About
Dr Robert Stansfield-Cudworth is a British Archivist, Historian, and Composer who has been an Archivist and Researcher; Tutor, Associate Lecturer, and Honorary Research Fellow (
University of Lancaster); and Postgraduate Researcher (
UK Research and Innovation:
Arts and Humanities Research Council).
Author of
Political Elites in South-West England, 1450–1500 (2009), his research fields include governance, identities, and elites, with further interests comprising historical sociology, antiquarianism, and genealogy.
He is a Fellow of the
Academy of Higher Education. Involved in various organisations, he is a past Secretary of the
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society and the
Chetham Society, and past President of
Lancaster University Historical Society.
Projects
Musical Representations • Principal Investigator (2010–22)
- Exploring musical representations (and elicitations) of meaning in programmatic and ‘absolute’ works, such as symphonic poems and concerti.
Later Lollardy: A Comparative Perspective • Principal Investigator (1999–2021)
- Reappraising Later Lollardy in England, its evolution and infrastructure, through the prism of comparative and sociological perspectives of religious movements.
Gentry and Yeomanry in Lancashire, c.1290–1861 • Principal Investigator (1994–2021)
- (Re-)Constituting gentry and non-gentry (yeomanry) families in Lancashire – using a variety of sources and archives – to investigate kinship networks, family life, faith and (self-) identity, socio-economic roles, inheritance patterns, agricultural practices, socio-political and educational interests, and wider associations.
Archival and Historical Scholarship and Antiquarianism • Principal Investigator (2008–17)
- Exploring developments in archival and historical scholarship – and professionalisation of historical (and archival) practice – during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Political Elites in South-West England, 1450–1500 •
Principal Investigator (2000–13)
- Examining the crown’s approach to government in South-West England, this UK Research and Innovation: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) project (2001–5) investigated Edward IV’s policy towards the English regions, and explored the feasibility of a regional approach to the politics, government, and ruling elites of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Dorset (1450–1500).
Evaluating Ecclesiastical Collections •
Co-Investigator (2001–2)
- Surveying the history, contents, and context of an ecclesiastical library, with a particular focus on the folio titles.
