Scholar - Women Also Know History

Participant Info

Keywords: 20th century, Scottish history, British history, Scottish politics, British Politics, Scottish nationalism, devolution, unionism, British party politics, Scottish political parties, British political parties, Second World War, 1940s, SNP, electoral politics, political language, election campaigns, political archives

About Me: I completed my MA (Hons) in History and my MSc by Research in Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh. After which I decided to take a break from studying and embarked on a career in Libraries and Archives. I was a Special Collections Librarian in the National Library of Scotland for 8 years, and I led on a collaborative collections scoping project at the Signet Library, Edinburgh in 2019.

I graduated with a PhD in History from the University of Edinburgh in 2022 with a thesis entitled: ‘The Electoral Truce and Party Politics in Scotland During the Second World War.’
I also tutored on a variety of different history courses at undergraduate and post-graduate level at the University of Edinburgh between 2017 and 2022.

I joined the Open University in 2021 as an Associate Lecturer and teach on an interdisciplinary module called ‘Revolutions’, plus the history modules ‘The British Isles 1789-1914′ and ’20th Century Europe’.
I have a very eclectic range of research interests, but I am predominately interested in 20th century British and Scottish political history, particularly party and electoral politics.

I am currently working on my first monograph titled, Scottish Politics During the Second World War: Campaigns, Contests and Controversies which will be published by Edinburgh University Press c.2027.

Recent Publications: Academic Articles:

‘A Curious Caledonian Contest: The 1945 General Election in Scotland,’ Scottish Historical Review, forthcoming, December 2025.

‘A Motherwell Miracle and A Sponsorship Saga: The Motherwell By-election, 1945’ (winner of the 2024 Parliamentary History essay prize,) Parliamentary History Journal, vol. 44, issue 3, October 2025.

Reflections Upon Histories of Scottish Politics in the Age of Union c.1700-1945 – Past and Present

Book Reviews:

‘Scottish Society in the Second World War,’ Scottish Historical Review, forthcoming August 2024.
‘Standing Up for Scotland,’ History Scotland, 34, June/July 2021.
‘Voices of Women at War and at Peace,’ History Scotland, Vol. 20, Issue 3, (April/May 2020).
A Global Force,’ Scottish Affairs, 27, Issue 2, (2018), pp. 262-265.

Popular History publications:

‘A Treasured Commission’, Signet Magazine, Issue 14, (May 2020), pp. 39-42.

‘The Story of Bonnie Prince Charlie, Britain’s Young Pretender,’ published online at The Collector.Com

‘The Glorious Revolution: The True Story of the Runaway King,’ published online at The Collector.Com

‘James Stuart: The Man Who Would Never be King,’ published online at The Collector.Com

Expertise by Topic: Government, Libraries & Archives, Local & Regional, Politics, World War II