For many years, I have worked as an independent historical researcher.

My current research focuses upon The Tambopata Rubber Syndicate Limited, a British rubber company, which operated in a remote part of the Amazonian Selva between 1907 and 1913.  It enslaved some seven hundred indigenous people.  Conditions were brutal.  Workers were flogged.  Four were shot dead after attempting to escape.  There were severe food shortages leading to starvation.  Disease was rampant.  One fifth of the workforce perished.  I have the names of one hundred and fifty men who died at their rubber collection stations.  Some bodies were left unburied, to rot or be eaten by birds.  There was sexual abuse of women and girls. Judges and local officials were bribed.  I have evidence that Asquith misled Parliament and that the Foreign Office prevented British diplomats from investigating. 

Early versions of my research have been published in La Revista de Historia de América (after peer review) and the Bodleian Library blog.  I have also contributed to Fawcett y Bolivia: Aportes para su revalorizacion histórica published in Spanish by the Fundación Cultural del Banco Central de Bolivia.  Click here for the Revista article and here for the Bodleian Blog.

Much of my earlier research featured my own family history.  What interested me was not their names, dates of birth etc, but the way in which they, as “the common people” lived.  English Roots - a family history was published in 1995.   My aim was to provide a clear and detailed description of everyday life, from the 1630s until the present day.  English Roots examines the social and economic history of those years, as seen through the eyes of ten generations of one family, the Ashtons.  For over two centuries, they lived in hamlets in the Derbyshire Peak District. They were small-scale farmers, but were also engaged in spinning and weaving, and lead mining.  In the 1830s, during the Industrial Revolution, they moved to Manchester.

By clicking on these links, you can read the Preface, kindly written by David Hey, Professor of Local and Family History at the University of Sheffield and the Introduction. You can also read my description of two cases brought by Ashtons in the barmote (lead mining) courts - An Eighteenth Century Fast Track Claim.    You can also read a selection of reviews and buy copies of English Roots by emailing me.

In August 2022, The Devon Family Historian published my article A Life that Changed Track: or How the Track Changed Life describing how the railways revolutionised the life of three generations of my ancestors.  Click here to read the article.

In September 2023 I gave a talk to Richmond Local History Society entitled Death in the Thames: the tragic story of five members of one Richmond family    Click here for a video of that talk