Staff Profiles

I am a historian of modern Britain who specialises in the histories of medicine, crime and family. I joined Newcastle as a Research Associate (Family History) on the project Caring Communities: Rethinking Children's Social Care, 1800-present, led by Dr. Claudia Soares, in September 2024. Prior to this I was Senior Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Lincoln (2016-2024). I've presented my research at several national and international conferences, I frequently review work for journals and publishers, and I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Qualifications

• BA in History (Lancaster University, 2007)
• MA in Historical Research (Lancaster University, 2008)
• PhD in History (Queen Mary University of London, supervised by Prof. Thomas Dixon, 2013).

Awards

• Teaching Excellence Award - University of Lincoln 2018
• Staff Member of the Year - University of Lincoln Students' Union 2018
• Assessment and Feedback Champion - Queen Mary University of London Students’ Union 2016
• Postgraduate Research Fund Award - Queen Mary University of London 2012
• Royal Historical Society Postgraduate Research Support Grant - Royal Historical Society 2012
• Funding for the 2nd Annual History of Medicine Postgraduate Summit - Wellcome Trust 2011
• Wellcome Trust Studentship in Medicine, Emotion and Disease in History - 2009

Consultancy

I've provided research for several television shows. I was an interviewee on the television documentary ‘Inside Broadmoor’ (Channel 5, 2013) and I worked with Chalkboard television on an episode of 'Murder, Mystery and My Family' (BBC, 2020).

• Articles

  • Shepherd J. Life for the families of the Victorian Criminally Insane. The Historical Journal 2020, 63(3), 603-632.
  • Shepherd J. Feigning Insanity in Late-Victorian Britain. Prison Service Journal 2017, (232), 17-23.
  • Shepherd, J. "I am not very well I feel nearly mad when I think of you”: Jealousy, Murder and Broadmoor in Late-Victorian Britain. Social History of Medicine 2017, 30(2), 277-298.
  • Shepherd, J. "I am very glad and cheered when I hear the flute": The Treatment of Criminal Lunatics in Late-Victorian Broadmoor. Medical History 2016, 60(4), 473-491.
  • Shepherd, J. "One of the best fathers until he went out of his mind": Paternal child-murder, 1864-1900. Journal of Victorian Culture 2014, 18(1), 17-35.

• Authored Book

  • Triplow, N, Bramhill, T, Shepherd, J. The Women They Left Behind: Stories from Grimsby's Fishing Families. Fathom Press, 2009.

• Book Chapter

  • Shepherd, J. Treating Mental Illness in Victorian Britain. In: Wuertenberg, N; Horne, W, ed. Demand the Impossible: Essays in History as Activism. 2018.

• Online Publications

  • Shepherd J. Mad or Bad? Personalised and Collaborative Learning. Lincoln: Making Digital History, 2022. Available at: https://makingdigitalhistory.co.uk/2022/12/19/mad-or-bad-personalised-and-collaborative-learning/.
  • Shepherd J. Treating Mental Illness in Victorian Britain. The Activist History Review, 2017. Available at: https://activisthistory.com/2017/05/19/treating-mental-illness-in-victorian-britain/.
  • Shepherd J. Inside Broadmoor. 2013. Available at: https://emotionsblog.history.qmul.ac.uk/2013/09/inside-broadmoor/.

• Review

  • Shepherd, J. Joel Peter Eigen, Mad-Doctors in the Dock. Defending the Diagnosis, 1760–1913 . Social History of Medicine 2018, 31(1), 179-181.