Since 2009 the Department of History at the University of Bristol has published the best of the annual dissertations produced by our final-year undergraduates. We do so in recognition of the excellent research undertaken by our students, which is a cornerstone of our degree programme. As a department, we are committed to the advancement of historical knowledge and to research of the highest order. Our undergraduates are part of that endeavour.

Listed below are the the best of this year’s undergraduate history dissertations, with links to the dissertations themselves where these are available. Please note that these dissertations are published in the state they were submitted for examination. Thus the authors have not been able to correct errors and/or departures from departmental guidelines for the presentation of dissertations (e.g. in the formatting of footnotes and bibliographies). In each case, copyright resides with the author and all rights are reserved.

Student	Title	'Best dissertation' prize
Aaron Taylor	The Reception of the Castrati in Early Eighteenth-Century London (PDF, 1,731kB) Winner of the 'Best History dissertation of 2013' prize
Katie Abbott	From Failure to Success: A Re-Evaluation of the Special Operations Executive's Achievements in France, 1940-1941 (PDF, 389kB) (PDF)
Chloe Bushell	The hysteria surrounding Hysteria: Moral management and the treatment of fe-male insanity in Bristol Lunatic Asylum (PDF, 1,797kB) (PDF)
Guy Chalk	'A World of Stark Realities and the Rule of Tooth and Claw': Jim Corbett and Late Colonial Rule in British India (PDF, 951kB) (PDF)
Sam Finney	Bristol and the Northwest Passage; Thomas James’s 1630-2 Expedition Re-Assessed (PDF, 376kB) (PDF)
Amy Gallimore	‘Restored to its mother’: Reclaiming Children at the London Foundling Hospital in the Nineteenth century (PDF, 581kB) (PDF)
Joshua Garrod	No details
Isabella Hill	Bristol and Piracy in the Late Sixteenth Century (PDF, 3,224kB) (PDF)