Dr Jennifer Davey
Director
Current Research/Role
I was appointed Director of The History of Parliament in 2023. Before that, I was an Associate Professor at the University of East Anglia, where I held several leadership positions.
Research Interests
I am an historian of Modern Britain, with a particular expertise in the politics and culture of Victorian Britain. My research has been funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHCR), the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust. My most recent publications explore the multifaceted nature of female political influence in Victorian Britain.
My first book – Mary, Countess of Derby and the politics of Victorian Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019) – explored how a woman was able to carve out a career as a politician in the mid-nineteenth century. I am currently writing a second book for OUP, provisionally titled “Queen and Country”, which will reexamine the relationship between Queen Victoria and her subjects.
Publications
Book
Mary, Countess of Derby, and the Politics of Victorian Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019)
Chapters in Books
‘Women and British Politics’ in D. Brown, R. Crowcoft and G. Pentland (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Modern British Political History 1800-2000 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018)
‘Crossing the Floor: Mary Derby, the Fifteenth Earl and the Liberals 1878-1882’ in G. Hicks (eds.), Conservatism and British Foreign Policy, 1820-1920 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011)
‘The Invisible Politician: Mary Derby and the Great Eastern Crisis’, in A. Best and J. Fisher (eds.), On the Fringes of Diplomacy (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011)
Journal Articles
’Wearing the breeches: Almacks, the female Patronesses and early nineteenth century political culture’, Women’s History Review, 26 (2017), pp. 822-39
Specialisms: Victorian Britain, Political History, Women’s History,Diplomatic History, History of the Monarchy