Dr David A Turner
Lecturer: Railway Studies

Profile

Biography

I have always had an interest in railways, ever since my grandfather took me to a steam railway at the age of 2. I completed my undergraduate degree in history at St. Mary’s University College, Twickenham, in 2003 and a Masters degree in War Studies at King’s College London in 2005. I then chose to undertake a PhD in Railway Studies with the University of York and National Railway Museum’s Institute of Railway Studies and Transport History. I graduated in 2014.

My thesis looked at the management of the London and South Western Railway between 1870 and 1911, and focused on strategic and operational decision-making within the company over this period. My main academic interest is the management of Britain’s railways between 1870 and 1939, with a particular emphasis on marketing and the freight movement.

I am also Book Reviews Coordinating Editor of the Journal of Transport History, and co-convene the Institute of Historical Research’s Transport and Mobility History Seminar. Recently I have also worked with HS1.Ltd to support their celebration of the 150th anniversary of St Pancras Station.

Research

Overview

Publications:

David A Turner (ed.). Transport And Its Place In History Making The Connections. Oxon: Routledge 2020.

David A Turner, "The Largest Beer Bottler in the world: Developing Whitbread & Co's Bottling Operation, 1869-1914", in New Developments in the Brewing Industry: The Role of Institutions and Ownership, eds. Erik Strøjer Madsen, Jens Gammelgaard, and Bersant Hobdari. Oxford: OUP, 2020. 169-191.

David A. Turner & Kevin D. Tennent (2021) "Progressive strategies of municipal trading: The policies of the London County Council Tramways c. 1891–1914" Business History, 63:3, 397-420. DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2019.1577823

"Delectable North Wales” and Stakeholders: The London & North Western Railway’s development of North Welsh tourism before 1914",Enterprise and Society, (forthcoming) 2018.

Current Research:

In 2016 I was awarded the Business Archives Council’s bursary for Business Archives Research, to examine the relationship between the brewing industry and Britain’s Railways between 1830 and 1914.

I am currently working with Dr. Kevin Tennent (School for Business and Society) on a paper describing strategic decision-making within the London County Council’s Tramways before the First World War.

My final research interest is the strategic dimensions of railway marketing between 1900 and 1939, with a focus on exploring the practice of Integrated Marketing Communications by the London & North Eastern Railway between 1923 and 1939.

Teaching

Postgraduate

Railway Studies Lecturer and Programme Director