Individual Scholar Page

Personal Info

Photo

About Me

My research focuses on the social and cultural history of everyday family life, health and medicine, and gender in modern Britain. Having completed a BA in Modern History and Politics and MA in Twentieth-Century History at the University of Sheffield, I started a PhD entitled ‘Fatherhood and Masculinity in Britain, c.1918-1960’. This was supported by an AHRC Doctoral Award, and awarded in 2011. Following this, I took up a position as Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for the History of Medicine, University of Warwick, where I ran a public engagement project, ‘Hiding in the Pub to Cutting the Cord? Fatherhood and Childbirth in Britain from the 1950s to the Present’.

I moved to Leeds in 2012, to take up a position as Arts Engaged Fellow (2012-15), reflecting my growing interest in collaboration with partners and audiences beyond the campus. In September 2015, I took up the position of University Academic Fellow in the History of Health, Family and the Everyday, and in May 2017 became Associate Professor in Modern British History. I’m a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a member of the Social History Society, Women’s History Network and Oral History Society. I am also on the management board of History & Policy.

Find out more about my current research projects or follow me on twitter @DrLauraKing

Recent Publications

Books

Family Men: Fatherhood and Masculinity in Britain, c.1914-1960 (Oxford University Press, 2015)

The book has been reviewed by Dr Helen McCarthy on Reviews in History.

Articles and chapters

‘Gendered Perspectives on Men’s Changing Familial Roles in Postwar England, c.1950-1990’, Gender and History 30:1 (2018), pp.70-92 (co-authored with Angela Davis)

 ‘Ties That Bind: Materiality, Identity, and the Life Course in the “Things” Families Keep’, Journal of Family History 43:2 (2018), pp.157-176 (co-authored with Liz Gloyn, Vicky Crewe and Anna Woodham)

‘Hiding in the Pub to Cutting the Cord? Men’s presence at childbirth in Britain c.1940s-2000s’, Social History of Medicine 30:2 (2017), pp.389-407

‘Experiencing the Digital World: The Cultural Value of Digital Engagement with Heritage’, Heritage and Society 9 (2016), pp.76-101 (co-authored with Paul Cooke and James Stark)

‘Future Citizens: Cultural and Political Conceptions of Children in Britain, 1930s-1950s’, Twentieth Century British History 27:3 (2016), pp.389-411

‘Engaging People in Making History: impact, public engagement and the world beyond the campus’, History Workshop Journal 80:1 (2015), pp.218-233 (co-written with Gary Rivett)

‘The Perfect Man: Fatherhood, masculinity and romance in popular culture in mid-twentieth-century Britain’, in A. Harris and T. Jones (eds), Love and Romance in Britain, 1918-1970 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), pp.41-60

‘‘Now you see a great many men pushing their pram proudly’: Family-orientated masculinity represented and experienced in mid-twentieth-century Britain’, Cultural and Social History 10:4 (November 2013), pp.599-617

‘Hidden Fathers? The Significance of Fatherhood in Mid-Twentieth-Century Britain’, Contemporary British History 26:1 (March 2012), pp.25-46

Other publications

I’ve written book reviews for Twentieth Century British History, English Historical Review, Women’s History Review, Journal of British Studies, Journal of Family History, and the IHR’s Reviews in History. I’ve also written an introduction to a published play, Babakas, Our Fathers, and I’ve written articles for History & Policy, Wellcome History magazine, Dadzclub, Cambridge Adjunct magazine, and Warwick Knowledge Centre. My research has also been featured in the BBC History Magazine, the BBC website, The Telegraph, The Sun, Daily Mail, Who Do You Think You Are magazine, Yorkshire Post, Times of India, and The Practising Midwife, amongst others.

Media Coverage

Social Media

@DrLauraKing

Country Focus

Britain

Expertise by Geography

United Kingdom

Expertise by Chronology

20th century

Expertise by Topic

Family, Gender, Public History, Women