People

Jessica Meyer

University Academic Fellow in Legacies of War School of History, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures

Email: j.k.meyer@leeds.ac.uk
Telephone: 0113 343 4194

I am the principal investigator on the Men, Women and Care project.  My research lies at the intersection of the histories of gender, medicine and warfare and I have published extensively on masculinity, medical care giving and the First World War.  Building on my 2002 Clare Evans Memorial Prize essay '"Not Septimus Now": Wives of Disabled Veterans and Cultural Memory of the First World War in Britain' (Women's History Review, 13:1, 2004, pp.117-138), I am particularly interested in the physical and emotional labour of caregiving undertake by female family members of disabled ex-servicemen.

Alexia Moncrieff

Research Fellow, School of History, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures

Email: a.moncrieff@leeds.ac.uk

My research examines the effects of distance on the provision of pensions and care to disabled ex-servicemen after the First World War. Focusing on the 'Overseas' subsection of the PIN 26 files, alongside other sources, I am interested in the ways disabled ex-servicemen accessed care when they lived outside of Britain and the extent to which other countries' post-war provisions influenced their claims for support. I am also interested in the ways family networks advocated for and supported these men when separated by distance. My PhD research examined the intersection of traditional hierarchies (imperial, military, medical, gender) in the work of the Australian Army Medical Corps in the First World War and I maintain an active interest in this area, especially the attempts to curtail venereal disease in the Australian Imperial Force.

Eilis Boyle

PhD student School of History, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures

My research examines the ways in which facially-wounded and war-neurotic ex-servicemen were cared for in inter-war Britain, particularly focusing on how normative concepts of gender shaped care provision. Using pensions files, among other sources, my research looks at three core themes of care provision, compensation, and stigma, and examines the ways in which families and institutions supported veterans after the war. This project builds on my Masters by Research thesis, which looked at the social and psychological impact of facial injuries resulting from active service in the First World War.

Bethany  Rowley                                                   

PhD student School of History, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures.

My research examines religious charity and the experience of disabled ex-servicemen in inter-war Britain. I am also considering the impact that accessing religious charity had on male identity as disablement prevented many men from working, eroding self-reliance; essential to the Victorian concept of ‘manliness’ and the Christian role of provider. As such, how pensioners accessed religious charity; their pensions and how they presented this support to government officials through the PIN26 material of the National Archives (Ministry of Pensions: First World War Files) and various other charity sources will be assessed.

Associated Researchers

Charlotte Tomlinson, Associate Researcher

Rachel Berry, Undergraduate Researcher

Alexandra Clark, Undergraduate Researcher

Lucy Dennant, Undergraduate Researcher

Rebecca Illidge, Undergraduate Researcher

Rose Lawrence, Undergraduate Researcher

Sian Hibbert, Associate Researcher