Amidst the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the Social History Society, we also paid tribute to Professor Asa Briggs, who served as our Honorary President from the foundation of the SHS in 1976 until he died aged 94 on 15 March 2016. His life, work and many contributions have rightly been celebrated widely, including by the BBC, Guardian and Telegraph, Financial Times, Times Higher Education and JVC Online.

He was a revolutionary figure in social history whose key publications included his numerous influential works on Victorian Britain and his epic History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, published over five volumes between the 1960s and 1990s.

Following his death, the British Academy asked Professor Pat Thane (his successor as Honorary President of the Social History Society) to write a substantial memoir of Asa Briggs. We are pleased to be able to share the story of this fascinating life in social history, which you can read by clicking here.

Key Publications

• Victorian People (1955)
• Victorian Cities (1963)
• Victorian Things (1988)
• The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom (5vol)