A Bit of Biog

Above: graduating from Newcastle University in 1982. Left: Hazel Dodge, me, Dave Boyson, Julian Bennett and Karen Griffiths. Right: Professor Martin Harrison helping me channel that Harry Potter look.

I'm Manx, born and raised on the Isle of Man. My maternal grandmother, the somewhat eccentric Mamie, was a Kaighin; my cousins include Quilliams and Frazers in Australia; and on the paternal side are Scotts of Ballamoar Farm and Douglas. On my mother’s side are Thomsons from Cathcart, Glasgow. Those Glasgow Fairs of the 1950s have a lot to be responsible for, my mother marrying in to the Island being one of them. Some of her Glasgow family emigrated to Canada (Montreal area) in the 1950s - but my then 16 year old mother refused to get on the ship.

I went 'across the water' to England when I was 18 to study archaeology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and it was good in some ways to escape the strictures of the Island.

I have a BA and PhD in Archaeology from Newcastle. I love that University - always will.

Later, I was an elected city councillor for 13 years (four terms of office), and a Cabinet Member for most of them. After stepping away, I was elected to the ceremonial office of Honorary Alderman of the City of Portsmouth. I’ve been a Non-Executive Director of an NHS Health Trust, worked for a charity and been a trustee for many others, and tutored young people with special needs. My Cabinet positions included Education and Children’s Services for many years, and I’m committed to children’s safeguarding.

Newcastle and Academia

I graduated from Newcastle University in 1982 with a First and stayed in the Department to do my PhD on Romano-British Villas, funded by the Isle of Man Government.

I was lucky enough to be taught by a number of legendary characters in the Department in Newcastle, such as John Gillam, George Jobey, Charles Daniels and David J Smith, and the ancient historians Brian Shefton, John Lazenby and Jeremy Patterson. My first Professor was Martin Harrison, and under him I was employed by the Department of Archaeology to do some part-time lecturing and tuition.

Martin left for Oxford and, under his successor Peter Fowler, I spent time working within the Department as a Research Assistant curating archives, notably the Gertrude Bell Photographic Archive; I undertook the Hadrian's Wall Archive Project for RCHME and Newcastle University under the direction of Lindsay Allason-Jones and Humphrey Welfare, and with the assistance of just about everybody still breathing who had had anything to do with the frontier.

Between 1990 and 1992, and with the support and goodwill of the Department of Archaeology I established the first Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference - TRAC - and I did photographic survey work in the Middle East, relating to Roman villas and farms as well as to the Gertrude Bell Photographic Archive for Palestine. These were difficult times to be in Israel, Palestine and Jerusalem, and the (then) British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem was an excellent base and resource.

I moved on to Leicester University to work as a Research Associate and Tutor. My main task other than teaching in tutorials was undertaking the organisation for publication of the Libyan Valleys Survey archives.

From there I went to Winchester University (formerly King Alfred's College), where I was a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Archaeology. I was also teaching archaeology at Reading University's Adult Education Department, and was a tutor with the Open University’s Dept of Classical Studies, while having my first baby - busy days!

My teaching and research specialisms were (and are): sex/gender; age and the life-cycle; infancy and infant burials; children; Roman villas; the Roman world; the ancient economy; political history.

I was appointed Visiting Fellow in Archaeology at Newcastle University in 2013.

TRAC and theoretical Roman archaeology are still close to my heart, and I remain involved as a member of the TRAJ advisory board; and I’m a reviewer for various journals and publications.

Currently I'm focusing on this website, adding Open Access content and Blog pieces when I can, working on a couple of projects: An Archaeology Of Childhood; The Life, Loves and Death of Gertrude Bell to counter the rather disappointing Herzog film; and content about affordable, inclusive food for fieldwork.

Politics

Please also see my Politics Blog on this website.

When I left Winchester I was a Senior Lecturer and the mother of two very young children, looking for a more manageable work-life balance. I managed the Portsmouth Branch of a charity for a while, at which point I was surprised one day to find myself suddenly a lone parent, and then (as you do) went into politics.

I was a Cabinet Member on Portsmouth City Council for many years, holding Cabinet positions in Education & Children's Services, Culture & Leisure and Environment & Community Safety. This all sadly came to an end when I resigned, on principle and in protest, over the Mike Hancock situation.

I'm no longer on the City Council but I still live in Portsmouth and the city made me an Honorary Alderman in 2016.