Professor Simon Morgan

Professor Simon Morgan is Head of History at Leeds Beckett University. He specialises in nineteenth-century British History, with particular reference to the histories of radical politics, gender and celebrity.

Simon holds degrees from the Universities of Oxford, Warwick and York, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His most recent book, Celebrities, Heroes and Champions: Popular Politicians in the Age of Reform, 1810-1867 (Manchester University Press, 2021), was runner up for the 2023 Social History Society Book Prize. It explores the role of the popular politician across a range of political movements in Britain and Ireland. He is also co-editor of the Letters of Richard Cobden, 4 vols. (Oxford University Press, 2007-2015).

Simon's research centres on nineteenth-century political culture, and touches on areas including radical politics, gender and the history of celebrity. In the latter field he has been something of a pioneer. His essay on celebrity as a historical concept, published in Cultural and Social History (2011), has been widely cited and has inspired a number of scholars around the world to further research in the area. He is currently working on a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to digitise over 5,000 unpublished Cobden letters and to use these to develop Key Stage 3 teaching materials for lessons in History and Citizenship.

Simon would welcome interest from potential research students in the fields of nineteenth-century public and political culture, particularly those wishing to research political pressure groups; the public role and experience of women; or aspects of Victorian celebrity culture.

• Society and Culture in Modern Britain (Level 4)
• Public History Project (Level 6)
• Britishness: Nation and Identity Since 1707 (Level 6)
• Fame: Hero-Worship and Celebrity Culture, c. 1750-c. 1914 (Level 7)