The 2008 gathering at Nottingham is, arguably, the 40th annual meeting of the Group. Some documentary evidence of the way the UHG took off after a slow tentative period of limbering up under the headmasterly coaching of Jim Dyos (this metaphor mixing economic growth and long jumping is getting out of hand) may interest, and possibly amuse ‘members’. The inverted commas remind us that we pay no subscription and there is no electoral roll; the word amuse probably only applies to Saga urban historians, particularly those who were there in the 60s – a thought born of the recent painful discovery that the Director of the Centre for Urban History at Leicester claims she was born a week after the first UHG conference at Norwich. Still, she did find the Dyos editorials diverting enough for general circulation, as Jim might have put it.
The Urban History Newsletter was cyclostyled (printed from typed wax skins – a messy business but far more fun than xerox copying) on quarto-size paper, pink or yellow for alternate issues. A cottage industry run by Jim and Olive Dyos. The 23 issues, listed below, throw a subtle light on the early years of academic urban history, nurtured in a different world. Below are reproduced, verbatim, the editorial introductions to the UHN from December 1963 to July 1968. Apart from documenting the early meetings of the Group, these editorials reveal quite a lot about the intellectually keen but organizationally hesitant ethos of Dyos and his associates (all now gone since the death of Geoffrey Martin in January 2008). Jim was obviously trying hard to avoid inventing another learned society: ‘It is not intended to form yet another learned society with its panoply of officers and costly printed journal’ and ‘there does seem to be little support for something which we virtually ruled out at the start, namely another straight academic journal’. There were ‘round-table discussions’ rather than conferences, and it was desirable to limit the number of participants to ‘30 or 40 people’. But membership was secured by a subscription: ‘The subscription is being fixed at 10/- ($2.00) for three years, which will cover the cost of six issues of the Newsletter.’ [For younger readers that's 50p; for older folk that's nostalgia; and for Americans complaining about the weakness of their dollar, count your blessings.] And there were elections, of a sort. The resistance of members of the UHG (and it seems at least one librarian!) to replacing the informal Newsletter with even a yearbook, let alone a printed journal, seems to have been almost universal: as Jim put it, ‘I have also had some grave warnings about letting it become too respectable or well turned out. No one has positively encouraged me to put it into print.’
Jim Dyos' constant exhortations to members to write with suggestions gives the impression of a very open informal community of scholars but in truth it was his show. When asked by well-oiled friends at the Economic History Society's dinner in Swansea what the name Dyos meant, the answer came like the bark of a Sergeant-Major: ‘God!’ That was four months before he died.
On this evidence it seems that the first discussions about the possibility of a group were held at the Economic History Society conference in Sheffield at Easter 1962. In 1964 ‘25 members . . . met informally . . . in Reading over Easter and discussed [the Group's] progress and objects. There was general support for the idea of going ahead with a round-table discussion.’ Decisive stuff. ‘The committee is to explore ways and means of advancing [ideas about concepts and terminology of urban history] by a round-table discussion, but this is unlikely to mature for at least a year.’ Thank God they didn't have e-mail. By December 1964 things had moved on: ‘at Easter 1965 in Brighton . . . it is hoped to make progress with the idea of a round-table conference on the concepts and methods of research in urban history’. And that is indeed what happened:
Thirty or more of those attending the Economic History Society's annual conference in the University of Sussex last Easter took the idea of a round-table conference within the Group a little nearer to being realised by discussing the agenda for it . . . The present notional date for the conference is late-1966, and the Committee is now forming more concrete plans.
In 1966 the Economic History Society assembled early in Manchester so the Group (this is sounding like Mary McCarthy) met on Thursday, 31 March ‘after dinner (which is timed for 7 p.m.), when Dr. W. H. Chaloner . . . agreed to read a paper to the Group on the history of Manchester’. A post-prandial Bill Chaloner paper on his home turf (and he had published his ‘The birth of modern Manchester’ in 1962) would, to say the least, have kept the assembly awake; but not even the encyclopaedic Douglas Farnie can recall the occasion. So the first ‘formal’ paper to the UHG (presumably involving a round table) took place in Manchester. [A personal note: on that day the author was on a university field trip, being bussed round Birmingham and instructed in the mysteries of mass housing for the workers.]
Forty-three luminaries assembled for the conference (‘that has been gestating so long’) at Gilbert Murray Hall, Leicester, in September 1966. A list is appended below. Apart from the melancholy discovery that 40 per cent of them are now dead, the roll call is striking. Drawn from a noticeably wide range of disciplines, highly distinguished senior scholars were brought together with young Turks. A little oral history with one young Turk, Bob Morris, long settled in Edinburgh, confirms the impression given by a reading of the Newsletters. This may have been the 60s but there was no hint of Malcolm Bradbury's History Man in the collegial and informal company of the UHG. The mix of disciplines was creative and productive. Those of us who find disciplinary boundaries an irritant, and who despair of an academic world which pays lip service to interdisciplinary work but honours it in the RAE breach, can rightly look back with the wistfulness of an aging Woodstock generation. Follow your enthusiasms rather than follow the leader.
The proceedings of the Leicester meeting were, of course, edited by H.J. Dyos and published as The Study of Urban History (Edward Arnold, 1968). In his Foreword Asa Briggs dubbed the meeting as ‘the first conference of British urban historians, reinforced by geographers, sociologists, and “civic designers”, including a number of distinguished scholars from overseas’. He also referred to ‘the pioneering enterprises of the Urban History Group and the Urban History Newsletter’. After describing the ‘urgency behind urban studies in this country’ Briggs offered a candid account of the protracted creation of his History of Birmingham with Conrad Gill, an episode in urban history that makes the formation of the UHG seem positively explosive.
By 1967 the Easter post-prandial meeting in Belfast expanded to two papers, both on Belfast, with the prospect of a field trip to the Guinness brewery in Dublin after the Economic History Society conference, an idea that must surely have come from the geographers. But the breakthrough came in Norwich on 5 April 1968, with the first full-day meeting preceding the Economic History Society conference: Gareth Stedman-Jones in the morning, Keith Alison and John Pound on early modern Norwich after lunch. For the first time (and this clinches it) bed and breakfast was available on the Thursday night, for (in decimal money) £1.88. Full catering for the UHG was £1.40, a ratio that suggests that 40 years ago the price of a university meal was no better value than it is today. The account of the Norwich meeting appeared in the Newsletter under conference reports. The modern UHG annual meeting was born.
Urban History Newsletter No. 1: December 1963
‘At the last two annual conferences of the Economic History Society there has been some discussion informally about the organisation of research into urban history in this country. In Edinburgh last Easter a small committee was formed to explore the possibilities of aiding this research by the publication of a news-sheet once or twice a year which would circulate information about research in progress and news of any other matters of interest. It was also proposed to arrange, if possible, some round-table discussions and small conferences in this field. The committee comprises: Professor S. G. Checkland (Glasgow), Dr W. H. Chaloner (Manchester), Dr. J. R. Kellett (Glasgow), Dr. G. H. Martin (Leicester), Mr. D. A. Reeder (Garnett Training College), and Dr. H. J. Dyos (Leicester), to whom you are invited to send any suggestions about the format and contents of the news-letter.’
Urban History Newsletter No. 2: May 1964
‘The appearance of the first issue of the Newsletter last December has been widely welcomed, not only in this country but in the United States and to a less extent on the Continent. A number of suggestions has been made about its content and more will be welcome. In the next issue, which is due to appear in November, we shall begin a regular series of current bibliographies in urban history and hope also to make a start on documentary sources. It should then be possible to maintain the Newsletter on a bi-annual basis with the May issue containing, alongside items of topical interest, a register of research in progress and the November issue concentrating on bibliography.
About 25 members of the Group met informally at the annual conference of the Economic History Society in Reading over Easter and discussed its progress and objects. There was general support for the idea of going ahead with a round-table discussion between scholars from different disciplines on the scope and methodology of urban history. There seemed no doubt among those present that the most urgent task for urban historians was to see whether it was possible to clarify and perhaps standardize the principal concepts and terms which they commonly use, and also to explore the possibilities of beginning to form a general theory of urban growth and decline. The concern which appeared to underlie the discussion was for a more systematic approach to the problems of historical research in urban themes so that even the most general and particular studies could readily belong to the same canon. The committee is to explore ways and means of advancing those ideas by a round-table discussion, but this is unlikely to mature for at least a year.’
Urban History Newsletter No. 3: December 1964
‘The Economic History Society has decided to give some financial support to the activities of the Urban History Group, and it is now time to regularise the rather informal arrangements that have existed so far concerning membership of the Group and subscriptions for the Newsletter.
It is not intended to form yet another learned society with its panoply of officers and costly printed journal. The object is simply to give a focus to the rather diffused work of numerous historians, economic historians, sociologists, geographers, and others, who are concerned with the problems of understanding urban life and its environment in the past. The Newsletter is the simplest and cheapest way of doing this. It will concern itself only with news of events likely to interest urban historians, and will publish by turns a current bibliography of British urban history and a register of research in progress. It is conceivable that occasionally a short critique of the agenda of urban history may be included, but there are no firm plans yet afoot. Members of the Group have met informally at the last three annual conferences of the Economic History Society and the next opportunity of doing so comes at Easter 1965 in Brighton, when it is hoped to make progress with the idea of a round-table conference on the concepts and methods of research in urban history. The committee, elected at Easter 1963, comprises Prof. S. G. Checkland, Dr. W. H. Chaloner, Dr. J. R. Kellet, Dr. G. H. Martin, Mr. D. A. Reeder, and Dr. H. J. Dyos.
If you wish to be regarded as a member of the Group and to continue to receive the Newsletter please complete the form the end of this issue. The subscription is being fixed at 10/- ($2.00) for three years, which will cover the cost of six issues of the Newsletter in its present form.’
Urban History Newsletter No. 4: June 1965
‘We now number about a hundred and as an act of self-knowledge a list of members will be included in the next issue. Barring inflationary accidents, or the lifting of postal charges to a penal level, this means that the Group's financial condition is now adequate for its immediate need of circulating this Newsletter. But please do whatever you can to save postage from this end by taking the initiative in sending information for use in these pages.
Thirty or more of those attending the Economic History Society's annual conference in the University of Sussex last Easter took the idea of a round-table conference within the Group a little nearer to being realised by discussing the agenda for it. Apart from an old demand for sharper definition of the field, and signs of an unquenchable thirst for bibliography, the sharpest appetites clearly belonged to those wanting a display of research techniques, if possible empirically inclined: cartographical, demographic, fiscal, legal, and archaeological – in the broadest sense of that word. Somewhat less passionate interest was shown for the time being in the culmination of the urban process in terms of the rise and decline of urban economies or of urban cultures generally. The temper of this discussion was perhaps more workmanlike than reflective and came pretty well into line with the inclinations of the Committee, which had proposed limiting the conference to, perhaps, 30 or 40 people, so as to crystallize the chosen themes rather than make them liable to impromptu dispersal. The present notional date for the conference is late-1966, and the Committee is now forming more concrete plans.’
Urban History Newsletter No. 5: December 1965
‘An irrepressible rush of subscriptions from a wide range of academics in this country and abroad has now raised the membership to about 150. A list of names and addresses is given at the end of this Newsletter. Keeping in close touch with the research and interests of so many members is not easy unless they are prepared to write spontaneously with up-to-date news of their activities. For this reason please take special pains before the end of April next to confirm or amend the entry which was made against your name in the register of research in progress in the last issue. Newsletter No. 6 will be bringing this list up as usual and it would avoid extra trouble if information came in without prompting. It would also be helpful if mention could be made of any other research known to be going on which has not yet been noticed.
This issue is bulkier than usual owing to the inclusion of two brief signed contributions from members of the Group. Both are by invitation and it is not intended at this stage to develop this practice very far. Some tentative arrangements have already been made to include more contributions for other countries of the kind made below by Dr. Alan Birch of Sydney, and suggestions would be welcome. Brief reports of specialized conferences germane to urban history or of lives of research or teaching which others would be glad to know about can be put in just as readily. But, given the present format and subscription, more substantial pieces must obviously go elsewhere, though it is already becoming clear that the Newsletter will in the end have to find a way of meeting a rapidly growing demand for papers discussing the ends as well as the manner of research in this field. One way of doing this might be to transmute the Newsletter into an inexpensively printed annual review of the literature, methodology, and progress of research; alternatively, it might remain in the present pattern but be produced by an off-set process.
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The early assembly of the Economic History Society's annual conference at Owens Park, University of Manchester, in the Easter vacation, 1966, gives us the opportunity of using the first evening for a meeting. This will be on Thursday, 31 March, after dinner (which is timed for 7 p.m.), when Dr. W. H. Chaloner has agreed to read a paper to the Group on the history of Manchester. No doubt this will be highly relevant to one or more of the excursions planned for the next two days in Manchester and its environs. An ordinary business meeting will follow Dr. Chaloner's paper and the subsequent discussion.
The more specialized round-table conference that has been gestating so long is now taking definite shape and will be held at Gilbert Murray Hall, University of Leicester, between 25 and 26 September 1966. The principal objects will be (1) to clarify the general scope and methods of urban history, and (2) to examine some specific possibilities for comparative research. We want to bring together scholars from a variety of disciplines but whose fields of work overlap as much as possible; we also have in mind the possibility of a volume of essays arising from the conference, though not necessarily limited to the papers given to it. All the details should be settled by the Easter meeting.’
Urban History Newsletter No. 6: June 1966
‘The growth in the size of the Urban History Group shows no sign of slackening, as is clear from the numbers of new names listed at the end of this Newsletter: the total is now fast approaching 200.
In view of this, it is good to find more people prepared to write in spontaneously about their research and other interests, and it was particularly helpful to have had such a ready response to the circular about work in progress. Do please keep this up and make whatever suggestions you wish about the scope of the Newsletter. You will see that we are continuing the introductory review of urban history outside Britain with an article on that of Ireland: suggestions of further fields, or offers to explore them, are as welcome as ever.
One innovation this time, which we hope to expand as much as we reasonably can, is a review section. Given our present resources we shall have to keep this pretty selective for the time being but we shall aim straight away at taking account of up to, say, half-a-dozen of the most important works published in the preceding six months, either on some aspect of the historical process of urbanisation or the history of particular British towns; occasionally we would hope to review foreign works and those on the history of towns in other countries.’
Urban History Newsletter No. 7: December 1966
‘We are a planning to meet briefly again this year at the Economic History Society's annual conference, which is being held in The Queen's University of Belfast between 30 March and 3 April. The UHG will be meeting immediately after dinner on Thursday evening, 30 March, to hear two papers on the history of Belfast. Dr. E. R. R. Green (Manchester) will give a general account of the development of the city followed by Dr. McCutcheon (Curator of Industry and Technology in the Ulster Museum) on the new survey of Belfast which he is to undertake for the Ancient Monuments Advisory Council. It is hoped that this work will grow beyond a survey merely of individual buildings and become a thorough investigation of the city's whole development. There should also be time for a brief business meeting, at which we might discuss, among other things, the future development of the Newsletter – now going to about 220 subscribers.
Two other interesting opportunities present themselves in Belfast. Mr. Charles Brett, who has been researching into the architectural history of the city, will be giving the commentary on the Saturday afternoon tour of Belfast. There is also the prospect of taking the ‘breakfast train’ to Dublin on Monday morning for a conducted tour of the city, lunching at Trinity College, and visiting Guinness's in the afternoon.
There is no need to let me know independently of your ordinary booking whether you will be able to get to the Thursday evening meeting.’
Urban History Newsletter No. 8: June 1967
‘There is no news yet about the future development of the Newsletter. The relatively few members of the Urban History Group, now totalling over 270, who were able to attend the annual meeting of the Economic History Society in Belfast last Easter favoured the idea of some form of printed annual publication. This could embody all the present features of the Newsletter and allow some of them to expand. For example, it would be possible to increase the scope of the bibliographical and methodological contributions as well as that of the reviews. It ought also to be possible to include abstracts of theses and in anticipation of this I hope to include a few reports of this kind in the next issue.
The possibility of turning the Newsletter into a year book and giving it more legible and less ephemeral format appeals to a number of people. But there is a contrary view. I have been told, with equal enthusiasm, to keep the thing informal and even prone to shabbiness if this means keeping up to the minute with information. What there does seem to be little support for is something which we virtually ruled out at the start, namely another straight academic journal.
I should be grateful to have your views on this question. Rather interestingly, another adamantly informal publication has recently been started in this general field, African Urban Notes (see below) and its policy seems a very sensible one. In the meantime I am exploring the yearbook idea with some care.’
Urban History Newsletter No. 9: December 1967
‘There seems no question from the replies I had to the question put in the last issue of the Newsletter that it ought to continue for the time being in its present informal style. One librarian who receives nearly 800 periodicals went so far as to say that he looked forward more to getting the Urban History Newsletter than any other periodical! I have also had some grave warnings about letting it become too respectable or well turned out. No one has positively encouraged me to put it into print.
So it must enter a new subscription period next summer substantially unchanged in format except for a stiffer cover. What must change, as I think everyone expects, is the subscription. The original issues did not exceed a dozen pages and now hover around four dozen; stationary and postage have gone up in price quite considerably. There is no justification for doing more than cover costs and these should be met by a subscription of ten shillings covering the next two years. I should be glad to have subscriptions, without having to send reminders, at any time before June 1968, and will have to assume that any subscriber who has not paid up by then wishes the subscription to lapse. There is a subscription form enclosed.
The yearbook idea is by no means dead but it seems certain that if it is to be really workable it will have to extend beyond Britain. There are some obvious difficulties here and they do not look as if they can be overcome at all quickly. Meanwhile, the membership of the Urban History Group continues to grow and numbers about 325.
The Economic History Society has generously agreed to make a small subvention to the Urban History Group for another period of three years.’
THE MEETING: Norwich, Easter 1968
‘A short programme of formal papers on urban history has been arranged for anyone wishing to attend the annual conference of the Economic History Society from the morning rather than the evening of the opening day. There are to be two sessions, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon on Friday, 5th April. In the morning Mr. Gareth Stedman-Jones of Nuffield College, Oxford, will read a paper on ‘Charity and poverty in East London in the nineteenth century’ and this will be followed by discussion until lunch. In the afternoon, it is proposed to initiate a discussion under the chairmanship of Dr. Alan Everitt on two brief papers that will be available before the conference to anyone wishing to take part: Dr. K. J. Allison on ‘The Norwich economy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries’ and Mr. J. F. Pound on ‘The social structure and governing classes of Norwich, 1525–1670’.
Arrangements may be made through Dr. R. G. Wilson, who is acting as secretary to the Economic History annual conference, to have overnight accommodation, including dinner, from Thursday. The cost will be pro-rata to the charges for the main conference: bed and breakfast 37/6d; tea and coffee 1/6d each; luncheon 10/-d; dinner 15/-d.
The detailed programme will be available with the other papers at the time of registering for the conference. It will not be necessary to let me know whether you will be attending this pre-conference meeting. There will also be a short business meeting at a time to be arranged.’
Urban History Newsletter No. 10: July 1968
‘The Newsletter has not, as you see, been able to throw off its old clothes as early as it was intended it should do. But it has safely survived the ordeal of renewing subscriptions. If a reminder that yours has not yet come through is enclosed you may be curious to know that you belong in fact to a very small circle indeed. The number of subscribers has not stopped rising yet, though the circulation, as they say, exceeds 350 copies. The reason must simply be that the information about research in progress and published work is not easily available anywhere else. From this end the response to circulars about these things always appears pleasingly prompt and widespread and deserves a word of thanks. If my own handling of it is more sluggish this is chiefly because the big rushes of information come at peak academic periods. So, with my thanks, an unblushing apology for the delays.
The list of current research given below is markedly longer than last year's. Yet I do not think it is a full measure of the work that is going on. It does still contain some fairly marginal entries but hardly anyone has protested about this and there seems no special reason to be unduly restrictive. The topographical index at the end has been augmented this time by a brief analytical index and I would welcome comments or suggestions about this.
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The UHG Annual Meeting at Norwich before the start of the Economic History Society's conference last Easter was much more rewarding this time. The idea of a formal programme of papers came off very happily and we shall do something similar next year at Durham. The papers by Mr. Stedman-Jones, Dr. Allison and Mr. Pound were well attended and produced some valuable discussion. There was also a more informal meeting which was mainly concerned with the future pattern of more specialized colloquia of the kind which produced The Study of Urban History (see below). One or two of the ideas which came up are now being worked out more thoroughly and it is hoped to get them into action later this summer. The basic idea is to establish one or two research seminars in crucial fields such as the physical development of towns or their social structure and lead towards a major joint publication in each: more details on this when the first concrete arrangements have been made.
In the meantime I should be very glad to have any comments from people who were not at the Norwich discussions.’
Urban History Newsletter
*Number of items in bibliography of urban history total 1964–73: 4,043.
The 23rd issue was the last. The Urban History Yearbook started in 1974 and subsumed most of the material hitherto published in the Newsletter. Jim Dyos died suddenly in August 1978.
The 43 participants at the international conference of the Urban History Group at Gilbert Murray Hall, University of Leicester, 23–6 September 1966
Based on the list given in The Study of Urban History (1966). †Indicates those now deceased.
