Copyright © 2010-2012 The Historical Association: Swansea Branch

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John Law^ (Chairman) studied at the universities of St Andrews and Oxford, and in 1971 became a lecturer at Swansea University. He has been a member of the Council of the Society for Renaissance Studies for over twenty years, and was a founding member of its Welsh branch; he was editor of Renaissance Studies between 1997 and 2007. John became a corresponding member of the Deputazione Veneta di Storia Patria in 1981, and in 1985 was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Historical Society; he is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.  In addition, he was Visiting Professor at the University of Havard Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, the Villa I Tatti (Florence), 1994–5 and 2007. John is the author of a number of published works dealing with the history of Italy in the time of the Renaissance.

 

 

John Ashley*/** (Vice-Chairman) is our Local History Representative and, as well as being branch vice-chairman, is also chairman of the Local History Committee. He is a graduate of the Open University, and has spent most of his working life in the IT industry. When he returned to Swansea after several years in the Caribbean he successfully took an Advanced Diploma in Local History at the University of Oxford. John teaches ‘Family History, Capturing Lives’ (methodology and technology in local history research) and ‘Telling Stories with Photos’ at Swansea University’s Department of Adult Continuing Education. As well as being a member of the committee of the Institute of Welsh Affairs, he is a walk leader with the Gower Society, and he writes local history and walking columns for The Bay magazine. John is co-editor of the branch’s publications. His new book, Ashley’s Walks Around Swansea & Gower, is currently available.

Richard Bodenham*/^ (Treasurer) has been interested in Genealogy since 1968 and is the Branch's Family History & Heraldry Co-ordinator, Publicity Officer and Excursions Organiser. A qualified teacher, he has studied at St Paul's College Cheltenham and the universities of Hull and Exeter. He has taught History, French and English at independent preparatory schools in England, where he was also Housemaster. At Lincoln Cathedral School, he was Cathedral Choir Tutor and produced and directed two musicals at the Theatre Royal in Lincoln. Richard is a keen entomologist, with a lifelong interest in natural history, and is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. He is currently studying for a postgraduate degree in Local History; his dissertation topic is: ‘Female Criminals, aged 20 years and under, in Swansea, 1887–1901’.

 

Colin Wheldon James*/^ (Executive Secretary) is a History graduate of the University of Wales Swansea (where he also gained a Diploma in Local History), is associated with Mellen University in the United States and is a Field Editor for the Edwin Mellen Press. He lectures Medieval History at Swansea University’s Department of Adult Continuing Education and is a tutor within the Department of History and Classics. As well as being a full member of the Historical Association, Colin also holds membership of the Royal Historical Society, the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East, the British Association for Local History, and the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. His published works include A Study Based on the Clerk’s Report Book of the Swansea Local Board of Health, 1855–1866, ‘Swansea’s First Charter’ (in Minerva, vol xii) and ‘The Miraculous Crusade’ (in The Historian, vol 105). Colin is chairman of the branch’s South-West Wales Committee and is co-editor (with John Ashley) of the branch’s publications.