Women and Children During the English Civil Wars
6 March 2027
10:00am-5:00pm
Rewley House 1 Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2JA
Event status:
Applications being accepted
Dates:
6 March 2027
Study Format:
In-person day/weekend
Fees:
£90.00
This day event brings together a team of expert speakers to examine the experiences of women and children during the British Civil Wars of 1638–1660. Taking a ‘history from below’ approach, we will discuss the ways in which women and children were drawn into political action and participation in the war efforts of both sides.
Drawing on the research of the Civil War Petitions project, we will examine how war widows and orphans engaged for the first time with state authorities to claim pensions and military welfare.
We will uncover some of the ways in which widowhood brought about by civil war impacted upon women, both rich and poor.
We will also consider how widows, children and orphans were represented in the literature and printed propaganda of the time, as well as how such people remembered the wars.
Finally, we will explore women’s fascinating involvement with the religious and political radicalism that was unleashed by the experience of civil war and revolution.
Please note: this event will close to enrolments at 23:59 GMT on 3 March 2027.
Book this course
Book your place online using the button below.
Accommodation
If you wish to stay with us before and/or after the event, please contact our Residential Centre for availability and discounted rates.
Call +44 (0) 1865 270362 or email res-ctr@conted.ox.ac.uk
Our accommodationour accommodation at Rewley House in Wellington Square has been rated as 4-Star Campus Accommodation under Visit England. All bedrooms are modern, comfortably furnished with tea/coffee making facilities, Freeview television, private bath/shower rooms and free WiFi. For more details see our accommodation information.
Recommended reading
Hughes, A., Gender and the English Revolution (Abingdon: Routledge, 2012).
Hopper, A., ‘The politics of military welfare in Yorkshire and the memory of the Civil Wars, 1642–1709’ (English Historical Review, 140:604–5 (2025), pp. 628–660)
Free booklet PDF about the Civil War Petitions Project
Programme details
9.45am
Registration at Rewley House reception
10am
Widowhood and Bereavement during the British Civil Wars
Professor Andrew Hopper
11.15am
Tea/coffee break
11.45am
The Politicised Child during the British Civil Wars
Dr Ismini Pells
1pm
Lunch break
2pm
Orphans, Petitions and the British Civil Wars
Dr Imogen Peck
3.15pm
Tea/coffee break
3.45pm
‘A Company of Ranting Sluts’: Women’s Agency in the English Revolution.
Professor Ann Hughes
5pm
End of day
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Event fee (includes tea/coffee) | £90.00 |
| Baguette lunch | £7.90 |
| Hot lunch | £22.40 |
Funding
If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, or are a care-leaver in the UK, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Concessionary fees for short courses
Payment
Please see the terms and conditions for our open-access courses.
Prof Andrew Hopper – Tutor
Andrew Hopper has been Professor of Local and Social History in the Department for Continuing Education at the University of Oxford since 2021. Previously Andrew taught History at the Universities of East Anglia, Birmingham and Leicester. He is the author of Black Tom: Sir Thomas Fairfax and the English Revolution (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007), and Turncoats and Renegadoes: Changing Sides during the English Civil Wars (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012). He is the Principal Investigator of the AHRC-funded Civil War Petitions Project and is currently working on his third monograph Widowhood and Bereavement during and after the English Civil Wars for Oxford University Press. Andrew is patron of the Naseby Battlefield Project and chairman of the editorial board of Midland History. He was appointed a Fellow of the Society for Army Historical Research in 2024.
Dr Ismini Pells – Tutor
Ismini Pells was awarded her PhD at the University of Cambridge, where she examined the career of Philip Skippon, commander of the infantry in the New Model Army. She has worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Exeter on a Wellcome Trust-funded project examining early modern medical practitioners, during which she researched the careers of practitioners in Civil War armies.
Ismini has published a monograph on Philip Skippon, Philip Skippon and the British Civil Wars: The “Christian Centurion” (Abingdon, 2020) and an edited collection, New Approaches to the Military History of the English Civil War (Solihull, 2016).
She has also published articles and contributed chapters to collections on various military and medical topics relating to the Civil Wars. She is a trustee of the Cromwell Association and sits on the Council of the Army Records Society, the Battlefields Panel of The Battlefields Trust and the Research and Collections Advisory Panel of the National Army Museum.
Away from work, Ismini enjoys running to keep fit, supporting Ipswich Town and English cricket, and other such hopeless causes.
Please use the ‘Book’ button on this page. Alternatively, please contact us to obtain an application form.
Image credit: painting by William Frederick Yeames – 7QH3jR1ZzNIXpg at Google Cultural Institute, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21878696
