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David Green

Professor David Green

Professor of Historical Geography

Research interests

  • Geography
  • History

Biography

Professor David Green is trained as a geographer (BA and PhD from University of Cambridge) and has worked at King’s since 1979 in the Geography Department. He is currently Professor of Historical Geography.

His main interests focus on historical geographies of poverty, wealth and welfare in Britain between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries. He has published widely on topics as varied as poor relief in London to landownership in Britain and from the finance of eighteenth-century towns to postal workers health in the UK. What links these different interests together is an awareness of the spatial differences in social conditions and the different ways in which welfare policies operate to address these differences.

His work outside academia has included a variety of advisory and consultancy roles for a wide range of organisations, ranging from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) on developing new geography curricula at GCSE and A level to TV production companies and the New Deal for Communities programme.

He has appeared on national and international television in programmes relating to various aspects of nineteenth-century London, family history and the history of the British landscape. He is passionate about outreach activities that extend the opportunity to experience a university education as widely as possible. He is also equally passionate about his role as a teacher and as a learner. 

In the video below David tells us about his Wellcome-funded project 'Addressing Health'.

Research

  • Poverty and poor relief in Britain from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries
  • Histories of welfare
  • Occupational health in nineteenth and twentieth-century Britain
  • Urban growth and finance in Britain from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries
  • Wealth and inheritance in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

David has an eclectic range of research interests tied together by a concern with welfare. This poses a series of questions about the relationships between different dimensions of poverty and well-being, and the policy responses.

He is interested in how institutions, such as the state, local governments and employers, as well as individuals respond to need. This leads into historical analyses of poor relief, health care, pensions and inheritance practices – all of which are explored through a geographical lens that identifies place as a key element in understanding these topics.

Teaching

Undergraduate

  • 6SSG0365 Economy, Society and Politics in 19th Century London (3rd year)

PhD supervision

David welcomes PhD students looking to study:

  • Poverty and poor relief in England and Wales from 1700 to 1930
  • Histories of occupational health in Britain
  • Wealth and inheritance in nineteenth and twentieth-century Britain
  • British urban growth and change from the eighteenth to the twentieth century

Further details

See David's research profile

    Research

    DID_Urban_Development_HERO
    Urban Futures research group

    Examining urban futures through a conceptual, analytical and methodological lens that questions what cities are and how they work.

    News

    'Enthusiastic and imaginative': Geography celebrates Professor David Green on his retirement

    Professor Green is the longest-serving member of staff, having joined the department in 1979.

    Geography and School of Global Affairs staff at farewell lunch for Professor David Green

    Newly published data allows us to see into the daily lives of nineteenth-century Post Office workers

    With over 19,000 records now live, people can examine the health, retirement, and daily lives of Post Office workers in the United Kingdom in the nineteenth...

    Victorian Post illustrations

    Study exploring the lives of Victorian postal workers invites the public to delve into historical records

    As part of Transcription Tuesday 2021, the public are being invited to help deliver a major study of what life was truly like for Victorian and Edwardian...

    Illustration of the Central Telegraph Office during the Victorian Era

    Geography students narrate the world of poverty and welfare in 1888 London

    Several Geography students have made a podcast capturing the story of the Matchgirls strike of 1888.

    Participants of the Matchgirls Strike, London 1888

    Features

    Meet our SSPP research grant winners

    Find out about some of the research projects underway across the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy

    books and lights hero 1903

    How the first modern pandemic hit key workers first

    Professor David Green explores how the 1889 outbreak of influenza impacted postal workers in the UK.

    The Edinburgh and London Royal Mail by John Frederick Herring Sr

      Research

      DID_Urban_Development_HERO
      Urban Futures research group

      Examining urban futures through a conceptual, analytical and methodological lens that questions what cities are and how they work.

      News

      'Enthusiastic and imaginative': Geography celebrates Professor David Green on his retirement

      Professor Green is the longest-serving member of staff, having joined the department in 1979.

      Geography and School of Global Affairs staff at farewell lunch for Professor David Green

      Newly published data allows us to see into the daily lives of nineteenth-century Post Office workers

      With over 19,000 records now live, people can examine the health, retirement, and daily lives of Post Office workers in the United Kingdom in the nineteenth...

      Victorian Post illustrations

      Study exploring the lives of Victorian postal workers invites the public to delve into historical records

      As part of Transcription Tuesday 2021, the public are being invited to help deliver a major study of what life was truly like for Victorian and Edwardian...

      Illustration of the Central Telegraph Office during the Victorian Era

      Geography students narrate the world of poverty and welfare in 1888 London

      Several Geography students have made a podcast capturing the story of the Matchgirls strike of 1888.

      Participants of the Matchgirls Strike, London 1888

      Features

      Meet our SSPP research grant winners

      Find out about some of the research projects underway across the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy

      books and lights hero 1903

      How the first modern pandemic hit key workers first

      Professor David Green explores how the 1889 outbreak of influenza impacted postal workers in the UK.

      The Edinburgh and London Royal Mail by John Frederick Herring Sr