Dr. Jonathan Healey

Biography

Jonathan Healey is a social historian specializing in early modern England. He directs the MSc in English Local History and the Undergraduate Diploma in English Social Local History at Oxford Lifelong Learning. Jonathan has a strong interest in supervising postgraduate research students focused on early modern social history and the English Civil War. He completed his doctorate in 2008 at Magdalen College, Oxford, and has been associated with Oxford Continuing Education since 2012. His published work includes 'Century of Welfare' (Boydell, 2014), which provides an in-depth study of poverty and poor laws in seventeenth-century Lancashire. In addition to poor laws, Jonathan has written about common lands, famine, local courts, and landholding, with a particular focus on the northwest of England, especially the Lake District. His current research delves into the Star Chamber court and its impact on social policy and popular legalism during a time when the court was abolished in 1641. He is passionate about engaging a wider audience with history, having appeared on BBC Radio 4 and in various magazines and podcasts, discussing topics related to the British Civil Wars.

Research Interests