Researching the people who lived and worked on Britain’s canals
Fri, 13 May 2016 14:17:00 BST
University of Huddersfield lecturer Dr Jodie Matthews has been appointed the Canal and River Trust’s first honorary research fellow. In the past, she has investigated nineteenth-century attitudes towards Romanies. Now, she turns her attention to the ways in which people who worked and lived on canals in the Victorian period, who were unfairly seen as hard-drinking Sabbath breakers in severe need of reform. Dr Matthews hopes her new post will help people draw connections between canals and the artistic and literary heritage of England and Wales. She is filmed describing her work as she travels picturesque waterways that include the Huddersfield Narrow Canal – completed in 1811 – that bisects the campus of her University.
