Economic Historian of Debtors' Prisons, Women's Work, the Census, and Fertility (1700-1921). Constantly meddling with the Integrated Census Microdata (I-CeM) no matter how much I try to move on from it University of Cambridge PDRA @camunicampop.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3mtgs7c7b322s"Excuse me for saying that your answer to my letter contains less of argument and reasoning than of injurious insinuation, claptrap declamation, and revolutionary menace". RIP George Poulett Scrope (1797-1876), you'd have loved BlueSky / peak Twitter discourse19 Aug 2026 13:04 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtgs7c7b322shttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3msvtb7tnpc25Well that will teach me to check for celestial events the next time I book theatre tickets for a random Wednesday starting at 712 Aug 2026 19:08 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3msvtb7tnpc25https://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3mpt5ijvric2tNobody is as committed to the work from home mindset as the guy I just saw on the bus wearing Zoom merch04 Jul 2026 13:17 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpt5ijvric2thttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3mmphacn46s2oI love living in a multicultural city of a thousand languages but I do think it should be a legal requirement that if you have a big row outside it should have to legally be in the one I personally speak so I can listen in25 May 2026 21:45 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmphacn46s2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3mmbmqejb4c2wFaculty's decision to make us actually record holiday days (instead of the previous practice where nobody took days off) is going swimmingly as their records currently suggest that I partied so hard on every public holiday this year that it counted as two or even three days off. What a Chirstmas!20 May 2026 09:46 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmbmqejb4c2whttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3mlaniqdhgk2mAlso I voted bright and early this morning and when the R*form woman on the door wished me a good morning I instinctively said “Not for you I hope” which might be the politest rebuke of those wankers possible07 May 2026 07:02 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlaniqdhgk2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3mlanci54is2mI cannot believe my university is now making us record when we take annual leave instead of just saying “meh go away whenever”. Don’t they realise that if I know how many days I have left I might actually take them instead of just working everyday?07 May 2026 06:59 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlanci54is2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3mhgjvqlitc2rI’ve spent so much time over the last few weeks reading Victorian civil service letters I’ve found I’ve started to talk in keeping with their general style, a source of great discontent amongst many of us here. I have the honour to be Your most Obedient & humble servant A Wakelam, esq19 Mar 2026 17:33 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhgjvqlitc2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3mgwxnw23kk2xBradford Chamber of Commerce learned in 1916 what many of us knew already: women love trams.13 Mar 2026 12:57 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgwxnw23kk2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3mgpprkuyas22In the 18th century jury trial was eroded for poor debtors, instead being dealt with by magistrates (sounds familiar to me). Decisions were arbitrary and the poor suffered. MPs, intellectuals, and even local tradesman spoke out in defence of the ‘the ancient and valuable privilege of trial by Jury’10 Mar 2026 15:47 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgpprkuyas22https://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3mga6czmpxk2aJust found in the Department for Education archives the perfect band name and album cover for starting the hottest indie band of 200704 Mar 2026 11:24 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mga6czmpxk2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3mf7edk3ya22o19 Feb 2026 10:14 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mf7edk3ya22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3mf4uuj65pk2t'that they have now determined to ... to' WHAT DID YOU DETERMINE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TELL ME WHAT YOU DETERMINED18 Feb 2026 10:32 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mf4uuj65pk2thttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3meisoef7rc2lI’m at the national archives and just walked past somebody carrying a bundle of documents with massive “TOP SECRET” stamps all over it and a date mark of 1944. Is it bad form to sit next to them and read over their shoulder?10 Feb 2026 11:00 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3meisoef7rc2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3m74g26qq7c2g“And Tiny Tim, who did not die” clearly implies that either Tiny Tim is still alive in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty five or that he regenerates like the doctor either of which fills me with abject terror.03 Dec 2025 21:36 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3m74g26qq7c2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3lxzae3siqc25Ah the Victorian period, when it was more important to save a few pennies on a second sheet of paper than for the recipient of your letter to be able to read what you’d written04 Sep 2025 13:20 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxzae3siqc25https://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3lxuozothc22yLoving all the various “this is what causes low birth rates” posts tonight when we still haven’t fully worked out what caused them to start declining IN 1850 (when kids were still very much at work and there was no easy contraception) [contains quote post or other embedded content]02 Sep 2025 17:59 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxuozothc22yhttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3lxh4rpdlxk2qBegging 19th Century writers to just be normal for five minutes was apparently a fools errand. I'm several pages in and none the wiser at what should be a mild complaint about an aspect of Bradford society c.1820: 'Tweedle, Tweedle, Tweedle, Some Catgut to my Feedle' (??)28 Aug 2025 08:28 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxh4rpdlxk2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3lvxtaq5h622iThere is no better feeling when travelling abroad than your phone magically picking up Eduroam09 Aug 2025 13:02 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3lvxtaq5h622ihttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3luspqs63jk2fI maintain that early modern historians remain the most whimsical historians25 Jul 2025 18:51 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3luspqs63jk2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3lpqsmqxwp22d'Miss Ashworth ... sang the air "Pious Orgies" tastefully and correctly', sometimes its ok to acknowledge the meaning of a word has changed without trying to work out what it used to mean using a work laptop. (Todmorden and Hebden Bridge Weekly Advertiser 8th March 1862)22 May 2025 09:31 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpqsmqxwp22dhttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3lozyqfy2q226Loved getting to chat debt imprisonment with Layton Williams, one of the nicest human beings I've ever met, on Who Do You Think You Are? last night even if I only had bad news for him https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002c5rw/who-do-you-think-you-are-series-22-4-layton-williams13 May 2025 07:49 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3lozyqfy2q226https://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3lmc4x3hcgc2wWent to Rome. Got threatened by a mirror. 10/1008 Apr 2025 09:10 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3lmc4x3hcgc2whttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3llxzdkptz22vStanding in a non-moving queue and the American behind me is loudly asking “why are they just making us and here like this”. ITS BECAUSE WE LIKE IT THAT’S WHY.04 Apr 2025 08:39 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3llxzdkptz22vhttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3lkc35ye5qk2mTaxi driver just turned up the radio volume dramatically because The Script came on and I think this must be some sort of crime13 Mar 2025 21:48 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3lkc35ye5qk2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/awakelam.bsky.social/post/3lkasz3u4uk2gFeeling a lot of affinity with this church advert(?) outside the office every time I look at the news13 Mar 2025 09:49 +0000at://did:plc:u4v6nqrl6x2ca4iqo7fqehlc/app.bsky.feed.post/3lkasz3u4uk2g