Professor Heather Shore
Professor of History
My profile
Biography
I’m an historian of crime and youth justice, and I arrived at MMU in October 2019. Before that I spent fifteen years as a historian in the School of Cultural Studies and Humanities at Leeds Beckett, and before that in the History department of Portsmouth University. At MMU, I teach on the History undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, and I’m the Director of the Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage (MCPHH).
My facination with criminal justice history developed from doing my first degree, which was too many years ago for me to tell you! I’m really interested in how criminal activity has been represented over time; the ways in which governments and other parts of society have responded to the ‘problem’ of crime; and the experiences of the criminals themselves. My first book, based on my Ph.D (London, 1996), Artful Dodgers: Youth and Crime in Early Nineteenth Century London (Boydell, 1999), is a reflection of that ongoing interest in criminal lives, in this case, the lives of young offenders. More recently I’ve been involved on a project about victims of crime, Victims’ Access to Justice through English Criminal Courts, 1675 to the Present. And I’ve also been involved with the Our Criminal Ancestors project, working with the public to uncover their family stories of criminals, police and penality.
Words of wisdom
Go to your classes - read lots - take part and engage in discussions - this will make your degree more enjoyable and make you a better historian.
Academic and professional qualifications
1996 PhD History, Royal Holloway College, University of London
1992 MA Computer Applications in History, University of London
1991 BA (Hons) History, First Class, Polytechnic of North London
Other academic service (administration and management)
Director of the Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage
Expert reviewer for external funding bodies
Member of AHRC Peer Review College
Community, charity and NGO links
Trustee Manchester Histories
Expert reviewer for external funding bodies
Member of AHRC Peer Review College
Editorial Board membership
Co-editor, RHS New Historical Perspectives, since 2019
Editorial Board, Royal Historical Society, New Historical Perspectives, since 2016
Series co-editor, ‘States, People and the History of Social Change’, McGill-Queen’s University Press
Membership of professional associations
Fellow of Royal Historical Society
Personal website address
Teaching
Why do I teach?
History has been part of the way I think about things for as long as i can remember, and so naturally, working with students and helping them to develop their understanding of history and gain research skills, is really important to me.
Some of my earliest memories relate to being taught the local history of the Black Country town that I lived in, around the the time of the Domesday book. We had a great teacher, who was very hands on, and took us to walk the streets of our town to find the fragile physical remains of the medieval period. As an undergraduate student in London I really enjoyed doing the original research for my dissertation, building on the skills that I’d learned from my history lecturers. Working with primary sources was such a great experience, and today, through digitisation, we have so many resources at our fingertips (although I’d always recommend getting a taste of the archive and working with real manuscript documents). It’s these sorts of experience that underpin my teaching. And the skills you gain doing a history degree not only help you if you want to consider postgradtute study, or work in heritage or museums - more generally a history degree provides you with a wide range of transferable skills that can be used in so many settings.
How I’ll teach you
My teaching style is collaborative. I think working together, in groups, in the round, works most effectively to give students a voice.
This isn’t always easy. Some students feel awkward or nervous about saying the wrong thing. I like to think I create an environment where students feel able to contribute. If you get something wrong, it doesn’t matter - it’s all part of the broader discussion - and often saying something that’s not quite right, can lead us on a new and equally important tangent. I’m also one of these lecturers who has a tendency toward bad jokes - but I try to keep it under control!
The important thing is that you gain the skills you need to take part, complete assessments, and to develop as an historian.
Postgraduate teaching
Level 7/MA - Unit leader: Shock Cities
Subject areas
History
Supervision
I am able to offer postgraduate supervision (MA or PhD) in the following subject areas:
Crime and Policing
History of juvenile justice
History of London
Poverty, poor relief
Representations of crime and poverty
Research outputs
History of crime, penality and policing; history of youth and youth justice; history of London; public history
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Books (authored/edited/special issues)
Cox, P., Cox, (2023) Victims and Criminal Justice A History. Oxford University Press.
Shore, H., Cox, P. (2017) Becoming Delinquent: British and European Youth, 1650-1950. London: Ashgate.
Godfrey, B., Cox, P., Alker, Z., Shore, H. (2017) Young Criminal Lives: Life Courses and Life Chances From 1850. Oxford University Press.
Shore, H. (2015) London's Criminal Underworlds, c. 1720 - c. 1930: A Social and Cultural History. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Hitchcock, T., Shore, H. (2003) The Streets of London: From the Great Fire to the Great Exhibition. Rivers Oram Pr.
Shore, H. (1999) Artful Dodgers: Youth and Crime in Early Nineteenth Century London. Boydell Press.
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Chapters in books
Shore, H. (2023) 'The “Gangster” and the Evolution of Organized Crime in the Twentieth Century.' In Lawrence, P. (ed.) The Bloomsbury Global History of Crime and Punishment in the Modern Age, v. 6. Bloomsbury,
Shore, H., Williams, L. (2022) 'Divergent Victims in the Old Bailey, 1950-1979.' In Cox, P., Walklate, S. (ed.) Victims' Access to Justice: historical and comparative perspectives. Routledge, pp. 37-52.
Shore, H., Williams, L. (2022) 'Divergent Victims in the Old Bailey, 1950– 1979.' Victims’ Access to Justice: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. pp. 37-52.
Shore, H. (2020) ''"A Monstrous Innovation on the Laws": The William Sheen Case; Child Murder and Double Jeopardy at the Old Bailey'.' Fair and Unfair Trials in the British Isles, 1800-1940 Microhistories of Justice and Injustice. Bloomsbury Academic,
Cox, P., Shore, H., Godfrey, B. (2018) 'Using Historical Artefacts, Records and Resources in Criminological Research.' In Francis, P. (ed.) Doing Criminological Research. Sage,
Shore, H. (2018) 'Becoming Delinquent: Rethinking the Long History of Juvenile Justice.' In Goldson, B. (ed.) Juvenile Justice in Europe: Past, Present and Future. Routledge,
Shore, H. (2018) 'Crime, criminal networks and the survival strategies of the poor in early eighteenth-century london.' The poor in England 1700-1850: An economy of makeshifts. pp. 137-165.
Shore, H. (2018) 'Organised Crime, Criminality and the ‘Gangster’.' In Kilday, A., Nash, D. (ed.) Murder and Mayhem: Crime in Twentieth Century Britain. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan,
Shore, H. (2017) 'Organised crime.' A Companion to The History of Crime and Criminal Justice. pp. 159-161.
Shore, H. (2017) 'Pickpocketing.' A Companion to The History of Crime and Criminal Justice. pp. 179-181.
Shore, H. (2017) 'Underworld, The Criminal.' A Companion to The History of Crime and Criminal Justice.
Shore, H. (2017) 'Reformatory schools.' A Companion to The History of Crime and Criminal Justice.
Shore, H. (2017) 'Pickpocketing.' A Companion to The History of Crime and Criminal Justice.
Shore, H. (2017) 'Organised crime.' A Companion to The History of Crime and Criminal Justice.
Shore, H. (2017) 'Underworld, the criminal.' A Companion to The History of Crime and Criminal Justice. pp. 259-261.
Shore, H. (2017) 'Reformatory schools.' A Companion to The History of Crime and Criminal Justice. pp. 215-217.
Shore, H. (2017) 'Criminal Underworlds.' In Rafter, N., Brown, M. (ed.) The Oxford Encyclopedia of Crime, Media, and Popular Culture, vol. 3. Oxford University Press,
Shore, H. (2016) 'A Brief History of the Underworld and Organized Crime, c. 1750 to c. 1950.' In Johansen, A., Knepper, P. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the History of Crime and Criminal Justice in Europe and North America, 1750-1945 (forthcoming, 2016). Oxford University Press,
Shore, H. (2014) 'Street children and street trades in the United Kingdom.' The World of Child Labor: An Historical and Regional Survey. pp. 563-566.
Shore, H. (2013) '‘Inventing’ the juvenile delinquent in nineteenth-century Europe.' Comparative Histories of Crime. pp. 110-124.
Shore, H. (2010) 'Violent Children, Youth Enforcers and Juvenile Delinquents.' In Brockliss, L., Montgomery, H. (ed.) Childhood and Violence in the Western Tradition. Oxbow Books Ltd,
Shore, H. (2010) 'Criminality, Deviance and the Underworld since 1750.' In Kilday, A.M., Nash, D. (ed.) Histories of Crime. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 120-140.
Shore, H. (2009) 'Street Children and Street Trades in the UK.' In Hindman, H.D. (ed.) The World of Child Labor. M E Sharpe Incorporated,
Shore, H. (2009) 'Chimney-Sweep: Cultural Icon.' In Hindman, H.D. (ed.) The World of Child Labor. M E Sharpe Incorporated,
Shore, H. (2009) 'History of Crime.' In Hale, C., Hayward, K., Wahidin, A. (ed.) Criminology. Oxford University Press, USA, pp. 21-38.
Shore, H. (2008) 'Punishment, Reformation, or Welfare: Responses to 'The Problem' of Juvenile Crime in Victorian and Edwardian Britain..' In Johnston, H. (ed.) Punishment and Control in Historical Perspective. Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 158-176.
Shore, H. (2007) 'Crime, Policing and Punishment.' A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Britain. pp. 381-395.
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Internet publications
Shore, H., Johnston, H. (2015) Special Edition: Our Criminal Past: Caring for the Future. http://www.lawcrimehistory.org/hjournal2015Vo5p1.html.
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Journal articles
Shore, H. (2021) 'Suicides of Boy Prisoners; The Portland Borstal Institution; The Delinquent Child After the War.' The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 60(S1) pp. 69-78.
Shore, H., Godrey, B., Cox, P. (2018) '‘Tracking the Gendered Life Courses of Care Leavers in 19th century Britain’.' Longitudinal and Life Course Studies: International Journal,
Shore, H., Johnson, H. (2015) 'Thinking about the Future of Our Criminal Past.' Law, Crime and History, 5(1) pp. 5-11.
Shore, H. (2014) 'Rogues of the racecourse : racing men and the press in interwar Britain.' Media History, 20(4) pp. 352-367.
Shore, H. (2013) '‘Constable dances with instructress’: the police and the Queen of Nightclubs in inter-war London.' Social History, 38(2) pp. 183-202.
Shore, H. (2011) 'Criminality and Englishness in the aftermath: The racecourse wars of the 1920s.' Twentieth Century British History, 22(4) pp. 474-497.
Shore, H. (2011) 'Inventing and Re-inventing the Juvenile Delinquent in British History.' Memoria Y Civilizacion, 14pp. 105-132.
Shore, H. (2011) 'Reforming the Juvenile in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century England.' Prison Service Journal, 197pp. 4-9.
Shore, H. (2009) ''The reckoning': Disorderly women, informing constables and the Westminster justices, 1727-33.' Social History, 34(4) pp. 409-427.
Shore, H. (2000) 'Conference report.' London Journal, 25(1) pp. 99-101.
Shore, H. (1999) 'Cross coves, buzzers and general sorts of prigs: Juvenile crime and the criminal 'underworld' in the early nineteenth century.' British Journal of Criminology, 39(1) pp. 10-24.
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Other
Shore, H. https://ourcriminalancestors.org.
Shore, H., Johnston, H. (2014) Our Criminal Past.
Shore, H. (2013) London In the Eighteenth Century: A Great and Monstrous Thing.
Shore, H. (2011) The Biography of the Bad Shilling: Coining and the Royal Mint in Victorian London.
Shore, H. (2010) The Most Notorious London Street-Hustlers and Pickpockets: Changing Perceptions of Street Robbery in the Early Nineteenth-Century Metropolis..
Shore, H. (2010) The Long Firm: The Economics of Organised Crime in Late Victorian London.
Shore, H. (2010) Constable Dances with Instructress: The Press, The Police and the Queen of Nightclubs in Inter-War London.
Shore, H. (2009) Criminality and Masculinity in the Aftermath: The Racecourse Wars of the 1920s.