Dr Geraint Thomas

Geraint Thomas is a historian of twentieth-century Britain. His book, Popular Conservatism and the Culture of National Government in Inter-War Britain (Cambridge University Press, 2020), explores the political culture of the interwar years and offers the first detailed study of popular Conservatism under the cross-party National Government of the 1930s.

His current project investigates the politics and ideas of post-war reconstruction in Britain c.1916-1922, one of the first sustained experiments in state development conducted in the age of mass democracy. The resulting monograph will explore how politicians and society experienced the 'rise and fall' of reconstruction, its successes and its failures, and how such experiences wrought political debates and influential narratives that proved formative in shaping ideas of post-war reconstruction by the 1940s.

He also maintains an active research interest in Celtic history, looking in particular at how Celtic societies negotiated their place within a dominant Anglo world. His teaching interests span the political, social and cultural history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain.

I welcome requests to supervise theses in various areas of British history since c.1870, in particular the British state, central government, 'high politics' and political leadership; popular politics and the relationship with the 'everyday' experiences as shaped by class, region, religion and local government; the Conservative, Labour and Liberal parties; political communication and political activism; political ideas; and the history of Wales, Scotland and 'Celtic' politics.

My past and current PhD students are:

Fearghal Grace (Emmanuel College), 'Minorities, Military Service, and the Legacies of Post-War Reconstruction in the British Isles, 1918-1939'.

Rebecca Goldsmith (Jesus College), 'The Making of "Labour's Working Class", 1931-1951', AHRC-funded

Thomas Maidment (Selwyn College), 'Conservative and Radical-Right Visions of Britain and European Unity, 1919-1961'

Boyang Hou (Churchill College), 'The Political Activities of British Chinese Communities: domestic politics, transnational connections and Chinese influences, 1919-1953', AHRC-funded

I teach 'Modern Britain and Ireland, 1750-present' and 'The Twentieth-Century World' in Part IA, and convene the Research Project 'Visions of the State in Britain, 1914-1951' in Part IB. In addition, I teach 'Historical Thinking' for all three years and supervise Dissertations in Part II.