Angus Crawford

Research

I am a final-year PhD student in the Department of History at the University of Warwick. My thesis, titled ‘An Almshouse in Early Modern English Society: The Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick, c.1571-1700’, investigates the early history of the Lord Leycester Hospital between 1571 and 1700. This institution is a high-status almshouse founded in 1571 by Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, in the English county town of Warwick. The hospital (or almshouse) provided accommodation and financial relief to twelve men – known as the brethren – who were overseen by a master, a cleric in these years.

My thesis seeks to show the rich ways in which one case study can shed light on larger early modern British topics and debates. Specifically, my thesis looks beyond the contexts of parish welfare and poor relief, which are overwhelmingly associated with early modern almshouses, to frame the Lord Leycester within local, regional, national and even international religious, social, political and ideological contexts. The thesis is organised into five chapters, combining thematic and chronological approaches. These cover the foundation and development of the hospital; Thomas Cartwright’s tenure as master; the social backgrounds of the masters and brethren; the hospital’s experience during the Civil War; and everyday life at the almshouse.

I have published and presented on elements of my research to both academic and non-academic audiences. I have written about Thomas Cartwright’s tenure at the hospital in Midland History, while my article in Studies in Church History considers the complex relationship between the church and the military as it was expressed in the foundation and development of the almshouse.

My research is funded by the AHRC-Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership, and this project is a Collaborative Doctoral Award between the University of Warwick and the Lord Leycester. In light of this, with Naomi Pullin, I co-curated an exhibition based on my original research into the social backgrounds of the early brethren.

I am supervised by Dr Naomi Pullin and Professor Beat Kümin at Warwick, and Dr Angela Nicholls, who is representing the Lord Leycester.

Academic Background

• 2023-27 PhD in History, University of Warwick
• 2022-23 MSt in Early Modern History, St Hugh's College, Oxford
  • Clarendon Scholar – highly competitive, fully-funded scholarship covering course fees and living expenses.
• 2019-22 BA in History, University of Durham
  • Recipient of the Alumni Prize (2021) – awarded to the student with the best performance in the second year examinations.

Publications

Journal articles

• 'Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and his Hospital: Military Identity, Veterans and the Elizabethan Church, 1571-1603', Studies in Church History [The Church and the Military], 62 (2026), 120-44. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1017/stc.2026.10046
• ‘Theologian and Locality: Cartwright, Puritanism and the Lord Leycester Hospital in Tudor Warwick’ [2024 Midland History Essay Second Prize Winner], Midland History, 50/1 (2025), 3-24. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1080/0047729X.2025.2462044

Book Reviews

• ‘50 Gems of Warwickshire, by Mark Turner’, Midland History, 50/1 (2025), 88-9: https://doi.org/10.1080/0047729X.2025.2462876
• ‘Minutes and Accounts of the Corporation of Stratford-upon-Avon and Other Records: Volume II 1610-1620, edited by Robert Bearman’, Midland History, 50/1 (2025), 99-100: https://doi.org/10.1080/0047729X.2025.2462867

Web-based publications

• With Naomi Pullin: ‘More Than Almsmen: Brotherhood and Belonging at the Lord Leycester Hospital, 1571-1700’, an exhibition brochure featuring original research about the Lord Leycester's first brothers.

Conference reports

• Midlands History and Heritage – Collaborative Approaches event at the University of Warwick [17 January 2025].
• ‘Parish Memory’: Twenty-Second Warwick Symposium on Parish Research, co-authored with Kristi Flake, H/Solz/Kult [22 August 2024].

Research trips, external activities and visits

• Between 31 March and June 27 2025, I completed a three-month internship with the Ministry of Justice as a result of my successful application through the UKRI Policy Internships Scheme. I was based in the Electronic Monitoring team within the Analysis & Policy Directorate.
• Rome (Italy) – Between the 9 and 16 March 2025, I was a visiting scholar at the M4C British School at Rome workshop ‘Rome: Changing Landscapes of the Eternal City’, supported by an Engagement Fund Application
• Dresden (Germany) – Between the 4 and 8 November 2024, I was a visiting scholar at TU Dresden in Germany. My trip was kindly supported by the Eutopia scheme, of which the University of Warwick and TU Dresden are members. Dr Alexander Kästner kindly hosted me from Dresden.
• Hong Kong – ‘Thomas Cartwright, Gender, and the Lord Leycester Hospital in Tudor Warwick’, Making Modern Identities: 13^th Spring History Symposium, University of Hong Kong, 3-4 May 2024.

Public engagement activities

• ‘The Almsmen of the Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick, 1571-1700’, invited speaker at The Dugdale Society AGM, Budbrooke Village Hall, 25 October 2025.
• ‘Researching the Lord Leycester's Master & Brethren', Repeat research workshop series at the the Lord Leycester Hospital - 17th March 2025.
• Organiser of ‘Midlands History and Heritage – Collaborative Approaches’ event at the University of Warwick. Papers from Prof Ann Hughes, Prof Andrew Hopper, and Dr Ruth Barbour with roundtable discussion from Lord Leycester master, staff, and governor. See the report here. 17 January 2025.
• ‘Robert Dudley, Thomas Cartwright, and the early years of the Lord Leycester’, Lord Leycester Hospital Smart Talk Series. 21 November 2024.
• ‘Manorial and Urban Records’ session with Daniel Gettings session for ‘Researching Ordinary People of the Early Modern Period’. Seminar as part of workshop series, in collaboration with Dr Naomi Pullin and the Lord Leycester Hospital, my PhD partner organisation. 19 February 2024.

Event organisation

• Co-curator with Naomi Pullin of 'More Than Almsmen: Brotherhood and Belonging at the Lord Leycester Hospital, 1571-1700', an in-person exhibition between 2 June and 20 July 2026 and now available online. This project includes the exhibition brochure co-written with Naomi Pullin, which is published at: <https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/202526/>. Also my work has featured as a University of Warwick 'Impact Amplified' case study. See Naomi Pullin's report: https://warwick.ac.uk/research/impact/brothers-in-alms/ 
• Co-organiser with Anna Pravdica (Warwick) and Daniel Muddimer (Birmingham) of ‘Work, Authenticity and Social Identity in Early Modern Britain' (c.1500-1750)’. Keynote speakers Prof Steve Hindle, Prof Jane Whittle, and Dr Mark Hailwood & Dr Brodie Waddell. Funded by the Early Modern and Eighteenth Century Centre at the University of Warwick, Midlands4Cities, The Society for the Study of Labour History, the Social History Society and Past and Present. 10-11 June 2025.
• Organiser of ‘Midlands History and Heritage – Collaborative Approaches’ event at the University of Warwick. Papers from Prof Ann Hughes, Prof Andrew Hopper, and Dr Ruth Barbour with roundtable discussion from Lord Leycester master, staff, and governor. See the report here. 17 January 2025.
• Co-organiser with Kristi Flake, Miia Kuha, and Beat Kümin of ‘Parish Memory: Twenty-Second Warwick Symposium on Parish Research’. See report co-authored with Kristi Flake here. 11 May 2024.

Teaching

• Graduate Teaching Assistant (seminar tutor), Europe in the Making 1450-1800, 2025-27.
• Graduate Teaching Assistant (seminar tutor), Deviance and Nonconformity in Early Modern Europe, 2024-25.