Molly Groarke

My doctoral project – supervised by Dr Gareth Atkins and Dr Barbara Wood – researches the legacy of transatlantic slavery and antislavery movements in nineteenth-century Britain and its empire. Working with the UK’s National Trust, my research focusses on the archives of the Acland family, an elite family based at Killerton House in Devon. Using intellectual history and spatial history methodologies, I seek to understand the Acland family’s ‘mission’ in the long nineteenth century, particularly by exploring their connections to empire and their antislavery beliefs. By focussing on the site of the home, I seek to retrieve from the margins voices that were excluded or had limited capacity in public life, notably those of women, children, and household staff. My project also joins the historiographical turn which seeks to reunderstand the antislavery movement without lionizing it.

I received my BA in History from Lancaster University and my MLitt in Intellectual History from the University of St Andrews. I am enthusiastic in promoting public engagement in history through the museums and heritage sector. I have had roles working and volunteering in local history centres, archives, and the academic publishing industry.

This project is a Collaborative Doctoral Award studentship funded by the OOC AHRC DTP.