Will Clement
@historywill.bsky.social
Historian of Modern Europe
| poverty & inequality, centre & periphery, health & housing in c19 France🏠🏚️🇫🇷 | Tired dad | posts represent my views | He/him
https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/will-clement
| poverty & inequality, centre & periphery, health & housing in c19 France🏠🏚️🇫🇷 | Tired dad | posts represent my views | He/him
https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/will-clement
Today I learned: having taught about Alexis de Tocqueville for a decade now, apparently the way I say his name sounds like ...
November 11, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Today I learned: having taught about Alexis de Tocqueville for a decade now, apparently the way I say his name sounds like ...
This came through the door agents yesterday from two local estate agents. I’m going to keep it and set it as a primary source on the History of Housing/Tenancy module I’ll design one day. Easy 1,500 word assessment on the context, authorship, intended audience, symbolism of this.
October 28, 2025 at 7:56 AM
This came through the door agents yesterday from two local estate agents. I’m going to keep it and set it as a primary source on the History of Housing/Tenancy module I’ll design one day. Easy 1,500 word assessment on the context, authorship, intended audience, symbolism of this.
It might be a stretch for 41-year-old Adam Driver to play a 26-year-old, but I'm surely not the only one who thinks he would be a perfect casting for Saint-Just, right??
October 20, 2025 at 7:31 AM
It might be a stretch for 41-year-old Adam Driver to play a 26-year-old, but I'm surely not the only one who thinks he would be a perfect casting for Saint-Just, right??
Reminds me of when I teach Steve Bruce, “Secularization: In (Central) Defence of an Unfashionable Theory”
October 16, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Reminds me of when I teach Steve Bruce, “Secularization: In (Central) Defence of an Unfashionable Theory”
Another case of MS spellcheck being selective with its wrongness: it auto-replaced my "Franco-Prussian" with "Franco-PRussian", then also flagged its new creation as a spelling error.
It... it was once better than this, right?
It... it was once better than this, right?
October 13, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Another case of MS spellcheck being selective with its wrongness: it auto-replaced my "Franco-Prussian" with "Franco-PRussian", then also flagged its new creation as a spelling error.
It... it was once better than this, right?
It... it was once better than this, right?
I've had this from their support team who, in fairness to them, replied within an hour:
September 29, 2025 at 5:22 PM
I've had this from their support team who, in fairness to them, replied within an hour:
The headline and framing of this looks very similar to @mikkelhoeghoej.bsky.social 's work on early C20 rats in Copenhagen, presented at @urbanhistorygroup.bsky.social
September 26, 2025 at 2:31 PM
The headline and framing of this looks very similar to @mikkelhoeghoej.bsky.social 's work on early C20 rats in Copenhagen, presented at @urbanhistorygroup.bsky.social
Second year of running a L3 France 1780-1871 course with 'character role cards' as part of the syllabus
Each student gets a card in the first week with one of nine social classes/professions.
I may have gone too suspenseful when setting up the new VLE though
1/2
Each student gets a card in the first week with one of nine social classes/professions.
I may have gone too suspenseful when setting up the new VLE though
1/2
![Character Roles
What could this mean? Find out more in our first class on Tuesday 30 September!
[Nine black and white images showing a crown, a cathedral, two crossed swords, a pile of coins, a hammer breaking ground, a farmer, a quill writing, a drum and drumsticks, a neoclassical courthouse]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:sjklm7waiw6mohglf346cdub/bafkreihuacawc664jkeo34fs6omaxnkd2an7vrymu2r5gxrlgitl2sk4x4@jpeg)
September 19, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Second year of running a L3 France 1780-1871 course with 'character role cards' as part of the syllabus
Each student gets a card in the first week with one of nine social classes/professions.
I may have gone too suspenseful when setting up the new VLE though
1/2
Each student gets a card in the first week with one of nine social classes/professions.
I may have gone too suspenseful when setting up the new VLE though
1/2
Now, every time I read this ...
September 12, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Now, every time I read this ...
Fantastic* use of the passive voice by the BBC this morning
*Not fantastic at all
*Not fantastic at all
September 3, 2025 at 5:15 AM
Fantastic* use of the passive voice by the BBC this morning
*Not fantastic at all
*Not fantastic at all
First day of September and my unread emails reach 1789. Solid odds for them to reach 1871 by the end of my French history special subject in December to match the date range
September 1, 2025 at 7:52 AM
First day of September and my unread emails reach 1789. Solid odds for them to reach 1871 by the end of my French history special subject in December to match the date range
Anthony Parton at Durham, 2009-12. His history of art modules (electives for a bunch of us in Humanities as there was no HoA degree) were all incredible. An electrifying lecture where he spent 20 minutes on Manet’s The Old Musician is the reason I work on what I do today.
August 31, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Anthony Parton at Durham, 2009-12. His history of art modules (electives for a bunch of us in Humanities as there was no HoA degree) were all incredible. An electrifying lecture where he spent 20 minutes on Manet’s The Old Musician is the reason I work on what I do today.
Finishing a chapter on landlords & tenants. I'm having to resist using every one of Daumier's 'locataires et propriétaires' series from 1840-50s
This one has a landlord (characterised by the stock figure of M. Vautour i.e. Mr Vulture) instructing his concierge on how to manage his tenants
1/2
This one has a landlord (characterised by the stock figure of M. Vautour i.e. Mr Vulture) instructing his concierge on how to manage his tenants
1/2
August 29, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Finishing a chapter on landlords & tenants. I'm having to resist using every one of Daumier's 'locataires et propriétaires' series from 1840-50s
This one has a landlord (characterised by the stock figure of M. Vautour i.e. Mr Vulture) instructing his concierge on how to manage his tenants
1/2
This one has a landlord (characterised by the stock figure of M. Vautour i.e. Mr Vulture) instructing his concierge on how to manage his tenants
1/2
Interesting that MS Word does not recognise the word 'arabophile' (used here in quotation of a secondary source) and has, instead, suggested I replace it with 'arabophobe'
August 25, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Interesting that MS Word does not recognise the word 'arabophile' (used here in quotation of a secondary source) and has, instead, suggested I replace it with 'arabophobe'
I take it back: no font change makes this typo acceptable.
August 18, 2025 at 2:48 PM
I take it back: no font change makes this typo acceptable.
Needed a confidence boost on how convincing this current chapter draft was, so did the age-old trick of changing font from Calibri to Garamond. Worked like a charm.
I mean, just look at how much ~fancier~ this italicised ampersand is. Surely a sign of the quality of my argument improving similarly
I mean, just look at how much ~fancier~ this italicised ampersand is. Surely a sign of the quality of my argument improving similarly
August 18, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Needed a confidence boost on how convincing this current chapter draft was, so did the age-old trick of changing font from Calibri to Garamond. Worked like a charm.
I mean, just look at how much ~fancier~ this italicised ampersand is. Surely a sign of the quality of my argument improving similarly
I mean, just look at how much ~fancier~ this italicised ampersand is. Surely a sign of the quality of my argument improving similarly
Not quite sure why my research is giving me pensive guitarists today but, fine, I guess
August 7, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Not quite sure why my research is giving me pensive guitarists today but, fine, I guess
New @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social book spotted in a prominent display in a tiny Cotswolds Waterstones!
August 7, 2025 at 2:11 PM
New @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social book spotted in a prominent display in a tiny Cotswolds Waterstones!
This has big "Muuuum, what did I tell you about coming into my room while I'm tuning my guitar?!?" energy
August 7, 2025 at 11:36 AM
This has big "Muuuum, what did I tell you about coming into my room while I'm tuning my guitar?!?" energy
Watch this space for:
"‘In her corset, she is suffocating’: the female body metaphor and urban hygiene in nineteenth-century France"
"‘In her corset, she is suffocating’: the female body metaphor and urban hygiene in nineteenth-century France"
July 24, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Watch this space for:
"‘In her corset, she is suffocating’: the female body metaphor and urban hygiene in nineteenth-century France"
"‘In her corset, she is suffocating’: the female body metaphor and urban hygiene in nineteenth-century France"
I just wanted to write about housing. Honest. Yet the amount of times I have to write about urine (because that's what a lot of my sources' authors are concerned about) is worrying
July 8, 2025 at 9:23 AM
I just wanted to write about housing. Honest. Yet the amount of times I have to write about urine (because that's what a lot of my sources' authors are concerned about) is worrying
I had to go hunting through my files now -- this from Mulhouse on 11 Nov 1870
![Letterhead text:
SOCIÉTÉ
D'APPROVISIONNEMENT
DES
CITÉS OUVRIÈRES
DE MULHOUSE
SOCIÉTÉ ANONYME A CAPITAL VARIABLE
FR. 75,000
3, PLACE NAPOLÉON (crossed out), 3
[handwritten addition]
Place de la République](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:sjklm7waiw6mohglf346cdub/bafkreihpsbjwx5u7oe6vqdgy6wgtiokcz46pgehzpcln7mkxduyr76iojm@jpeg)
July 8, 2025 at 8:12 AM
I had to go hunting through my files now -- this from Mulhouse on 11 Nov 1870
But, in just double checking I had translated 'suintement' correctly, I was surprised by this search result
July 1, 2025 at 9:54 AM
But, in just double checking I had translated 'suintement' correctly, I was surprised by this search result
Yes, the only two facilities worth writing about
June 30, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Yes, the only two facilities worth writing about
I've spent the last ten minutes poring over this image
Mostly thinking about what I could use it for as an urban historian of C19 France
But also thinking about using it in a bespoke, history-themed colouring book for my children
www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/de/node/3946...
Mostly thinking about what I could use it for as an urban historian of C19 France
But also thinking about using it in a bespoke, history-themed colouring book for my children
www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/de/node/3946...
June 26, 2025 at 7:18 AM
I've spent the last ten minutes poring over this image
Mostly thinking about what I could use it for as an urban historian of C19 France
But also thinking about using it in a bespoke, history-themed colouring book for my children
www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/de/node/3946...
Mostly thinking about what I could use it for as an urban historian of C19 France
But also thinking about using it in a bespoke, history-themed colouring book for my children
www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/de/node/3946...