Dr Nicole Robertson
Associate Professor
Summary
Nicole Robertson works on nineteenth and twentieth-century British history, with a particular interest in labour, gender, and social history. She taught at the University of Nottingham and Northumbria University before joining 香蕉视频. Nicole is currently Associate Professor (Reader) in Modern British History.
About
Nicole's research specialisms include white-collar work and work-based identity, the labour movement and grassroots activism, and consumerism.
Her research has been funded by several fellowships and grants, including the Arts and Humanities 香蕉视频 Council Leadership Scheme and the R. H. Tawney Fellowship from the Economic History Society in conjunction with the Institute of Historical 香蕉视频. She has received an Arts and Humanities 香蕉视频 Council 香蕉视频 Networking Grant, an Economic History Society Small 香蕉视频 Grant, and a grant from the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Nicole has taught across a wide range of modules in modern history. She currently teaches 'Britain between the Wars: crisis, transformation and the people 1918-1939' and 'Making History'. She also has extensive experience supervising research projects at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Teaching
College of Social Sciences and Arts
Courses taught:
- BA (Hons) History
香蕉视频
- Culture and Creativity 香蕉视频 Institute
Her publications include work on feminism and the rise of the female office worker, the second labour government, leisure and the labour movement, and the co-operative movement and consumer activism. She has recently co-edited 20th Century Britain: Economic, Cultural and Social Change (Routledge, 3rd edition, 2022) with John Singleton and Avram Taylor.
As Principle Investigator of 'The Clerical Profession and the Administrative Revolution: the Rise of the Modern Workplace in Britain', funded by an AHRC Fellowship, she delivered activities in partnership with the Working Class Movement Library (Salford) and Bishopsgate Institute (London). An online exhibition arising out of the project and delivered in partnership with Bishopsgate Institute can be viewed here:
She was Co-Investigator of the AHRC-funded research network 'Tailored Trades: Clothes, Labour and Professional Communities, 1880-1939', with partner organisations Bishopsgate Institute (London) and the People's History Museum (Manchester). Network events included academic workshops at Northumbria University and the University of Exeter, public lectures, school study days and exhibitions. Podcasts and digitised material can be found on the project website:
She is currently researching white-collar unions and redundancy in the service sector and exploring how communications unions respond to threats to job security.
Publications
Journal articles
Robertson, N. (2024). . International Review of Social History.
Robertson, N. (2014). . Labor History, 55 (5), 638-653.
Robertson, N. (2012). 鈥榃e try to serve you in every possible way鈥: The Ewloe Place co-operative society and the Ton Industrial co-operative society during the interwar years鈥. Llafur : journal of Welsh labour history = cylchgrawn hanes llafur Cymru, 11 (1), 20-35.
Robertson, N. (2012). Collective strength and mutual aid: Financial provisions for members of co-operative societies in Britain. Business History, 54 (6), 925-944.
Robertson, N. (2008). 鈥樷淎 good deal鈥nd a good deal more鈥: member activity within co-operative societies鈥. Socialist History, 32, 18-35.
Book chapters
Robertson, N., Singleton, J., & Taylor, A. (2022). Introduction: Twentieth-century Britain. In Robertson, N., Singleton, J., & Taylor, A. (Eds.) 20th Century Britain: Economic, Cultural and Social Change. Routledge:
Robertson, N. (2017). The Political Dividend: Co-operative Parties in the Midlands, 1917-39. In Labour's Grass Roots. (pp. 147-169). Routledge:
Robertson, N. (2017). Women at work: activism, feminism and the rise of the female office worker during the First World War and its immediate aftermath. In Labour and Working-Class Lives. Manchester University Press:
Robertson, N. (2011). The Second Labour Government and the Consumer. In Britain's Second Labour Government 1929-31: A Reappraisal. Eds John Shepherd, Jon Davis and Chris Wrigley. Manchester University Press
Robertson, N. (2009). 鈥樷淐o-operation: the hope of the consumer鈥? The co-operative movement and consumer protection, 1914-60鈥. In Black, L., & Robertson, N. (Eds.) Consumerism and the Co-operative Movement in Modern British History: Taking Stock. Manchester University Press
Robertson, N. (2009). 鈥楢 union of forces marching in the same direction鈥? The relationship between the Co- operative and Labour parties, 1918-39鈥. In Worley, M. (Ed.) The Foundations of the British Labour Party: Identities, Cultures and Perspectives, 1900-39. Ashgate
Books
Robertson, N., Singleton, J., & Taylor, A. (Eds.). (2022). 20th Century Britain: Economic, Cultural and Social Change. (3rd). Routledge.
Robertson, N. (2010). The Co-operative Movement and Communities in Britain 1914-60: minding their own business. Ashgate.
Black, L., & Robertson, N. (2009). Consumerism and the Co-operative Movement in Modern British History Taking Stock.
Theses / Dissertations
Hill, V.C. (2024). . (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Robertson, N., Singleton, J., & Taylor, T.
Other publications
Robertson, N. (n.d.). Hoster [n茅e Kalisch], Constance Pauline (1864鈥1939), promoter of women鈥檚 employment and secretarial training. Oxford University Press:
Other activities
Nicole is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She has previously served on the Economic History Society Council and as a Board Member of the National Co-operative Heritage Trust Archive Committee. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Society for the Study of Labour History.
Postgraduate supervision
Nicole supervises postgraduates working on 19th and 20th-century British history.
Current postgraduate students are working on:
• The Industrial Fatality in post-Robens Britain, 1974-2014
• Women’s Suffrage in Yorkshire: The non-militant perspectives
• Pacifism and War Resistance within the Communist Party of Great Britain, 1916-1929
Previous projects have included:
• Feminism, Pacifism and Internationalism: The Women’s International League, 1915-1935
• 'The Lady Who Dared' – An Examination of the 1914 Dronfield School
• ‘Lost all sense of the sea’: Popular Navalism and British National Identity, 1884-1939