Kirsty Peacock

Research Topic: 

'Who performed the business of banking?': Women's work in the City of London, 1870-1930

Thesis:

Working within the parameters set by the ‘Women and Work in the City of London’ OOC-DTP Collaborative Doctoral Award, my research explores the socio-economic backgrounds of women undertaking work in London’s banking sector, focusing upon the materials held by the Baring Archives. Whilst considering the factors impacting individual women’s experiences of financial work, my research will also explore how young working women’s lives intertwined in the City, both within gender-segregated work spaces, and in their interactions through external support organisations, such as the Homes for Working Girls (HWGL). Additionally, my research engages with questions of how technological advances facilitated the feminisation of clerical work, and will use the case study of women working at Barings to shed light on broader debates about the relationship between technology and gender throughout the twentieth century.

Supervisor: Dr Rowena Olegario & Professor Catherine Schenk
 

Background:

I completed my undergraduate degree in History and Politics at Trinity College, Oxford in 2020, writing my thesis on 'Céline Renooz and Discourses of Female Scientific Expertise and Hysteria in Late Nineteenth Century France', which was Highly Commended in the 2020 Women's History Network Undergraduate Prize. I subsequently attained a Master's in Women's Studies from Wolfson College, Oxford in 2021, researching women's sport in interwar Oxford, the mathematical education of nineteenth century girls in Britain, and the impact of the repeal of China's one-child policy. My interests and approach are thus interdisciplinary - a feature I am pursuing further in my doctoral research.