David Lemmings

David Lemmings

School of Humanities

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics


David Lemmings was born in London and educated at the Universities of Sussex, London and Oxford before coming to Australia as a Research Fellow of the University of Adelaide in 1987. He then moved to the University of Newcastle in 1990 where he became Head of the Department of History in 1998 and Associate Professor in History in 2000. In 2008, Professor Lemmings moved to the University of Adelaide where he is Professor of History and Leader of the 'Change' research program in the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Professor Lemmings’ research has been focussed on the history of the legal profession in late seventeenth and eighteenth-century England, and more broadly on law and society in England and its former colonies. He is currently researching the history of emotions and the public sphere in England, 1680 - 1820. David Lemmings is joint editor (with William M. Reddy) of Palgrave Studies in the History of Emotions.

Current Research Projects include:
Governing Emotion: the Affective Family, the Press and the Law in Early Modern Britain (ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions project).

Variorum edition of Sir William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, vol. I (under contract with Oxford University Press).

ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, (with others, ARC Centres of Excellence Program, 2010-2017, $24.24M).

The Oxford History of the Laws of England, Vol. 9: 1690-1760, with Dr. Mike Macnair and Prof. Wilifrid Prest (under contract with Oxford University Press).

Research Projects and Research Funding since 1998:
‘Lawyer Biographies’ (Australian Research Council (ARC) Small Grant, 1998, $5000

‘History of Bushranging in NSW’ (with H Carey, ARC Small Grant, 1999-2002, $16-17000pa)

‘Dualism, Religion and Popular Culture in Early Modern England’ (with C Walker, University of Newcastle, University of Newcastle Research Management Committee Project Grant, 2001-3, $17-18000p.a.)

An Imperial State at Law, (ARC Large Grant, 2000-3, $105,000)

Treaties and Constitutions (conference), (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Newcastle, 2000, $3,118)

An Imperial State at Law (Visiting Fellowship), (Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University, 2001, $4,000 + travel and accommodation)

An Imperial State at Law (Visiting Fellowship), (Humanities Research Centre, ANU, 2001)

The British Imperial State at Law (conference), (Humanities Research Centre, ANU, 2001, $5,000)

‘Visions’ (12th Biennial Conference, Australian Historical Association, 2004)

Moral Panics and the Law in Eighteenth-Century England, (with C Walker, U. of Newcastle Research Project Grant. 2004, $15,000)

Moral Panics and the Law in Early Modern England, (with C McCreery and C Walker, ARC Discovery Grant, 2005-7, $141,000)

Microform scanner for historical research, (University of Newcastle Research Infrastructure Grant, 2005, $14,126)

Network for Early European Research, (with 49 others, ARC Discovery Grant, 2005, $1.5M)

The Courtroom, Lawyers and the Press: Negotiating Justice in the Public Sphere, (with M Davis, ARC Discovery Grant, 2007-9, $162,000)

‘"Making History"’: Twenty-first century Humanities curricular in eighteenth-century London"(University of Adelaide Faculty Small Grant, 2009, $3,817)

'"Getting a MUVE On": Developing Web 2.0 Curricula in the Humanities" (Australian Learning and Teaching Council, 2009, $204,000)

'A New History of Law in Eighteenth-Century England' (with W. Prest, ARC Discovery Grant, 2011, $153,000)

'A New History of Law in Post-revolutionary England (c. 1689-1760)' (with W. Prest, M. Macnair, ARC Discovery Grant, 2016, $606,120)

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2007 - ongoing Professor of History University of Adelaide
  • Awards and Achievements

    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2009 Fellowship Fellow, Australian Academy of the Humanities Australian Academy of the Humanities Australia -
    1993 Fellowship Fellow, Royal Historical Society, UK Royal Historical Society United Kingdom -
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    University of Oxford UK D.Phil.
    University of Sussex UK MA
    University of Sussex UK BA hons.
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2017 - 2020 Co-Supervisor Married Women’s Litigation in the English Court of Chancery, 1698-1758 Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Emily Ireland
    2014 - 2016 Principal Supervisor The Correspondence of Elizabeth I and James VI in the Context of Anglo-Scottish Relations, 1572-1603 Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Dr Elizabeth Anne Tunstall
    2014 - 2016 Principal Supervisor Beings of Nature and Reason: Mythological Masculinities in Early 18th-Century French Art and Visual Culture Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Dr Melanie Ann Cooper
    2013 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Chivalry and Courtly Love: Cultural Shifts, Gender Relations, and Politics in Early Tudor Court Culture Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Hilary Jane Locke
    2012 - 2017 Co-Supervisor A 'Plea of Humanity'? Emotions and the Makings of Lunacy Reform in Britain, c.1770-1820 Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Dr Mark Adam Neuendorf
    2011 - 2014 Principal Supervisor Treason, Passion and Power in England, 1660 - 1685 Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Elsa Reuter
    2011 - 2018 Principal Supervisor Following in Scottish Footsteps: The Amalgamation Movement in English and Welsh Banking, 1870-1920 Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Philip Ritson

Connect With Me