Oresta Muckute

Thesis title:

Narratives of Loss during the Civil Wars in Ireland, Wales and England Compared, 1641–52

My project is the first to compare the testimonies of maimed soldiers and war widows found in Ireland’s 1641 Depositions www.1641.tcd.ie/ with the narratives found in petitions of maimed soldiers and war widows in England and Wales, published at www.civilwarpetitions.ac.uk as part of the AHRC-funded ‘Conflict, Welfare and Memory’ collaborative project led by the University of Leicester.

At this moment, it aims to answer the following questions:

• How did Ireland’s colonial experience make suffering and loss different when compared to England and Wales?

• How did ordinary men and women articulate Civil War related bereavement and loss in Ireland, England and Wales?

• What sort of medical care was available to soldiers injured in Ireland?

• How did those who had been wounded or bereaved fashion themselves as deserving recipients of charitable relief, and how did charitable relief compare between the kingdoms?

As a Collaborative Doctoral Award student, I will be working with the National Civil War Centre to lead the delivery of a temporary exhibition provisionally titled ‘The Human Costs of Civil War in Ireland, 1641-1652’ due to launch July 2023, accompanied by an international conference.

Research Area

History

Publications

'The Storming of Leicester, May 1645' (Forthcoming)

An article was submitted to the East Midlands History and Heritage Magazine, and is expected to be published in its summer 2020 issue, coronavirus pandemic allowing.

Conferences

I have acquired a place to present a paper at the Burial of the Unknown Warrior: Military burials from Ancient to Modern conference at Manchester Metropolitan University, 6-7th November 2020 (coronavirus pandemic allowing), to present a paper on communities of bereavement in the 1641 Depositions.

Muckute, Oresta (2017; Reading, England), ‘Framing Political Issues on the Eve of the English Civil Wars’. Poster presented at the conference for the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme.

Public Engagement & Impact

'Civil War Characters' resource page for The Yorkshire Archaeological & Historical Society, 2020

Using University of Leicester's Fairclough portrait collection, I wrote 20+ short biographies of important characters from Civil-War Yorkshire. It is accessibe not only to the members of YAHS, but also the public on their website.

Co-investigator for the Obtained ESRC Impact Accelerator Award, 2020

I was a co-applicant and subsequent co-investigator for this Award of £2,000, for a project titled ‘Representing disability: viewing contemporary disability through a Shakespearian lens’ for the National Social Science Week, which is now online here: https://www.civilwarpetitions.ac.uk/representing-disability-in-shakespeares-world/

Teacher training session for Hodder Education

I am currently planning a teacher training session for Hodder Education for the local history part of the KS3 history curriculum, to be delivered in June 2021.

Other Research Interests

Women's history

Early modern history

Petitioning

Public engagement with history

Memberships

British Association for Irish Studies (BAIS)

IHR History Lab

Other professional experience

Associate Editor, East Midlands History and Heritage Magazine 2019 – Current

I am one of the volunteer associate editors for a magazine that uniquely caters for local history societies, schools and colleges, heritage practitioners and history professionals across the East Midlands region, based at Nottingham Trent University. As a part of a team, I edit the volunteer texts for the magazine, give feedback on the physical layout for the magazine and facilitate communication with the wider public by running the magazine’s Twitter page.

Secretary, Leicestershire Victoria County History Trust, IHR 2019 – Current

I carry out secretarial tasks such as minute-making for executive meetings as a part-time secretary for the Leicestershire branch of Victoria County History Trust. Beginning in 1899, the Victoria County History is one of the world's longest running research projects and is based at the Institute of Historical Research in London.

Assistant editor, The Midlands Historical Review, 2021 - Current