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School of Society and Environment – Department of Geography and Environmental Science
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Jack Hanlon

Jack

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Email: j.t.hanlon@qmul.ac.uk

Profile

I am an historical geographer working across a range of disciplines including political ecology, cultural history and urban studies.  I specialise in nineteenth- and twentieth century food systems, with a particular interest in wholesale markets, cold chains, and the meat industry.

I am currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate with Archie Davies on the AHRC Catalyst Award project Meat at the Butchers: Gender, Race, Place, and Power, 1890-1990. Working with a range of historical archives across Britain, I am developing a new conceptualisation of the animal carcass as site of labour and landscape of extraction in the historical geography of the meat industry. This research follows on from my PhD, undertaken in collaboration with the London Museum, which explored the modern history of Smithfield meat market from its opening in 1868 to its renovation in 1993. For this research I won Curriers Company London History Prize (2024).

I am currently developing two new research projects. One concerning labour, space and energy in the history of the cold chain, and the other exploring the relationship between seasonal temporalties, food systems and the rhythms of urban modernity. 

I am also on the editorial board at the London Journal where I oversee submissions relating to the period 1900-1940. Prior to undertaking a PhD at QMUL I did an MA in Modern History at King’s College London and worked as a chef.

Teaching

I am an enthusiastic teacher of both geography and history. I have a range of experience, from writing and delivering lectures to conducting small-group seminars and planning and leading urban walks. I have taught on a range of modules at QMUL as well as at several American institutions in London.
I have taught on the following courses:
  • Introduction to Cultural Geography (QMUL, Geography
  • Boston Re/Worked (QMUL, Geography)
  • Walking Victorian London (QMUL, Geography)
  • London’s Food Culture (Syracuse London, Sociology)
  • Food and Globalisation (Emory University, London, History)

Research

Publications

‘The Meat Porter: Metropolitan Labour, “Rivers of Blood”, and the White Working Class’, History Workshop Journal, 2025.

‘Stories from Smithfield: Markets and the Narration of London’, The London Journal, 2025.

‘The Labour of Place: Memory and Extended Reality (XR) in Migration Museums’, with Anna Reading, Jim Bjork and Neil Jakeman, Memory Studies, 202.

‘Meat and Museums’, History Workshop Online, 2023.‘Rituals of hygiene in the cathedral of meat’. Chapter in Food Rules and Rituals: Proceedings of the Oxford Food Symposium on Food and Cookery 2023 (London: Prospect Books, 2024).

Review of Stefan Höhne, Riding the New York Subway: The Invention of the Modern Passenger, Urban History, 2022.

Review of Neal Knapp, Making Machines of Animals: The International Livestock Exposition, Agricultural History Review, 2024.

‘Mining the landscape of the carcass: butchery, value, and the historical geographies of meat’ (forthcoming, with Archie Davies)‘Gelation, London: meat, labour and logistics in the cold chain’ (forthcoming, with Archie Davies)

Public Engagement

I have worked extensively with museums and consider public engagement an integral aspect of my research. My doctoral project on the history of Smithfield market was conducted in collaboration with the London Museum as they set about transforming a part of the market into their new permanent home. I worked closely with curators throughout the project, shaping permanent collections as well as institutional decision making. After completing my PhD I was commissioned to produce a report for the museum. My original research on Smithfield’s history has also been published as an infographic in the Financial Times (Joshua Oliver, ‘Last orders for London’s historic meat market,’ November 29, 2024) and I have been interviewed on the subject by multiple news outlets, including Le Monde.
I was also involved as a project manager on the innovative educational project and public resource The East London Atlas and was shortlisted for BBC New Generation Thinkers (2024).
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