About the Labour History Research Unit

The Labour History Research Unit (LHRU) was founded in December 2007 by three historians from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences: Dr Jonathan Davis, Dr Rohan McWilliam and Professor John Shepherd.

At our official launch in March 2008, we welcomed Professor Kenneth O Morgan and Dr Jon Lawrence to Anglia Ruskin, who spoke about various aspects of Labour's past, present and future.

Our main aim is to promote fresh approaches to Labour History through seminars, conferences, postgraduate studies and scholarly publications. Since 2008 we have organised many events, including symposia discussing women and the vote, and the impact the events of 1989 had on the European Left, and a conference that reappraised the second Labour government. Essays from this conference were published by Manchester University Press.

In May 2014 we hosted a Labour and the First World War conference, while in November 2012 we hosted the Blue Labour event, featuring papers by Lord Maurice Glasman and Dr Jon Lawrence. In 2010, we also held an evening of history and politics with Roy Hattersley, during which he talked about Labour's past and the need for a return to ideological politics.

The Labour History Research Unit welcomes collaborative links with similar bodies in other universities and outside organisations, and hopes to become a prominent venue at Anglia Ruskin University for historians and researchers from different disciplines.