Olwen Hufton

Olwen Hufton

Dame Olwen H. Hufton, DBE, FBA, FRHistS (born 1938, Oldham, Lancashire, England)is a historian of early modern Europe and a pioneer of social history and of women's history. Hufton is an expert on Early Modern, western European comparative socio-cultural history with special emphasis on gender, poverty, social relations, religion and work. In 2006 she joined Royal Holloway as a part-time Professorial Research Fellow in the History Department.

Her monographs include The Poor of Eighteenth Century France 1750-1789 (1974) and The Prospect Before Her: A History of Women in Western Europe - Volume One, 1500-1800. Her latest projects are a study of fund raising for charitable and educational initiatives during the Counter Reformation, and finishing the second volume of her history of women, from 1800-2000.