Professor Edward Higgs
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Email
ejhiggs@essex.ac.uk -
Location
Colchester Campus
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Academic support hours
By appointment
Profile
Biography
I studied modern history at the University of Oxford, completing my doctoral research there in 1978. This was on the history of nineteenth-century domestic service. I was an archivist at the Public Record Office, the national archives in London, from 1978 to 1993. Here I was latterly responsible for policy relating to the archiving of electronic records. I was a senior research fellow at the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine of the University of Oxford, 1993-1996, and a lecturer at the University of Exeter from 1996 to 2000. My early published work was on Victorian domestic service, although I have written widely on the history of censuses and surveys, civil registration, womens work, the impact of the digital revolution on archives, the information state, and the history of identification. I am mainly interested in British History but with international comparisons, and try to cover broad themes in early modern, modern and contemporary history. Particular interests include statistical representations of society; social construction of knowledge; state surveillance of the citizen; the impact of communications on state and society; the history of information; and the history of identification. One of my current research interests is the history of identification in Britain over the last 500 years. This is a contribution to the work of an international network of historians active in this field which I have established in conjunction with Professor Jane Caplan of the University of Oxford. Known as IdentiNet, this network is being funded by the Leverhulme Trust. I am also the Co-researcher for theIntegrated Census Microdata (I-CeM) Project, which will create an integrated dataset of the censuses of Great Britain for the period 1851 to 1911. For this work Professors Kevin Schürer and I have received one of the largest personal grants ever awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The I-CeM Project will create one of the most important historical datasets in the world, and put British social scientific research, and the University of Essex, at the forefront of international efforts in the field. Previous supervision topics include: The determinants of the infant mortality decline in England during the late 19th and 20th century. Charitable associations in Colchester 1800-1870. Historical conceptions of occupations through use of classification schemes, 1662-1921. Building an imperial discourse: the press, imperialists and power in Britain, France and Russia from 1857 to 1914.
Qualifications
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BA (Hons) Oxford
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DPhil Oxford
Research and professional activities
Research interests
mainly British history but with international comparisons
quantitative aspects of medical and demographic history
the history of information/communications
the history of surveillance and identification
the development of the modern British state
Current research
The history of state, commercial and private forms of identification in Britain over the last 500 years.
Faces and artificial intelligence
How computers are being used to identify individuals, their characters and emotions via image capture of their faces.
Teaching and supervision
Previous supervision
Degree subject: History
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 18/9/2018
Degree subject: History
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 23/11/2012
Publications
Journal articles (45)
Higgs, EJ., (2018). UK birth registration and its present discontents. Reproductive Biomedicine and Society Online. 5, 35-37
Higgs, E. and Wilkinson, A., (2016). Women, Occupations and Work in the Victorian Censuses Revisited. History Workshop Journal. 81 (1), 17-38
Higgs, E., (2015). Servants: A Downstairs History of Britain from the Nineteenth Century to Modern Times. By Lucy Lethbridge. (New York, NY: W. W. Norton, 2013. Pp. xi, 385. $27.95.). The Historian. 77 (3), 614-615
Higgs, E., (2014). Britain's digital reformation. History Today. 64 (4)
Higgs, E., (2012). E. A.Wrigley, The early English censuses (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Pp. xviii + 322. 5 figs. 46 tabs. ISBN 9780197264799 Hbk. £55/$99). The Economic History Review. 65 (4), 1581-1582
HIGGS, E., (2011). States and statistics in the nineteenth century: Europe by numbers - By Nico Randeraad, translated from the Dutch by Debra Molnar. The Economic History Review. 64 (4), 1410-1411
Higgs, E., (2011). Identifying criminals: Justice seen to be done. History Today. 61 (10)
Higgs, E., (2010). Fingerprints and Citizenship: the British State and the Identification of Pensioners in the Interwar Period. History Workshop Journal. 69 (1), 52-67
HIGGS, E., (2010). William Petty and the ambitions of political arithmetic – By Ted McCormick. The Economic History Review. 63 (4), 1169-1170
Higgs, EJ., (2010). Change and continuity in the techniques and technologies of identification over the second Christian millennium. Identity in the Information Society. 62 (4), 345-354
HIGGS, E., (2009). Possessing the World: Taking the Measurements of Colonialisation from the 18th to the 20th Century ‐ By Bouda Etemad. History. 94 (313), 111-112
Higgs, E., (2009). Amy L Fairchild, Ronald Bayer and James Colgrove, Searching eyes: privacy, the state, and disease surveillance in America, Berkeley, California/Milbank Books on Health and the Public, no. 18, Los Angeles, University of California Press; New York, Milbank Memorial Fund, 2007, pp. xxiv, 342, £11.95 (paperback 978-0-520-25325-4).. Medical History. 53 (2), 301-302
Higgs, E., (2008). The early information society: information management in Britain before the computer – By Alistair Black, Dave Muddiman, and Helen Plant. The Economic History Review. 61 (2), 513-514
Higgs, E., (2007). Disciplining statistics. Demography and vital statistics in France and England, 1830-1885. POPULATION STUDIES-A JOURNAL OF DEMOGRAPHY. 61 (3), 342-343
Higgs, E., (2006). Poverty, progress and population.. HISTORY. 91 (301), 103-104
Higgs, E., (2005). Information technology policy: an international history. ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW. 58 (3), 635-636
Higgs, E., (2005). Life, death and statistics: a reply to Simon Szreter. Local Population Studies. 2005 (75), 81-84
Higgs, E., (2004). Social investigation and rural England, 1870-1914. HISTORY. 89 (293), 146-146
Higgs, E., (2004). Vital accounts: Quantifying health and populations in eighteenth-century England and France. HISTORY. 89 (293), 128-128
Higgs, E., (2004). Identity crisis. History Today. 54 (12), 16-
Higgs, E., (2003). Changing family size in England and Wales: Place, class and demography, 1891-1911.. JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY. 63 (2), 596-597
Higgs, E., (2003). Imprint of the Raj: How Fingerprinting was Born in Colonial India. The English Historical Review. 118 (479), 1409-1410
Higgs, E., (2002). Victorian Spies. History Workshop Journal. 53 (1), 232-235
Higgs, E., (2002). The demography of Victorian England and Wales. HISTORY. 87 (285), 159-159
Higgs, E., (2002). The Annual Report of the Registrar General, 1839–1920: A Textual History. Clio medica (Amsterdam, Netherlands). 67, 55-76
Higgs, E., (2001). The Rise of the Information State: the Development of Central State Surveillance of the Citizen in England, 1500–2000. Journal of Historical Sociology. 14 (2), 175-197
Higgs, E., (2000). Medical statistics, patronage and the state: The development of the MRC Statistical Unit, 1911–1948. Medical History. 44 (3), 323-340
HIGGS, E. and MELLING, J., (1997). Chasing the Ambulance. The Emerging Crisis in the Preservation of Modern Health Records. Social History of Medicine. 10 (1), 127-136
HIGGS, E., (1996). The Statistical Big Bang of 1911: Ideology, Technological Innovation and theProduction of Medical Statistics. Social History of Medicine. 9 (3), 409-426
Higgs, E., (1996). A cuckoo in the nest? The origins of civil registration and state medical statistics in England and Wales. Continuity and Change. 11 (1), 115-134
Higgs, E., (1996). A clearer sense of the census: Victorian censuses and historical research. A clearer sense of the census: Victorian censuses and historical research
Higgs, E., (1996). A clearer sense of the census: Victorian censuses and historical research. A clearer sense of the census: Victorian censuses and historical research
HIGGS, E., (1995). Occupational censuses and the agricultural workforce in Victorian England and Wales. The Economic History Review. 48 (4), 700-716
Higgs, EJ., (1995). Occupational censuses and the agricultural workforce in Victorian England and Wales. Economic History Review. XLVIII (4)
HIGGS, E., (1991). Disease, Febrile Poisons, and Statistics: The Census as a Medical Survey, 1841–1911. Social History of Medicine. 4 (3), 465-478
Higgs, E., (1990). Household and work in the nineteenth‐century censuses of England and Wales. Journal of the Society of Archivists. 11 (3), 73-77
Gutzke, DW., (1990). Edward Higgs. Making Sense of the Census: The Manuscript Returns for England and Wales, 1801-1901. (Public Record Office Handbooks, No. 23.) London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office; distributed by Unipub, Lanham, Md. 1989. Pp. x, 146. $35.00.. Albion. 22 (4), 698-699
Higgs, E., (1987). Women, Occupations and Work in the Nineteenth Century Censuses. History Workshop Journal. 23 (1), 59-80
Higgs, EJ., (1986). Women, occupations and work in the nineteenth-century censuses. History Workshop Journal. 23 (Spring)
Higgs, E., (1985). ‘Particular instance papers’: The historical and archival dimensions. Social History. 10 (1), 89-94
Higgs, EJ., (1985). Counting heads and jobs: science as an occupation in the Victorian census. History of Science. 23 (4), 335-349
Higgs, EJ., (1984). Research into the History of Alcohol Use and Control in England and Wales: The Available Sources in the Public Record Office. British Journal of Addiction. 79 (1), 41-47
Higgs, E., (1983). Domestic servants and households in Victorian England. Social History. 8 (2), 201-210
Higgs, E., (1983). Leisure and the State: The History of Popular Culture as Reflected in the Public Records. History Workshop Journal. 15 (1), 141-150
Higgs, EJ., (1979). Per la storia dei servi domestici: un' analisi quantitativa. Quaderni Storici. 40
Books (6)
Higgs, EJ., (2016). Domestic Servants and Households in Rochdale 1851-1871. Routledge. 1-138-63884-6. 978-1-138-63884-6
Higgs, EJ., (2011). Identifying the English A History of Personal Identification 1500 to the Present. Continuum. 9781441182036
Higgs, E., (2005). Making Sense of the Census Revisited Census Records for England and Wales 1801-1901 : a Handbook for Historical Researchers. 1905165005. 9781905165001
Higgs, E., (2004). Life, Death and Statistics Civil Registration, Censuses and the Work of the General Register Office, 1836-1952. University of Hertfordshire Press. 0954162102. 9780954162108
Higgs, E., (2003). The Information State in England The Central Collection of Information on Citizens Since 1500. Palgrave Macmillan. 1137098511. 9781137098511
Higgs, E., (1998). History and Electronic Artefacts. Oxford University Press. 0198236336. 9780198236337
Book chapters (12)
Higgs, EJ., (2017). Archives in a peaceable land: another case of English exceptionalism?. In: Identity and Loss of Historical Memory: the Destruction of Archives. Editors: Filippov, I. and Sabate, F., . Peter Lang. 339- 351. 978-3-0343-2506-6
(2014). Histories of State Surveillance in Europe and Beyond. In: Histories of State Surveillance in Europe and Beyond. Editors: Boersma, K., van Brakel, R., Fonio, C. and Wagenaar, P., . Routledge. 17- 31. 9780415829465
Higgs, EJ., (2014). British Censuses 1801-2011: Traditional and Digital Preservation and Access. In: Archive Und Statistik: Zur Archivierung von Unterlagen der Volksz�hlung 1950 und Elektronischer Statistiken. Editors: Niederhut, J. and Zuber, U., . Klartext Verlag. 31- 42. 978-3-8375-1030-0
Higgs, EJ., (2013). Consuming Identity and Consuming the State. In: Identification and Registration Practices in Transnational Perspective: People, Papers and Practices. Editors: About, I., Brown, J. and Lonergan, G., . Palgrave Macmillan. 164- 184. 9780230354388
Higgs, EJ. and Caplan, J., (2013). The Future of Identification's Past: Reflections on the Development of Historical Identification Studies. In: Identification and Registration Practices in Transnational Perspective: People, Papers and Practices. Editors: About, I., Brown, J. and Lonergan, G., . Palgrave Macmillan. 302- 308. 9780230354388
(2012). Statistics and the Public Sphere. In: Statistics and the Public Sphere: Numbers and the People in Modern Britain, c. 1800-2000. Editors: Crook, T. and O'Hara, G., . Routledge. 67- 83. 9780203818671
Higgs, EJ., (2011). Consumers, citizens, and deviants: differing forms of personal identification in England since the Victorian period. In: The voice of the citizen consumer: a history of market research, consumer movements and the political public sphere. Editors: Br�ckweh, K., . Oxford University Press. 179- 198. 0-19-960402-9. 978-0-19-960402-9
Higgs, EJ., (2011). Personal dentification as information flows in England, 1500-2000. In: Information History in the Modern World. Editors: Weller, T., . Palgrave. 13- 30
Higgs, E., (2009). The Rise of the Information State: The Development of Central State Surveillance of the Citizen in England, 1500–2000. In: Twenty Years of theJournal of Historical Sociology. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. 248- 271. 9781405179331
Higgs, E., (2007). From frankpledge to chip and pin. In: The History of Information Security. Elsevier. 243- 262. 9780444516084
Higgs, E., (2007). From Frankpledge to Chip and Pin. Identification and Identity in England, 1475-2005.. In: The History of Information Security: A Comprehensive Handbook. 243- 262
Higgs, E., (2004). The Linguistic Construction of Social and Medical Categories in the Work of the English General Register Office, 1837–1950. In: Categories and Contexts. Oxford University PressOxford. 86- 106. 0199270570
Conferences (4)
Higgs, E., (2008). Are state-mediated forms of identification a reaction to physical mobility? The case of England, 1500-2007
Edward Higgs, (2008). Keynote Paper: Are State-Mediated Forms of Identification a Reaction to Physical Mobility? The case of England, 1500-2007
Gattrell, V., Hindle, S. and Higgs, E., (2005). The information state in England:The central collection of information on citizens, 1500-2000, (London, Palgrave, 2004), by Edward Higgs Department of History, University of Essex, 13.10.2004
Higgs, E., (2003). The General Register Office and the tabulation of data, 1837-1939
Reports and Papers (2)
Higgs, EJ., (2017). British Academy and Royal Society, Data management and use: governance in the 21st century. A joint report by the British Academy and the Royal Society (June 2017)
Higgs, EJ., Jones, C., Schürer, K. and Wilkinson, A., (2013). The Integrated Census Microdata (I-CeM) Guide
Dataset (1)
Higgs, EJ. and Schurer, K., (2014).Integrated Census Microdata (I-CeM), UK Data Archive (SN7481).
Grants and funding
2017
Gender and Professional Culture in Britain, 1890-1950
British Academy
2014
An Atlas of Victorian Fertility Decline
Economic & Social Research Council
2008
Integrated Census Microdata
Economic & Social Research Council
Contact
Academic support hours:
By appointment
