The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure
About the Cambridge Group
The Cambridge Group for the History of Population & Social Structure turns 60 this year. Since its founding in 1964, members of the Group have made a spectacular series of discipline-transforming contributions to social science history. These include: reconstructing the population history of England over the last 500 years; delineating occupational change in the English economy over the same period; and reconfiguring our understanding of historical household structures, welfare systems, transport, and energy use.
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The occupational structure of Britain 1379-1911
This research program directed by Leigh Shaw-Taylor and Amy Erickson aims ultimately to reconstruct the evolution of the occupational structure of Britain from the late medieval period down to the early twentieth century.
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Population
Our research seeks to understand the demographic pressures and choices people in past societies experienced, from the medieval period to the recent past. We focus primarily on the population history of the world's first industrial nation, Britain, understood within the context of European and global developments.
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Economy
Radical changes in the form and location of economic activity, income and wealth have occurred in Britain and Europe in various phases from Medieval times up to the present. These affected personal economic opportunity, the occupational choices of the population, their welfare, mobility, skills, consumption and demographic structures. These in turn influenced the development of business growth and innovation, and the economies of localities, regions and nations.
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Society
Welfare systems both past and present rely upon a combination of support supplied by kin and charity, either legally enforced or voluntary. This research theme is concerned with exploring the demographic, legal and economic underpinnings of past welfare regimes in order to throw light on the different strategies which societies have adopted to support their most vulnerable members. More broadly, this research theme encompasses the economic and social implications of demographic change.
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Workshop announcement: An informal introduction to formal demography
16th December, 2025
Applications are invited for a forthcoming workshop (23-27 March 2026) sponsored by The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure (Campop) and the British Society for Population Studies (BSPS). This week-long mini-course will take place at Cambridge University, and will focus on formal demographic models and methods.Application deadline: 19 January 2026.
Applications are open for atwo-week Summer School on 'Micro-Census Insights into Historical Households, Mortality and Fertility', to be held at University of Cambridge from 6-17 July 2026. The course is hosted by Campop and co-organised with the European Society of Historical Demography (ESHD) and COST-Action GREATLEAP.Application deadline: 2 February 2026.
Campop PhD student Emily Chung has her researchspotlighted inThe Guardian. By mapping digitised census data, Emily has shown that Engels' blistering depictions of segregation in industrial Manchester - often taken by historians at face value - may in fact have been exaggerated. Emily's research is also featured in a Campopblog post.
Emma Diduch receives Roger Schofield Award
16th September, 2025
Congratulations to Campop PhD studentEmma Diduch, who received the Roger Schofield Award for the best paper presented by a young demographer at the European Society of Historical Demography Conference in Bologna. The paper was titled 'Work, Marriage, and Motherhood in Derbyshire: Event History Analysis of Women's Employment and Fertility Histories, 1881-1911', and uses a split-population (cure) model to analyse parity progression ratios and median birth intervals, comparing the occupations of both husband and wife.
Campop has completed its run of60 blog posts in a year to celebrate its 60th anniversary. We've covered a wide variety of topics surrounding family, marriage, work, and death from the middle ages to the present, which will remain available to read on the Campop website. And watch out for further (more occasional) posts to be published in the same place!
Related links
- 18th February 2026:
State and Industrialization in Turkey since 1930.Details… - 26th February 2026:
The business of grain milling in England, c.1540-1800.Details… - 4th March 2026:
Researching everyday mobility practices and experiences in the past.Details… - 11th March 2026:
Mapping the French gabelles: Fiscal fragmentation, tax evasion, and social conflict.Details… - 12th March 2026:
The long-term financial trajectory of Ottoman foundations (Waqfs): A political economy perspective.Details… - 18th March 2026:
Public and private water provision and health outcomes in industrializing Britain.Details… - 30th April 2026:
Quantifying the unquantifiable? Assessing the importance of almsgiving in early modern France and Spain.Details… - 14th May 2026:
Illegal trade in the North Atlantic.Details… - 21st May 2026:
TBC.Details…