Skip navigation

Dr Henry Miller

Associate Professor

Department: Humanities

I recently joined Northumbria as Vice Chancellor's Fellow in the Department of Humanities. I was previously Associate Professor (Research) and Senior Research Fellow at Durham University, and held Lectureships in Modern British History and Nineteenth-Century British History at the University of Manchester. Prior to these posts I was a Research Fellow at the History of Parliament Trust. I completed my PhD at Queen Mary University of London.

Having over fifteen years experience of teaching modern British social, cultural, economic, political, and imperial history at Queen Mary, Manchester, and Durham, I’m excited about contributing to Northumbria’s excellent learning environment through teaching on existing new modules and developing new ones.

Henry Miller

My recent and current research revolves around the history of petitions and petitioning in modern Britain and beyond. Drawing on a Leverhulme Trust funded project (RPG-2016-097, 2016-19), which I jointly led, my second book, A Nation of Petitioners: Petitions and Petitioning in the United Kingdom, 1780-1918 was published earlier this year by Cambridge University Press in their Modern British Histories series. I have published articles on the social history and political culture of modern Britain in leading journals such as English Historical Review, Historical Journal, Past & Present, Journal of British Studies, History, Cultural and Social History, Historical Research, and Parliamentary History, among others. Much of my recent research has sought to address important questions within social and political science - concerning collective action, representation, and democratisation, to give just three examples - from a historical perspective. 

I am currently writing up a co-authored monograph, Petitioning and People Power in Twentieth-Century Britain, in collaboration with Cristina Leston-Bandeira (Leeds), Anna Bocking-Welch (Liverpool), and Richard Huzzey (Durham), which stems from our AHRC-ESRC research project of the same name (AH/T003847/1, 2020-23).

My broader interest in the comparative history of petitions and petitioning was developed through my role as Principal Investigator of an AHRC Research Network on the topic (AH/R008868/1, 2018-19). This drew together historians, social and political scientists, legal and literary scholars from across fourteen countries, as well as officials from the UK and Scottish Parliaments, as well as NGO professionals to consider the role of petitions and petitioning in Europe and North America from the late medieval period to the present era of e-petitions. An edited book based on the Network was published in June 2024 as Petitions and Petitioning in Europe and North America: From the Late Medieval Period to the Present by Oxford University Press for the British Academy. I previously edited a special issue of Social Science History (2019) on the comparative history of petitioning in western Europe and North America in the long nineteenth century. 

As part of my future research plans I intend on developing collaborative projects concerning the role of petitions within imperial and post-colonial contexts, and the relationship between democratic practices and local government over the last two centuries. I am looking forward to collaborating with colleagues on these themes and others.

  • Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
  • A Nation of Petitioners: Petitions and Petitioning in the United Kingdom, 1780-1918, Miller, H. 9 Feb 2023
  • Colonial Petitions, Colonial Petitioners, and the Imperial Parliament, ca. 1780-1918, Huzzey, R., Miller, H. 1 Apr 2022, In: Journal of British Studies
  • The British Women's Suffrage Movement and the Practice of Petitioning, 1890-1914, Miller, H. 1 Mar 2021, In: Historical Journal
  • Petitions, Parliament, and Political Culture: Petitioning the House of Commons, 1780-1918, Miller, H., Huzzey, R. 1 Aug 2020, In: Past and Present
  • The Transformation of Petitioning, Miller, H. 2019, In: Social Science History

  • History PhD March 31 2009
  • MA November 01 2005
  • BA (Hons) July 08 2003
  • Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy AFHEA 2023
  • Fellow of the Royal Historical Society FRHistS 2015

Our Staff


a sign in front of a crowd
+

Northumbria Open Days

Open Days are a great way for you to get a feel of the University, the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the course(s) you are interested in.

Research at Northumbria
+

Research at Northumbria

Research is the life blood of a University and at Northumbria University we pride ourselves on research that makes a difference; research that has application and affects people's lives.

NU World
+

Explore NU World

Find out what life here is all about. From studying to socialising, term time to downtime, we’ve got it covered.


Latest News and Features

Joint Institute of Clean Hydrogen
Volunteering builds inroads and supports communities. In this photo, UN Volunteers interview community members to assess basic health services in the rural areas of Rwanda. Copyright UNV, 2023
HICSA partners at the site
Jupiter with a spot visible at the south pole
Image of mother and baby
Imogen Russell sitting on a sofa
More news
More events

Upcoming events

Commercialising Social Sciences for Impact
Northumbria University Carol Service
The Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care Symposium
-

Back to top