Sophie Michell
@sophiemhistory.bsky.social
Death and crime historian, family researcher, teller of tales.
Open Uni PhD candidate writing about inquests in the 19thC
Open Uni PhD candidate writing about inquests in the 19thC
Pinned
Hello new followers. I am an OOC funded PhD candidate at the Open University working on 19thC English inquests from a criminal justice/social history/microhistory perspective.
I'm in my final year so expect increasingly fraught blathering.
I'm in my final year so expect increasingly fraught blathering.
Reposted by Sophie Michell
Reposted by Sophie Michell
Reading letters from the Princess Liselotte of Palantine, the German sister-in-law of Louis XIV, and it's wild because she had this super informal writing style that almost sounds like modern texts
Like at one point she goes "wish to god my son didn't love holding chunks of bread like a peasant"
Like at one point she goes "wish to god my son didn't love holding chunks of bread like a peasant"
November 28, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Reading letters from the Princess Liselotte of Palantine, the German sister-in-law of Louis XIV, and it's wild because she had this super informal writing style that almost sounds like modern texts
Like at one point she goes "wish to god my son didn't love holding chunks of bread like a peasant"
Like at one point she goes "wish to god my son didn't love holding chunks of bread like a peasant"
In 1825, a woman called Sarah Wallis accused her employer of fabricating a theft.
She made this accusation on the church doorstep in front of the entire congregation.
She refused to apologise.
GUESS WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
She made this accusation on the church doorstep in front of the entire congregation.
She refused to apologise.
GUESS WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
November 28, 2025 at 4:31 PM
In 1825, a woman called Sarah Wallis accused her employer of fabricating a theft.
She made this accusation on the church doorstep in front of the entire congregation.
She refused to apologise.
GUESS WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
She made this accusation on the church doorstep in front of the entire congregation.
She refused to apologise.
GUESS WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
Reposted by Sophie Michell
This week's Friday Murder... I almost didn't finish. Sometimes, I get about halfway through and I think... why am I telling this story?
I think it is so important, as a homicide historian, to never lose sight of why I am telling a particular story. It should never be voyeurism.
I think it is so important, as a homicide historian, to never lose sight of why I am telling a particular story. It should never be voyeurism.
November 28, 2025 at 12:02 PM
This week's Friday Murder... I almost didn't finish. Sometimes, I get about halfway through and I think... why am I telling this story?
I think it is so important, as a homicide historian, to never lose sight of why I am telling a particular story. It should never be voyeurism.
I think it is so important, as a homicide historian, to never lose sight of why I am telling a particular story. It should never be voyeurism.
Finally feeling better so gonna write up a weird murder prosecution as a treat
November 28, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Finally feeling better so gonna write up a weird murder prosecution as a treat
Reposted by Sophie Michell
It’s the perfect time to mention that my book makes an unusual and fascinating Christmas present! Only 3 books left at Amazon but plenty available at Pen & Sword or Peterborough Museum
November 27, 2025 at 7:56 PM
It’s the perfect time to mention that my book makes an unusual and fascinating Christmas present! Only 3 books left at Amazon but plenty available at Pen & Sword or Peterborough Museum
You know when your kid gets a gammy eye and you go to the chemist and buy some chloramphenicol and three days later, they're fine?
Not in 1903. In 1903, your child might be admitted to White Oak Eye Hospital for six to nine months, for daily treatment. The alternative was blindness.
Not in 1903. In 1903, your child might be admitted to White Oak Eye Hospital for six to nine months, for daily treatment. The alternative was blindness.
November 27, 2025 at 7:24 PM
You know when your kid gets a gammy eye and you go to the chemist and buy some chloramphenicol and three days later, they're fine?
Not in 1903. In 1903, your child might be admitted to White Oak Eye Hospital for six to nine months, for daily treatment. The alternative was blindness.
Not in 1903. In 1903, your child might be admitted to White Oak Eye Hospital for six to nine months, for daily treatment. The alternative was blindness.
Fenwomen was a revelation. I knew those women, those stories, those struggles because they didn’t stop in the 1970s.
[email protected]’s ‘Village’ & a re-issue of Mary Chamberlain’s ‘Fenwomen’ give voice to an otherwise largely silent corner of England, writes @nicolawriting.bsky.social, telling the evocative, hard-lived stories of rural working class women www.caughtbytheriver.net/2025/11/vill...
November 27, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Fenwomen was a revelation. I knew those women, those stories, those struggles because they didn’t stop in the 1970s.
Reposted by Sophie Michell
Join us at Broad Street Methodist Church (PE11 1TB) #Spalding on 28th November. Martin Siddle, from Bourne Arts and Community Trust, will present on Charles Frederick Worth: Father of Haute Couture. Discover more at www.sgsoc.org/events/charles-frederick-worth #CharlesFrederickWorth #LocalEvents
Charles Frederick Worth: Father of Haute Couture - Spalding Gentlemen's Society
Discover more about Charles Frederick Worth's English family background, his life in Bourne, and his subsequent move to Paris.
www.sgsoc.org
November 27, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Join us at Broad Street Methodist Church (PE11 1TB) #Spalding on 28th November. Martin Siddle, from Bourne Arts and Community Trust, will present on Charles Frederick Worth: Father of Haute Couture. Discover more at www.sgsoc.org/events/charles-frederick-worth #CharlesFrederickWorth #LocalEvents
Reposted by Sophie Michell
🚨 Call for Papers! 🚨
📣Join us @lancasteruni.bsky.social 1-3 July 2026 as we return to our original home to celebrate our 50th anniversary!
We welcome proposals from historians at all career stages across 8 thematic strands.
📅 CfP deadline: 16/01/26
🔗 socialhistory.org.uk/events/confe...
#CFP 🗃️
📣Join us @lancasteruni.bsky.social 1-3 July 2026 as we return to our original home to celebrate our 50th anniversary!
We welcome proposals from historians at all career stages across 8 thematic strands.
📅 CfP deadline: 16/01/26
🔗 socialhistory.org.uk/events/confe...
#CFP 🗃️
SHS Annual Conference 2026
Our 50th anniversary conference will be held at Lancaster University, the academic home of the Social History Society. A Significant Milestone The Social History Society was founded at Lancaster Un…
socialhistory.org.uk
November 27, 2025 at 10:42 AM
🚨 Call for Papers! 🚨
📣Join us @lancasteruni.bsky.social 1-3 July 2026 as we return to our original home to celebrate our 50th anniversary!
We welcome proposals from historians at all career stages across 8 thematic strands.
📅 CfP deadline: 16/01/26
🔗 socialhistory.org.uk/events/confe...
#CFP 🗃️
📣Join us @lancasteruni.bsky.social 1-3 July 2026 as we return to our original home to celebrate our 50th anniversary!
We welcome proposals from historians at all career stages across 8 thematic strands.
📅 CfP deadline: 16/01/26
🔗 socialhistory.org.uk/events/confe...
#CFP 🗃️
I am reading a magazine that cost me nine bloody pounds and they use “hero” as a verb
November 27, 2025 at 12:01 PM
I am reading a magazine that cost me nine bloody pounds and they use “hero” as a verb
Went to a training session, assuming it was a webinar. Horror of horrors, it was not and here I sit looking like Medusa
November 26, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Went to a training session, assuming it was a webinar. Horror of horrors, it was not and here I sit looking like Medusa
Reposted by Sophie Michell
One of my ancestors was called Lycurgus Handy.
November 26, 2025 at 4:59 PM
One of my ancestors was called Lycurgus Handy.
VICTORIAN NAME OF THE WEEK
Haddock Firman
(1840-1921)
Haddock Firman
(1840-1921)
November 26, 2025 at 4:23 PM
VICTORIAN NAME OF THE WEEK
Haddock Firman
(1840-1921)
Haddock Firman
(1840-1921)
Reposted by Sophie Michell
STUART NAME OF THE WEEK
November 25, 2025 at 3:30 PM
STUART NAME OF THE WEEK
GEORGIAN NAME OF THE WEEK!
Queen Onion
(c.1770-1829)
Queen Onion
(c.1770-1829)
November 25, 2025 at 3:12 PM
GEORGIAN NAME OF THE WEEK!
Queen Onion
(c.1770-1829)
Queen Onion
(c.1770-1829)
ALEXA IS HERE
(avec les chats)
(avec les chats)
Edward: "You're not getting out of this bed until you've written 500 words... and I'm done napping on you." #motivational
November 25, 2025 at 12:40 PM
ALEXA IS HERE
(avec les chats)
(avec les chats)
You know how the rule is that you have to share that Tom Holland Umbrella dance every time you see it?
This is the oldhammer equivalent.
God, I made SO MANY of these back in the 90s with my dad. Went and bought plasticard girders/I-Beams so I could make multi-level ones too.
This is the oldhammer equivalent.
God, I made SO MANY of these back in the 90s with my dad. Went and bought plasticard girders/I-Beams so I could make multi-level ones too.
November 25, 2025 at 9:11 AM
I’ve got a very angry trigeminal nerve and I haven’t been able to do anything since 3am except cry and shovel drugs in. A Strictly Battle Royale would help.
November 24, 2025 at 4:45 PM
I’ve got a very angry trigeminal nerve and I haven’t been able to do anything since 3am except cry and shovel drugs in. A Strictly Battle Royale would help.
Talked to my youngest about the potential for a Strictly All Stars and he said he would prefer a Strictly Losers Melee
And he is right to be a little chaos imp
And he is right to be a little chaos imp
November 24, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Talked to my youngest about the potential for a Strictly All Stars and he said he would prefer a Strictly Losers Melee
And he is right to be a little chaos imp
And he is right to be a little chaos imp
Anyway, I spent two hours in Köln Dom yesterday because we arrived halfway through a High Mass. There is nothing like a cathedral organ to stir the soul.
November 23, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Anyway, I spent two hours in Köln Dom yesterday because we arrived halfway through a High Mass. There is nothing like a cathedral organ to stir the soul.
Told my mate about the Hanseatic League and she asked if it was in the Marvel Universe
I would support a film series about the Hanseatic League
I would support a film series about the Hanseatic League
November 23, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Told my mate about the Hanseatic League and she asked if it was in the Marvel Universe
I would support a film series about the Hanseatic League
I would support a film series about the Hanseatic League
Reposted by Sophie Michell
What a way to go 😱 🐟
November 23, 2025 at 4:18 PM
What a way to go 😱 🐟