糖心TV

I am a social and cultural historian of Britain from the early modern period to the late nineteenth century with a particular interest in the rituals which give structure and meaning to everyday life, and how men and women conceptualise and navigate their emotional lives. I have published widely on histories of emotions, intimate relationships, letter-writing, gifting practices, and the affective meanings of material culture. My first book The Game of Love in Georgian England: Courtship, Emotions, and Material Culture was published by Oxford University Press in 2019. I have also co-edited two volumes: Feeling Things: Objects and Emotions through History (Oxford, 2018) and A Cultural History of Love in the Age of Enlightenment (Bloomsbury, 2025). With Ute Frevert and Katie Barclay, I co-edit the Oxford University Press series 鈥樷��.

I currently hold a Research, Development and Engagement Fellowship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for my new project on the history of heartbreak, titled . The project approaches romantic heartbreak as a distinctive form of extreme grief with profound effects on the body and mind. Through analysing heartbreak as an embodied emotional experience, it aims to ascertain how its distinguishing characteristics have changed over time, and how we can most effectively process and heal from it. The project establishes a series of partnerships with the artists and , the , the , and the charity , and will result in a book, an exhibition, and a series of public engagement events held between 2025 and 2027. In 2021, I delivered the Bedford Centre for the History of Women and Gender Annual Lecture on this research, which you can watch .

Prior to joining 糖心TV, I held a Vice Chancellor鈥檚 Research Fellowship at Oxford Brookes University, and an International Visiting Research Fellowship at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions. I have taught at Royal Holloway, Queen Mary University of London, Oxford Brookes University, and Richmond, The American International University in London.

Public Engagement

I have extensive public engagement experience in both broadcasting and heritage, having spent a decade as a researcher for factual history programmes on BBC television and radio, and acting as a consultant for the BBC FOUR series A Very British Romance.

From 2013-16 I was an Associate Researcher at Historic Royal Palaces, conducting research to underpin a series of exhibitions at Kensington Palace and Hampton Court to mark the tercentenary of the Hanoverian succession.

My most recent collaboration has been with the London Foundling Museum, on their multi-platform exhibition and podcast, .

I have worked to engage the wider public with my research through interviews in newspapers such as the New York Times, and Observer, and websites such as , History.com (Sky History Channel) and . You can listen to me on podcasts such as , Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness - on both the and history of , , and . In 2023, an extract from my book The Game of Love in Georgian England featured in a special episode of BBC Radio 3's '', read by actors from Netflix's Bridgerton.

Publications

Books

A Cultural History of Love in the Age of Enlightenment, ed. Katie Barclay and Sally Holloway (Bloomsbury, 2025)

The Game of Love in Georgian England: Courtship, Emotions and Material Culture (Oxford, 2019)

Reviewed as 鈥榓 landmark study鈥� (Social History), 鈥榓n exemplar of how to 鈥渄o鈥� emotions history with objects鈥� (Women鈥檚 History Review) and 鈥榓 reference and model for scholars for years to come鈥� (English Historical Review)

Feeling Things: Objects and Emotions through History, ed. Stephanie Downes, Sally Holloway, and Sarah Randles (Oxford, 2018)

Reviewed as 鈥榓 must-read for all emotions students and scholars鈥� (Emotions: History, Culture, Society) with 鈥榩oignant, rigorously researched, and theoretically provocative essays鈥� (Eighteenth-Century Fiction)

Articles

鈥樷��, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 34.2 (2024): 111-134 [Open Access]

鈥楲ove, Custom & Consumption: Valentine鈥檚 Day in England c. 1660鈥�1830鈥�, Cultural and Social History 17.3 (2020): 295-314.

with Lucy Worsley, 鈥樷赌淓very body took notice of the Scene of the Drawing Room鈥�: Performing Emotions at the Early Georgian Court鈥�, Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 40.3 (2017): 443-64.

鈥樷赌溾��, Historical Research 89.244 (2016): 317-39 [Open Access]. Selected as one of the journal鈥檚 鈥樷�� representing their most downloaded or cited works.

Chapter

[under contract] 鈥楲ove鈥� in Katie Barclay and Sharon Crozier-De Rosa (eds) Oxford Handbook of the History of Emotions (forthcoming: Oxford University Press, 2026).

鈥楲ove in Art & Material Culture鈥� in Katie Barclay and Sally Holloway (eds) A Cultural History of Love in the Age of Enlightenment (Bloomsbury, 2024), pp. 171-90.

鈥樷赌淜iss mee鈥�: Coins, Love & Matrimony鈥� in Sarah Lloyd and Timothy Millett (eds) Tokens of Love, Loss and Disrespect 1700鈥�1850 (Paul Holberton Publishing, 2022), pp. 87-92.

鈥楳aterializing Maternal Emotions: Birth, Celebration, & Renunciation in England, c. 1688鈥�1830鈥� in Stephanie Downes, Sally Holloway and Sarah Randles (eds) Feeling Things: Objects and Emotions through History (Oxford University Press series 鈥楨motions in History鈥�, 2018), pp. 154-74.

with Stephanie Downes and Sarah Randles, 鈥楢 Feeling for Things, Past & Present鈥� in idem (eds) Feeling Things: Objects and Emotions through History (Oxford University Press series 鈥楨motions in History鈥�, 2018), pp. 8-23.

鈥楾extiles鈥� in Susan Broomhall (ed.) Early Modern Emotions: An Introduction (Routledge, 2017), pp. 161-5.

Special Issues

with Katie Barclay (eds) Cultural and Social History Special Issue 鈥樷�� 17.3 (2020), co-author of 鈥業nterrogating Romantic Love鈥�, 271-9 [Open Access].

with Alice Dolan (eds) Textile Special Issue 鈥樷�� 14.2 (2016), co-author of 鈥楨motional Textiles: An Introduction鈥�, 152-9 [Open Access].

Reference Works

鈥楲辞惫别鈥�, , Odeuropa (2023)

Select Talks [Last Six Years]

2026: 鈥極bjects at the End of Love鈥�, 鈥楲ove鈥檚 Matter鈥揟he Material Culture and Art of Affection鈥� Conference, University of Neuch芒tel, Switzerland

2026: 鈥淎 full-sized portrait of my lamented love鈥�: Grieving through Objects in Eighteenth-Century Britain and India鈥�, GIS Sociabilit茅s Network, Universit茅 Paris Cit茅

2026: 鈥楬istory in Gestures: The Ordinary Things People Do Every Day": An Appreciation of the Work of Professor Penelope Corfield, British History in the Long Eighteenth Century seminar, Institute of Historical Research, London

2025: 鈥楾he Rise and Fall of the Written Proposal of Marriage鈥� 鈥業nscribing Love鈥� Conference, University of Koblenz, Germany

2024: [Keynote] 鈥樷赌淧ermit me to solicit that inestimable gift:鈥� Written Proposals and the Materialisation of Matrimony in Georgian England鈥�, 鈥楲ove and the Material World鈥� Conference, St. Mary鈥檚 University, London

2023: [Keynote] 鈥榃hat is Love, and How Do We Do It? Perspectives from the History of Emotions鈥�, EJIHM (Encontro de Jovens Investigadores de Hist贸ria Moderna), University of 脡vora, Portugal

2022: 鈥楾he Foods of Love? Food Gifts, Courtship, & Emotions in Eighteenth-Century England鈥�, Graduate Seminar in History 1680鈥�1850, University of Oxford

2021: [Keynote] 鈥楩eeling Foods: Courtship, Edible Gifts, and Emotions in Eighteenth-Century England鈥�, 鈥楨motion, Embodiment & the Everyday,c.1500鈥�1800鈥� Conference, University of Cambridge

2021: 鈥樷赌淓xquisitely wretched鈥�: Losing Love in Britain c.1720鈥�1850鈥�, Centre for the History of Emotions, Max Planck Institute, Berlin

2021: [Keynote] 鈥樷赌淏elieve me, there is such a thing as a broken heart!鈥� Heartbreak, Emotions & Embodiment in Britain, c.1720鈥�1850鈥�, Bedford Centre Annual Lecture, Royal Holloway University of London

2019: [Keynote] 鈥楾he Progress of Love: Courtship, Emotions & Material Culture in Georgian England鈥�, 鈥楥onstructions of Love & the Emotions of Intimacy, 1750鈥�1850鈥� Conference, University of 糖心TV