Biography
I am a social and cultural historian of Modern Britain and the British empire during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. My research focuses primarily on the relationship between British institutions and empire. Most recently, I have been part of a research team exploring the social and cultural experience of secondary education in Britain after 1945, with a particular interest in the ways in which decolonisation affected this core component of the postwar welfare state. Previously, my work has explored career motivation among colonial officials and the material legacies of empire in Britain after decolonisation. I have also considered the connections between the East India Company and the Caribbean sugar economy in the pre-Victorian empire, and British universities' imperial connections. Before arriving at King's, I taught at UCL and the University of Cambridge.
Research interests and PhD supervision
- British empire
- Decolonization
- Education in Britain
- 20th century Britain
Selected publications
Chris Jeppesen & Sarah Longair, 'Domestic museums of decolonisation? Objects, colonial officials, and the afterlives of empire in Britain', in Berny Sèbe & Matthew G. Stanard, Decolonising Europe? Popular Responses to the End of Empire (Routledge, 2020).
Chris Jeppesen, ‘Growing up in a Company town: the East India Company presence in Hertfordshire’, in Margot Finn & Kate Smith (eds.) The East India Company at Home (UCL Press, 2018).
Andrew W. M. Smith & Chris Jeppesen, Britain, France and the decolonization of Africa: future imperfect? (UCL Press, 2017).
Chris Jeppesen, ‘East meets west: exploring the connections between Britain, the Caribbean and East India Company, c.1757–1857’, chapter in R. Hanley, J. Moody & K. Donington (eds.), Britain's History and Memory of Transatlantic Slavery: Local Nuances of a ‘National Sin’ (Liverpool University Press, 2016).
Chris Jeppesen, ‘Sanders of the River, Still the Best Job for a British Boy.' Colonial Administrative Service recruitment at the end of empire', The Historical Journal, 59:02 (2016), 469-508.
Teaching
I teach on a variety of modules that combine core historical skills with a focus on British and colonial history.
Expertise and public engagement
I have contributed to several radio documentaries and liaison with civil servants.