Professor Douglas Hamilton MA(Hons), PhD, FRHistS
Professor of History
Summary
Douglas Hamilton is Professor of History at Sheffield Hallam University and is a historian of enslavement and emancipation, and the eighteenth-century British Atlantic empire.
About
I joined SHU as Head of History in 2016, having worked at the Universities of York, Hull, and Winchester. I was also curator of eighteenth-century maritime and imperial history at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. I am a Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the Higher Education Academy. My research focuses on the eighteenth-century British Atlantic empire, and I’m particularly interested in the Caribbean and in the lives of the enslaved. I'm currently working on a major project that explores the Royal Navy’s complex and complicit role in the enslavement of Africans. 'The Royal Navy and Slavery in the Caribbean: securing Britain’s enslaved empire' will be published by Bloomsbury Academic Press.
Slavery and anti-slavery, Caribbean, Atlantic World, Islands, Empires
Specialist Area of Interest: Slavery and anti-slavery, Caribbean, Atlantic World, Islands, Empires
Teaching
Sheffield Creative Industries Institute
College of Social Sciences and Arts
Teaching Projects: BA History, BA English & History
Subject area: History
Courses taught: BA History
Research
- Culture and Creativity Research Institute
My most recent research has explored the role of islands and empires and published in Douglas Hamilton and John McAleer (eds), 'Islands and the British Empire in the age of sail', Oxford History of the British Empire series, (Oxford University Press, 2021). This project was supported by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AH/N003225/1)
I am now working on a major project that explores the relationship of the Royal Navy and the enslavement in the Caribbean in the eighteenth century called 'The Royal Navy and Slavery in the Caribbean: securing Britain’s enslaved empire'. An early outcome of this work is free to read through open access:
‘To prevent any succour to the insurgents’: Enslaved insurgency and the Royal Navy in the Caribbean, 1795-1832, International Journal of Maritime History 36:1 (2024), pp. 51-72. https://doi.org/10.1177/08438714231219455
Selected Research Projects: The Royal Navy and Slavery in the Caribbean: securing Britain’s enslaved empire
Collaborators and sponsors: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; Arts & Humanities Research Council
Publications
Journal articles
Hamilton, D. (2024). ‘To prevent any succour to the insurgents’: Enslaved insurgency and the Royal Navy in the Caribbean, 1795-1832. International Journal of Maritime History, 36 (1), 51-72. http://doi.org/10.1177/08438714231219455
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. (2011). Local Connections, Global Ambitions: Creating a Transoceanic Network in the Eighteenth-Century British Atlantic Empire. International Journal of Maritime History, 23 (2), 283-300. http://doi.org/10.1177/084387141102300214
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
Book chapters
Hamilton, D., & McAleer, J. (2021). Islands and the British Empire in the Age of Sail. In Islands and the British Empire in the Age of Sail. Oxford University Press
Hamilton, D. (2021). 'Sailing in the same uncertain sea': The WIndward Islands of the Caribbean. In Islands and the British Empire in the Age of Sail. Oxford University Press
(2021). Introduction. In Hamilton, D., & McAleer, J. (Eds.) Islands and the British Empire in the Age of Sail. (pp. 1-C1.P39). Oxford University PressOxford: http://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198847229.003.0001
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. (2016). Scotland, Darien and imperial ambition. In Mackenzie, J.M., & Dalziel, N. (Eds.) The Encyclopedia of empire. (9781118455074). Wiley-Blackwell
Hamilton, D. (2016). The Caribbean, 1624-1838. In MacKenzie, J.M., & Dalziel, N. (Eds.) The Encyclopedia of Empire A-C. Wiley-Blackwell
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. (2013). Rivalry, war and imperial reform in the eighteenth-century Caribbean. In Palmie, S., & Scarano, F. (Eds.) The Caribbean A History of the Region and Its Peoples. University of Chicago Press
Hamilton, D. (2012). Scotland the the eighteenth-century empire. In Devine, T., & Wormald, J. (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History. (pp. 423-438). Oxford University Press
Hamilton, D. (2011). Dreams of empire: Scotland, Caledonia and the emporium of the Indies’. In Munro-Landi, M. (Ed.) L'Ecosse et ses doubles Ancien monde - nouveau monde - Old World - New World Scotland and its Doubles. Editions L'Harmattan
(2010). Imagining Transatlantic Slavery. Palgrave Macmillan UK: http://doi.org/10.1057/9780230277106
Hamilton, D. (2006). Transatlantic Ties: Scottish migrant networks in the Caribbean, 1750-1800’. In McCarthy, A. (Ed.) A Global Clan Scottish Migrant Networks and Identities Since the Eighteenth Century. I. B. Tauris
Hamilton, D. (2003). Robert Melville and the frontiers of empire in the British West Indies, 1763-1771’. In MacKillop, A., & Murdoch, S. (Eds.) Military Governors and Imperial Frontiers C. 1600-1800 A Study of Scotland and Empires. BRILL
Hamilton, D. (2001). Scottish trading in the Caribbean: the rise and fall of Houstoun & Co. In Landsman, N. (Ed.) Nation and Province in the First British Empire Scotland and the Americas, 1600-1800. Bucknell University Press
Books
Hamilton, D. (2027). The Royal Navy and Slavery in the Caribbean: Securing Britain’s Enslaved Empire. Bloomsbury.
Hamilton, D., & McAleer, J. (Eds.). (2021). Islands and the British Empire in the Age of Sail. Oxford University Press, USA. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/islands-and-the-british-empire-in-the-age-of-sail-9780198847229?lang=en&cc=us
Hamilton, D., & McAleer, J. (Eds.). (2021). Islands and the British Empire in the Age of Sail. Oxford University Press, USA. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/islands-and-the-british-empire-in-the-age-of-sail-9780198847229?lang=en&cc=us
Hamilton, D., & McAleer, J. (Eds.). (2021). Islands and the British Empire in the Age of Sail. Oxford University PressOxford. http://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198847229.001.0001
Hamilton, D.J. (2016). Scotland, the Caribbean and the Atlantic world 1750-1820.
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.
Hamilton, D., Hodgson, K., & Quirk, J. (Eds.). (n.d.). Slavery, Memory and Identity. Routledge. http://doi.org/10.4324/9781315655406
Hamilton, D., Hodgson, K., & Quirk, J. (Eds.). (n.d.). Slavery, Memory and Identity. Routledge. http://doi.org/10.4324/9781315655406
Internet Publications
Hamilton, D. (2022). The Creole Archipelago: Race and Borders in the Colonial Caribbean. [Book Review]. http://interamerica.de/current-issue/bookreviewhamilton/
Hamilton, D. (2010). Darien investors and colonists (act. 1695–1707). http://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/95261
Hamilton, D. (n.d.). Representations of Slavery. http://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199730414-0135
Other publications
Hamilton, D. (2014). Justin Roberts. Slavery and the Enlightenment in the British Atlantic, 1750–1807. Oxford University Press (OUP): 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. Michael Jarvis. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010. 684 pp. (Cloth US$ 65.00). Brill: http://doi.org/10.1163/22134360-12340021
Postgraduate supervision
I am interested in supervising students in aspects of 18th century history, especially in the areas of Caribbean enslavement, Atlantic or maritime history.
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