Dr Jennifer Wallis

Postdoctoral Research Assistant

Jennifer became a Teaching Fellow in Medical Humanities at Imperial College London in 2018, following a fixed-term lectureship in Cultural and Intellectual History at Queen Mary University of London (2016-18).

Prior to these appointments, she worked on the 'Diseases of Modern Life' project as a Research Assistant, where she conducted research in two of the project's key areas: 'Addiction' and 'Climate and Health'. Jennifer's research explored concepts of alcoholism and addiction in the nineteenth-century, particularly in relation to women drinkers; relationships between individuals and 'air technologies' such as the compressed-air bath and respirator; and the role of the press in disseminating medical and scientific ideas.

Selected contributions

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A Home or a Gaol? Scandal, Secrecy, and the St James's Inebriate Home for Women

24 April 2018

The advance Open Access copy of Jennifer Wallis's article on late Victorian inebriate homes for women, is now available here.

Temperature and mortality of London, 1840-50, from William Farr, Report on the mortality of cholera in England, 1848-49 (1852)

Stormy Weather and Human Barometers

14 June 2016

In 1873, a speaker at the Royal Dublin Society declared that 'many persons are inclined to deny altogether the existence of a weather-science'.

$Drawer of insect speciments from Devon's Ilfracombe Museum$

'British moths', 'Old wedding cake'. An unusual museum taxonomy.

22 April 2016

In the nineteenth century, natural history was an increasingly popular pursuit. As our sister project Constructing Scientific Communities is exploring, the 1800s saw the growth of several specialist organisations and periodicals devoted to the field.

The Menace of the Barber Shop

20 February 2016

In 1904 The Lancet considered the many risks to health posed by modern life. The collecting together of more and more people in the bustling spaces of the city was, they wrote, a perfect means of disseminating infection.

Picked Up on Broadway

31 December 2015

It seems appropriate to post my final addiction-themed post of the year on New Year's Eve.

A man lies dead or unconscious in his chair, his last glass of drink fallen from his hand. Lithograph by Lamy, c. 1860, after Villain. Wellcome Library, London.

'Solitary midnight inebriates': Alcohol and the professional man

11 December 2015

I've been doing a lot of work on lady secret drinkers recently (such as the eau de cologne tipplers I devoted a previous post to).

Captivating Respiration: the 'Breathing Napoleon'

21 October 2015

I've always felt uncomfortable around waxworks and dummies.

Call for Papers: Medicine and Modernity in the Long Nineteenth Century, 10-11 September 2016 at St Anne's College

12 October 2015

CfP for Medicine and Modernity in the Long Nineteenth Century at St Anne's College, Oxford 10th - 11th September 2016

'Sweet oblivious antidotes'? Lady Perfume drinkers of the late 19th century

29 August 2015

(Fashionable) Diseases of Modern Life

18 May 2015

On 8 May three quarters of the Diseases of Modern Life team - Melissa Dickson, Sally Shuttleworth, and Jennifer Wallis - visited Newcastle University to meet with the Fashionable Diseases team and take part in a workshop.

Inside Passengers: The Girl's Own Paper Looks Inside the Body

04 March 2015

'Inside Passengers; or, the Wonderful Adventures of Luke and Belinda' was a 15-part series published in The Girls' Own Paper in 1885-86, penned by 'A London Physician'.

'Pearls before swine' or heavenly messengers? The work of the Victorian Flower Missions

21 January 2015

Flower missions - the donation, arrangement, and distribution of fresh flowers to the sick and needy - were said to have originated in the US in the late 1860s...