| Description | Oxford schoolteachers lecture: How do we know about everyday life in Elizabethan England? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Lecture to local schoolteachers designed to help them deliver new syllabuses on Elizabethan history at KS 3-4, which prompted discussion and active planning of lessons, to which I contributed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Oxident talk 11/1/2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk on healthcare and accidental death in Tudor England to group of local dentists, members of OXIDENT, the local practitioners' CPD group, and ther guests. Talk prompted disucssion and questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Plymouth Historical Association lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk stimulated questions and discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/whats-on/everyday-life-and-accidental-death-in-the-tudor-south-west |
| Description | Project website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Email contact showed interest in the project from those viewing the website and requests for us to deliver talks to various groups. Examples from our 'Discovery of the Month' column were used in the BBC iWonder website for their 'How could you survive in Tudor England' feature. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011,2012,2013,2014,2015 |
| URL | http://tudoraccidents.modhist.ox.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion. Audience expressed interest in learning more about daily life in Tudor England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.rammuseum.org.uk/Whats-on/May-2328/lunchtime-lecture-everyday-life-and-accidental-death-i... |
| Description | Royal College of Art, London lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion. Audience expressed interest in learning more about how coroners' inquests can be used to investigate design and material culture in Tudor England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Royal Latin School, Buckingham lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion. Audience expressed interest in learning more about daily life in Tudor England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Serenata History Day, Dunnington, Warwickshire lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion. Audience expressed interest in learning more about daily life in Tudor England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Shaftesbury interview podcast 14/9/2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview about research presented in eight-minute podcast as a taster for the annual Teulon Porter Memorial Lecture of the Shaftesbury and District Historical Society on 'Everyday Life and Accidental Death in Tudor Dorset and Wiltshire'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://thisisalfred.com/ |
| Description | Shaftesbury lecture 24/9/2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The annual Teulon Porter Memorial Lecture of the Shaftesbury and District Historical Society on 'Everyday Life and Accidental Death in Tudor Dorset and Wiltshire'. Lecture followed by questions was well received. The society secretary emailed after the lecture to say 'Everyone I've spoken to says how much they enjoyed your lecture' and another correspondent reported that an attendee 'said he really enjoyed the lecture and learnt loads'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://goldhillmuseum.org.uk/shaftesbury-miller-meets-unfortunate-end/ |
| Description | Shanghai International Studies University lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Talk stimulated interest in archival research into English history and study as visiting students at British universities. Staff and students expressed interest in studying as visiting researchers / visiting students at British universities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Society for Court Studies seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Seminar lecture prompted questions and discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.courtstudies.org/seminars.htm |
| Description | Southampton lecture 2/11/2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk on 'Life, death and water in Tudor England' at God's House Tower museum and art space prompted discussion and questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://godshousetower.org.uk/event/prof-steven-gunn-life-death-and-water-in-tudor-england/ |
| Description | Steven Gunn analyses accidental death in Tudor times |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Podcast about our research into children's accidents Permanently available - no end date? Permanently available - no end date? |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Stowe School lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | lecture sparked questions and discussion audience surprised by the range of information the sources for our project provide about everyday life in the sixteenth century |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | University of Kent seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Talk stimulated questions and discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | University of Leicester seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Talk stimulated questions and discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | University of Paris IV lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion. Audience expressed interest in learning more about daily life in Tudor England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Winchester Historical Assciation lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture sparked questions and discussion. The audience were surprised at the variety of information the sources for our project can provide about everyday life in the sixteenth century. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Wolfson College, Oxford lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Lecture generated questions and discussion. Audience expressed interest in learning more about daily life in Tudor England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Woodstock lecture 11 June 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture on accidental death and everyday life in sixteenth-century Oxfordshire generated questions and discussion and greater audience understanding of the topic as shown in questionnaires. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Workshop on Everyday Life in Early Modern Europe |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Papers on Demographic history and community reconstitution (Gill Newton), Microhistory (Tom Hamilton), Gender (Garthine Walker), History of the body (Angela Schattner), Folklore (Eva Guillorel), History of the senses (Philip Hahn), Archaeology and material culture (David Caldwell), History of consumption (Sara Pennell), and our project stimulated wide-ranging discussion of how different historiographical approaches can be combined to provide new insights into everyday life in early modern Europe. We are hoping to draw the papers together for a publication. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://tudoraccidents.modhist.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=366 |