Research
My thesis looks at British military families’ wartime experiences during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, bringing into dialogue front and home experiences. It investigates how familial relationships were conducted in wartime, analysing the gendered experience of warfare, families’ dynamics and emotional responses to war. As the majority of soldiers were bachelors, my research focuses on the relationships between mothers and sons and between siblings, and considers h ow martial identities intersected with identities within the family. It also takes a particular interest in the experience of grief and mourning to explore how the families of British soldiers killed during these wars commemorated and mourned their loved ones, often in the absence of a body.
My research, which is funded by the Wolfson Foundation, draws on the rich archive of correspondence between soldiers gone overseas to fight and their families in Britain, on military memoirs, journals, as well as on epitaphs written by bereaved families. It is also informed by material culture analysis, considering the role of objects in mediating familial relationships.
