The Social History Society is delighted that Lucy Noakes has been appointed as the next President of the Royal Historical Society. She will succeed Emma Griffin, who completes her term in November this year.

Lucy Noakes is Rab Butler Professor of Modern History at the University of Essex. She is a historian of modern Britain and specialises in the experience and memory of conflict. Lucy is well known to fellow members of the Social History Society as a conference organiser, former Honorary Secretary and the winner of our 2022 Book Prize for Dying for the Nation. Death, Grief and Bereavement in Second World War Britain (Manchester University Press, 2020).

As President of the Royal Historical Society, Lucy will be a key advocate for the historical profession and for the wider value of historical understanding. In a blog for the Royal Historical Society, she explains that “History gives us a way to engage with the wider world, and to contribute to it. If it can be used to divide people, it can also be used to empower them.”

We congratulate Lucy on her achievement and are looking forward to working with her while she is in post.