Thursday 29 May 2025

LAHS Leicestershire Historian Article Recognised in BALH 2025 Awards -Follow-on

Runner-up prize for Karima Shirfield's article on Eleanor Frewen Turner in the BALH 'long article' category has now been awarded.

No.59 Leicestershire Historian Front Cover (2023)

Further to our previous announcement in January that one of the articles appearing in the Leicestershire Historian no.59 (2023) was to be recognised at the British Association of Local History (BALH) Annual Awards. We are pleased to report that the award has now been presented at the BALH AGM held online on 22 May 2025.

The article, written by Karima Shirfield, entitled ‘Eleanor Frewen Turner (1786-1879) ”angel in the house” and “woman of substance"’, argues for recognition of the lives of 'ordinary' women using a case study based on Eleanor Frewen Turner, a member of Leicestershire's nineteenth century landed gentry. Drawing on diary entries and correspondence from the subject’s long life, leads the author to conclude that Turner deserves such recognition as both the ‘Angel in the House’ and a ‘Woman of Substance’.

The article fought off stiff competition from nearly a thousand other local history articles, appearing in journals from around the country, to come third.

It was judged on the criteria of the quality of writing and argument, the imaginative and innovative subject matter, and evidence of original research.

A video containing BALH's announcement and comments on the work is available here under the Publication Award Winners 2025 section - starting at 9:24 minutes in

Please join us in once again congratulating both Karima and our long-standing Editor of the Leicestershire Historian, Joyce Lee, on this achievement.

A copy of the article is available here.

An article in our Spring Newsletter by Karima, reflecting on the award can be found here.

If you would like to find out more about the Leicestershire Historian, including details of our latest no.60 (2024) release, further information is available here.