John Burnett (20 December 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a social historian who was a professor at

Brunel University Brunel University London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In June ...

between 1972 and 1990. His research examined the day-to-day lives of ordinary British people in the 19th and 20th centuries. Originally from

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

, he studied at High Pavement School, and then read history and law at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, then law at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. He taught at Guildford Technical College and Borough Polytechnic before reading for a PhD in history at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

. The Burnett Archive of Working Class Autobiography, housed at Brunel University and containing over 230 autobiographies, was compiled by Burnett, David Vincent and David Mayall. Burnett, Vincent and Myall co-edited ''The Autobiography of the Working Class'', in three volumes, based on their work on the archive.

Select bibliography

*''Plenty and Want: Social History of Food in England from 1815 to the Present Day'', 1966 *''A History of the Cost of Living'', 1969 *''Useful Toil: Autobiographies of Working People from the 1820s to the 1920'', 1974 *''Destiny Obscure: Autobiographies of Childhood, Education and Family from the 1820s to the 1920s'', 1982 *''The Autobiography of the Working Class: An Annotated, Critical Bibliography'', 1984-9 (three volume collection, co-edited with David Vincent and David Mayall) *''A Social History of Housing, 1815-1985'', 1986 *''Idle Hands: Experience of Unemployment, 1790-1990'', 1994 *''The Origins and Development of Food Policies in Europe'', 1994 (with Derek Oddy) *''Liquid Pleasures: A Social History of Drinks in Modern Britain'', 1999 *''England Eats Out: A Social History of Eating Out in England from 1830 to the Present'', 2004

References

Social historians Food historians Historians of the United Kingdom Writers from Nottingham People educated at Nottingham High Pavement Grammar School Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Alumni of the London School of Economics Academics of Brunel University London 1925 births 2006 deaths English male non-fiction writers 20th-century English historians 20th-century English male writers {{UK-historian-stub