Professor of History
Douglas Hamilton is Professor of History at Sheffield Hallam University and is an historian of enslavement and emancipation, and the eighteenth-century British Atlantic empire
I joined SHU as Head of History in 2016, having worked at the Universities of Hull and Winchester. I am an historian of the eighteenth-century British Atlantic empire, and I’m particularly interested in the Caribbean and slavery. I'm currently working on two projects: one is 'An empire of islands' funded by the AHRC which explores how islands contributed to the establishment, extension, and maintenance of the British Empire in the Age of Sail. The second project assesses the role of the Royal Navy in 18th-century Caribbean society.
Slavery and anti-slavery, Caribbean, Atlantic World, Islands, Empires
The Royal Navy in the 18th-century Caribbean
An Empire of Islands: concepts, contexts and collections (with the University of Southampton and the NAtional Maritime Museum, funded by the AHRC ref: AH/N003225/1)
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; Arts & Humanities Research Council
Hamilton, D. (2019). Captain John Perkins. Trafalgar Chronicle.
Hamilton, D. (2017). 'A most active, enterprising officer': Captain John Perkins, the Royal Navy and the boundaries of slavery and liberty in the Caribbean. Slavery and Abolition, 39 (1), 80-100. http://doi.org/10.1080/0144039X.2017.1330862
Hamilton, D. (2014). Slavery and the Enlightenment in the British Atlantic, 1750-1807. AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 119 (4), 1229-1230. http://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/119.4.1229
Hamilton, D. (2013). In the Eye of All Trade: Bermuda, Bermudians, and the Maritime Atlantic World, 1680-1783. NWIG-NEW WEST INDIAN GUIDE-NIEUWE WEST-INDISCHE GIDS, 87 (1-2), 169-171. http://doi.org/10.1163/22134360-12340021
Hamilton, D. (2004). Private enterprise and public service: Naval contracting in the Caribbean, 1720–50. Journal for Maritime Research, 6 (1), 37-64. http://doi.org/10.1080/21533369.2004.9668336
Hamilton, D. (2019). Brothers in arms: Crossing imperial boundaries in the eighteenth-century Dutch West Indies. In Barczewski, S., & Farr, M. (Eds.) The MacKenzie moment and imperial history: Essays in honour of John M MacKenzie. Basingstoke: Palgrave: http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24459-0
Hamilton, D.J. (2014). 'Defending the colonies against malicious attacks of philanthropy': Scottish campaigns against the abolitions of the slave trade and slavery. In Macinnes, A.I., & Hamilton, D.J. (Eds.) Jacobitism, enlightenment and empire, 1680-1820. (pp. 193-208). London: Pickering & Chatto
MacInnes, A.I., & Hamilton, D.J. (2014). Introduction: identity, mobility and competing patriotisms. In Macinnes, A.I., & Hamilton, D.J. (Eds.) Jacobitism, enlightenment and empire, 1680-1820. (pp. 1-12). London: Pickering & Chatto
Hamilton, D. (2010). Representing slavery in British museums: The challenges of 2007. In Imagining Transatlantic Slavery. (pp. 127-144). http://doi.org/10.1057/9780230277106
Hamilton, D., McAleer, J., & McAleer, A.P.O.I.A.G.H.J. (2021). Islands and the British Empire in the Age of Sail. Oxford University Press, USA.
Hamilton, D.J. (2016). Scotland, the Caribbean and the Atlantic world 1750-1820.
Hamilton, D., Hodgson, K., & Quirk, J. (2015). Slavery, memory and identity: National representations and global legacies. http://doi.org/10.4324/9781315655406
Hamilton, D., Hodgson, K., & Quirk, J. (2015). Slavery, memory and identity: National representations and global legacies. http://doi.org/10.4324/9781315655406
MacInnes, A.I., & Hamilton, D. (Eds.). (2014). Jacobitism, enlightenment and empire, 1680-1820. London: Pickering & Chatto.
MacInnes, A.I., & Hamilton, D. (Eds.). (2014). Jacobitism, enlightenment and empire, 1680-1820. London: Pickering & Chatto.
Hamilton, D. (2010). Scotland, the Caribbean and the Atlantic World, 1750-1820. Manchester University Press.
Hamilton, D.J., & Blyth, R.J. (2007). Representing Slavery Art, Artefacts and Archives in the Collections of the National Maritime Museum. Lund Humphries Publishers.
Lindsay Doulton, ‘The Royal Navy’s anti-slavery campaign in the western Indian Ocean, c. 1860-1890: race, empire and identity’ 2010 (AHRC CDA funding)
Angel Smith, ‘An anatomy of a slave society in transition: The British Virgin Islands, 1807-
1856’, 2011 (British Virgin Islands government funding)
Mary Wills, ‘The Royal Navy and the suppression of the Atlantic Slave Trade, c. 1807-1870: anti-slavery, empire and identity’, 2012 (AHRC CDA funding)
Angelina Osborne, ‘Symbols of Power: a study of the West India Committee 1783-1833’, 2014 (University of Hull scholarship)
Ryan Hanley, ‘Social and Political Influences on Black Writers in Britain, 1770-1830’ (University of Hull scholarship) 2015
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