Matt Houlbrook
Biographic Data
| ID | 120394 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Matt Houlbrook |
| GIVEN NAMES | Matt |
| FAMILY NAME | Houlbrook |
| SIGNATURE | HOULBROOK M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Birmingham |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 44 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Finding and leaving traces: Prehabitation and the presence of the past in the Victorian-era prison
This article explores how the presentness of the past is produced in historic prisons; specifically, the Victorian-era prison estate of England and Wales. Whereas most research into historic prisons happens after they have closed, this article reports on a novel study of such prisons conducted while they are still in operation. We utilise Lipman's notion of prehabitation to illuminate the experience of past lives in these prisons, and in so doing…
Living between inside and outside: The disciplined domesticities of prison staff quarters in the UK's Victorian-era prisons
Carceral geography has critiqued the notion of a clear binary between the inside and outside of prisons, revealing that the prison boundary is porous, and that the prison materialises in multiple forms outside of its apparent margins. However, extant scholarship focusing on (formerly-)incarcerated individuals and others whose engagement with the prison is involuntary, has tended to elude prison staff experiences of these porous and permeable bord…
Men and masculinities in modern Britain: A history for the present
Making men
Defining the Carceral Characteristics of the ‘Dickensian prison’: A Corpus Stylistics Analysis of Dickens’s Novels
Charles Dickens is often evoked to make connections to Victorian times – and to highlight the need for change in today’s society. The situation of prisons is a prime example, where references to the ‘Dickensian prison’ figure in contemporary discourse to draw critical attention to the state of prisons and to call for reform. But it would be too simple to assume that today’s references to the Dickensian prison relate directly to the way Dickens na…
Undisciplined History: Creative Methods and Academic Practice
This article explores the relationship between scholarly practice and the growing field of creative histories. Drawing on examples from the United Kingdom, it seeks to unsettle dominant approaches to creative methodologies within our discipline and suggest what these more playful and experimental approaches might add to our practice as historians. Prompted by our encounters with the rich and vital histories made by schoolchildren, community group…
The Persistence of the Victorian Prison: Alteration, Inhabitation, Obsolescence, and Affirmative Design
Prior scholarship tracing the origins and architecture of prisons has tended to focus on how and why prisons are built—what they are intended to achieve and their construction as an expression of the punitive philosophies of their age. It does not consider how prisons persist as time passes, perhaps beyond their anticipated operational life span, and into “obsolescence.” Focusing on the archetypal Victorian prison, and considering the alteration …
The Press and Popular Culture in Interwar Europe
Preface Bob Franklin 1. Introduction: The press and popular culture in interwar Europe Sarah Newman and Matt Houlbrook 2. An Organ of Uplift?: The popular press and political culture in interwar Britain Adrian Bingham 3. Press Advertising and Fascist Dictates: Showcasing the female consumer in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany Bianca Gaudenzi 4. The Political Cartoon as Educationalist Journalism: David Low's portrayal of mass unemployment in interwa…
Prince of Tricksters: The Incredible True Story of Netley Lucas, Gentleman Crook
The Most Remarkable Woman in England’: Poison, Celebrity and the Trials of Beatrice Pace
Commodifying the Self Within: Ghosts, Libels, and the Crook Life Story in Interwar Britain
Fashioning an Ex-crook Self: Citizenship and Criminality in the Work of Netley Lucas
This essay uses the autobiographical and journalistic work of the confidence trickster Netley Lucas to explore the possibilities and problems of writing as an ex-crook in inter-war Britain. In so doing, it considers the intersections between emerging forms of mass culture, popular and scientific narratives of criminality, and increasingly heated debates about the social and institutional management of crime. This case study provides an opportunit…
A Pin to See the Peepshow: Culture, Fiction and Selfhood in Edith Thompson's Letters, 1921-1922
Journal Article 'A Pin to See the Peepshow': Culture, Fiction and Selfhood in Edith Thompson's Letters, 1921–1922 Get access Matt Houlbrook Matt Houlbrook Magdalen College, Oxford Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Past & Present, Volume 207, Issue 1, May 2010, Pages 215–249, https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtp049 Published: 20 April 2010
The Man With the Powder Puff’ in Interwar London
This article explores the historically specific use of cosmetic commodities as evidence in prosecutions for importuning in interwar London. Taking as its point of departure the story of ‘the man with the powder puff’ told in the journal John Bull in 1925, it moves to consider the discrete but intersecting histories within which cosmetics came to function as a material sign of deviant masculinity, illicit sexuality, and de facto criminality. The p…
Palgrave Advances in the Modern History of Sexuality
Palgrave Advances in the Modern History of Sexuality offers a comprehensive and accessible overview of historical debate in the history of European and American sexuality since c. 1750. Each chapter e
The Heart in Exile: Detachment and Desire in 1950s London
This essay explores the ‘underground’ queer culture of London, as mapped assiduously by the pseudonymous author, Rodney Garland, in his 1953 novel, The Heart in Exile. The novel charts the progress of its narrator, Dr Anthony Page, a psychiatrist, as he investigates a former lover's mysterious death. His investigation draws him into the ‘strange half-world of the homosexual’, as a 1961 paperback edition of the novel announces; it is a world which…
Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957
Sexing the History of Sexuality
1 Building Jerusalem, p. 104. 2 The Victorian City: Images and Realities, ed. H. J. Dyos and Michael Wolff, 2 vols, London, 1973. 3 Building Jerusalem, pp. 173 and 195. 4 Donald J. Olsen, The Growth of Victorian London, London, 1976, especially chap. 8. 5 Building Jerusalem, p. 306. 6 On Croydon I've cited the entry in The Mayors of England & Wales (With Portraits of Mayors and Mayoresses), ed. F. A. Barnes, Brighton, 1902; on the other suburbs s…
Soldier Heroes and Rent Boys: Homosex, Masculinities, and Britishness in the Brigade of Guards, circa 1900–1960
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Lady Austin’s Camp Boys’: Constituting the Queer Subject in 1930s London
In December 1932, police raided a private ballroom in Holland Park Avenue. They found almost sixty men dancing, many in female clothing and make–up. An ongoing encounter between the police and working–class queer social worlds drew the ballroom into a public domain within which masculine sexualities were contested, produced and consumed. The ensuing trial gripped metropolitan opinion, becoming the most notorious and widely reported ‘pansy case’ o…
Toward a Historical Geography of Sexuality
The Private World of Public Urinals: London 1918–57
Taking as its focus the use of London's urinals by men seeking men, this article explores the relationship between social behaviour and public space. Neither fully public nor fully private the urinal occupied a twilight zone in the wider urban landscape. In the social and sexual practices, surveillance and reconstruction of public urinals differing concepts of sexuality were played out in a conflict between homosexual men and public authorities. …
The Man With the Powder Puff’ in Interwar London
This article explores the historically specific use of cosmetic commodities as evidence in prosecutions for importuning in interwar London. Taking as its point of departure the story of ‘the man with the powder puff’ told in the journal John Bull in 1925, it moves to consider the discrete but intersecting histories within which cosmetics came to function as a material sign of deviant masculinity, illicit sexuality, and de facto criminality. The p…
Soldier Heroes and Rent Boys: Homosex, Masculinities, and Britishness in the Brigade of Guards, circa 1900–1960
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Fashioning an Ex-crook Self: Citizenship and Criminality in the Work of Netley Lucas
This essay uses the autobiographical and journalistic work of the confidence trickster Netley Lucas to explore the possibilities and problems of writing as an ex-crook in inter-war Britain. In so doing, it considers the intersections between emerging forms of mass culture, popular and scientific narratives of criminality, and increasingly heated debates about the social and institutional management of crime. This case study provides an opportunit…
The Persistence of the Victorian Prison: Alteration, Inhabitation, Obsolescence, and Affirmative Design
Prior scholarship tracing the origins and architecture of prisons has tended to focus on how and why prisons are built—what they are intended to achieve and their construction as an expression of the punitive philosophies of their age. It does not consider how prisons persist as time passes, perhaps beyond their anticipated operational life span, and into “obsolescence.” Focusing on the archetypal Victorian prison, and considering the alteration …
Lady Austin’s Camp Boys’: Constituting the Queer Subject in 1930s London
In December 1932, police raided a private ballroom in Holland Park Avenue. They found almost sixty men dancing, many in female clothing and make–up. An ongoing encounter between the police and working–class queer social worlds drew the ballroom into a public domain within which masculine sexualities were contested, produced and consumed. The ensuing trial gripped metropolitan opinion, becoming the most notorious and widely reported ‘pansy case’ o…
A Pin to See the Peepshow: Culture, Fiction and Selfhood in Edith Thompson's Letters, 1921-1922
Journal Article 'A Pin to See the Peepshow': Culture, Fiction and Selfhood in Edith Thompson's Letters, 1921–1922 Get access Matt Houlbrook Matt Houlbrook Magdalen College, Oxford Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Past & Present, Volume 207, Issue 1, May 2010, Pages 215–249, https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtp049 Published: 20 April 2010
The Heart in Exile: Detachment and Desire in 1950s London
This essay explores the ‘underground’ queer culture of London, as mapped assiduously by the pseudonymous author, Rodney Garland, in his 1953 novel, The Heart in Exile. The novel charts the progress of its narrator, Dr Anthony Page, a psychiatrist, as he investigates a former lover's mysterious death. His investigation draws him into the ‘strange half-world of the homosexual’, as a 1961 paperback edition of the novel announces; it is a world which…
Undisciplined History: Creative Methods and Academic Practice
This article explores the relationship between scholarly practice and the growing field of creative histories. Drawing on examples from the United Kingdom, it seeks to unsettle dominant approaches to creative methodologies within our discipline and suggest what these more playful and experimental approaches might add to our practice as historians. Prompted by our encounters with the rich and vital histories made by schoolchildren, community group…
Commodifying the Self Within: Ghosts, Libels, and the Crook Life Story in Interwar Britain
Sexing the History of Sexuality
1 Building Jerusalem, p. 104. 2 The Victorian City: Images and Realities, ed. H. J. Dyos and Michael Wolff, 2 vols, London, 1973. 3 Building Jerusalem, pp. 173 and 195. 4 Donald J. Olsen, The Growth of Victorian London, London, 1976, especially chap. 8. 5 Building Jerusalem, p. 306. 6 On Croydon I've cited the entry in The Mayors of England & Wales (With Portraits of Mayors and Mayoresses), ed. F. A. Barnes, Brighton, 1902; on the other suburbs s…
Toward a Historical Geography of Sexuality
The Private World of Public Urinals: London 1918–57
Taking as its focus the use of London's urinals by men seeking men, this article explores the relationship between social behaviour and public space. Neither fully public nor fully private the urinal occupied a twilight zone in the wider urban landscape. In the social and sexual practices, surveillance and reconstruction of public urinals differing concepts of sexuality were played out in a conflict between homosexual men and public authorities. …
Toward a Historical Geography of Sexuality
Lady Austin’s Camp Boys’: Constituting the Queer Subject in 1930s London
In December 1932, police raided a private ballroom in Holland Park Avenue. They found almost sixty men dancing, many in female clothing and make–up. An ongoing encounter between the police and working–class queer social worlds drew the ballroom into a public domain within which masculine sexualities were contested, produced and consumed. The ensuing trial gripped metropolitan opinion, becoming the most notorious and widely reported ‘pansy case’ o…
Soldier Heroes and Rent Boys: Homosex, Masculinities, and Britishness in the Brigade of Guards, circa 1900–1960
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957
Sexing the History of Sexuality
1 Building Jerusalem, p. 104. 2 The Victorian City: Images and Realities, ed. H. J. Dyos and Michael Wolff, 2 vols, London, 1973. 3 Building Jerusalem, pp. 173 and 195. 4 Donald J. Olsen, The Growth of Victorian London, London, 1976, especially chap. 8. 5 Building Jerusalem, p. 306. 6 On Croydon I've cited the entry in The Mayors of England & Wales (With Portraits of Mayors and Mayoresses), ed. F. A. Barnes, Brighton, 1902; on the other suburbs s…
Palgrave Advances in the Modern History of Sexuality
Palgrave Advances in the Modern History of Sexuality offers a comprehensive and accessible overview of historical debate in the history of European and American sexuality since c. 1750. Each chapter e
The Heart in Exile: Detachment and Desire in 1950s London
This essay explores the ‘underground’ queer culture of London, as mapped assiduously by the pseudonymous author, Rodney Garland, in his 1953 novel, The Heart in Exile. The novel charts the progress of its narrator, Dr Anthony Page, a psychiatrist, as he investigates a former lover's mysterious death. His investigation draws him into the ‘strange half-world of the homosexual’, as a 1961 paperback edition of the novel announces; it is a world which…
The Man With the Powder Puff’ in Interwar London
This article explores the historically specific use of cosmetic commodities as evidence in prosecutions for importuning in interwar London. Taking as its point of departure the story of ‘the man with the powder puff’ told in the journal John Bull in 1925, it moves to consider the discrete but intersecting histories within which cosmetics came to function as a material sign of deviant masculinity, illicit sexuality, and de facto criminality. The p…
A Pin to See the Peepshow: Culture, Fiction and Selfhood in Edith Thompson's Letters, 1921-1922
Journal Article 'A Pin to See the Peepshow': Culture, Fiction and Selfhood in Edith Thompson's Letters, 1921–1922 Get access Matt Houlbrook Matt Houlbrook Magdalen College, Oxford Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Past & Present, Volume 207, Issue 1, May 2010, Pages 215–249, https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtp049 Published: 20 April 2010
Fashioning an Ex-crook Self: Citizenship and Criminality in the Work of Netley Lucas
This essay uses the autobiographical and journalistic work of the confidence trickster Netley Lucas to explore the possibilities and problems of writing as an ex-crook in inter-war Britain. In so doing, it considers the intersections between emerging forms of mass culture, popular and scientific narratives of criminality, and increasingly heated debates about the social and institutional management of crime. This case study provides an opportunit…
The Most Remarkable Woman in England’: Poison, Celebrity and the Trials of Beatrice Pace
Commodifying the Self Within: Ghosts, Libels, and the Crook Life Story in Interwar Britain
The Press and Popular Culture in Interwar Europe
Preface Bob Franklin 1. Introduction: The press and popular culture in interwar Europe Sarah Newman and Matt Houlbrook 2. An Organ of Uplift?: The popular press and political culture in interwar Britain Adrian Bingham 3. Press Advertising and Fascist Dictates: Showcasing the female consumer in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany Bianca Gaudenzi 4. The Political Cartoon as Educationalist Journalism: David Low's portrayal of mass unemployment in interwa…
Prince of Tricksters: The Incredible True Story of Netley Lucas, Gentleman Crook
The Persistence of the Victorian Prison: Alteration, Inhabitation, Obsolescence, and Affirmative Design
Prior scholarship tracing the origins and architecture of prisons has tended to focus on how and why prisons are built—what they are intended to achieve and their construction as an expression of the punitive philosophies of their age. It does not consider how prisons persist as time passes, perhaps beyond their anticipated operational life span, and into “obsolescence.” Focusing on the archetypal Victorian prison, and considering the alteration …
Defining the Carceral Characteristics of the ‘Dickensian prison’: A Corpus Stylistics Analysis of Dickens’s Novels
Charles Dickens is often evoked to make connections to Victorian times – and to highlight the need for change in today’s society. The situation of prisons is a prime example, where references to the ‘Dickensian prison’ figure in contemporary discourse to draw critical attention to the state of prisons and to call for reform. But it would be too simple to assume that today’s references to the Dickensian prison relate directly to the way Dickens na…
Undisciplined History: Creative Methods and Academic Practice
This article explores the relationship between scholarly practice and the growing field of creative histories. Drawing on examples from the United Kingdom, it seeks to unsettle dominant approaches to creative methodologies within our discipline and suggest what these more playful and experimental approaches might add to our practice as historians. Prompted by our encounters with the rich and vital histories made by schoolchildren, community group…
Men and masculinities in modern Britain: A history for the present
Making men
Living between inside and outside: The disciplined domesticities of prison staff quarters in the UK's Victorian-era prisons
Carceral geography has critiqued the notion of a clear binary between the inside and outside of prisons, revealing that the prison boundary is porous, and that the prison materialises in multiple forms outside of its apparent margins. However, extant scholarship focusing on (formerly-)incarcerated individuals and others whose engagement with the prison is involuntary, has tended to elude prison staff experiences of these porous and permeable bord…
Finding and leaving traces: Prehabitation and the presence of the past in the Victorian-era prison
This article explores how the presentness of the past is produced in historic prisons; specifically, the Victorian-era prison estate of England and Wales. Whereas most research into historic prisons happens after they have closed, this article reports on a novel study of such prisons conducted while they are still in operation. We utilise Lipman's notion of prehabitation to illuminate the experience of past lives in these prisons, and in so doing…
Sociology (16 works) · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes (11 works) · History (11 works) · Gender Studies (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Art (8 works) · European history and politics (8 works) · Human sexuality (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Media studies (7 works)