author
Barbara Bradby Hammond
1873–1961
A pioneering English social historian, she helped reshape how readers understand the Industrial Revolution by focusing on the lives of ordinary workers. Her best-known books, written with her husband J. L. Hammond, brought moral clarity and vivid storytelling to labor history.
1 Audiobook
The village labourer, 1760-1832 A study in the government of England before the Reform Bill
by J. L. (John Lawrence) Hammond, Barbara Bradby Hammond
About the author
Born Lucy Barbara Bradby in 1873, she became one of the first women to build a major reputation in British social history. She studied at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she was noted for exceptional academic success, and later married the journalist and historian John Lawrence Hammond.
Working closely with J. L. Hammond, she co-wrote a series of influential books on English labor and social history, including The Village Labourer, The Town Labourer, and The Skilled Labourer. These studies examined enclosure, industrial change, and political power from the perspective of working people, and they helped shape twentieth-century debates about the Industrial Revolution.
Remembered for clear, forceful historical writing and a strong social conscience, she remains an important figure for readers interested in labor history, reform, and the human cost of economic change. She died in 1961.