Long-forgotten Thesis Revised

Sometimes emails can surprise you.  The other day I received a communication which began “Dear Dr Greeves…

The form of address roused my curiosity. I reflected that no one has used this title for many a day! It was a letter from a young man at Queens University Belfast, in Northern Ireland. He was writing to ask if there was a digital version of my Philosophy PhD thesis available. "Nearly every article and book I’m reading mentions or cites your fabulous dissertation from your time at the University of Bristol.”

A Wasted Detour?

I must say that I was startled by the writer’s description of my thesis as “fabulous.”  I am partial to flattery, but I was also intrigued my thesis had taken on a life of its own. The email caused me to reflect about this period of my life and I had wondered once again if it was a wasted detour.

I wrote back to say the thesis was not in digital format, but I would be willing to lend him one of my copies. It took a step ladder to recover the volume from the top shelf where it sat together with my late wife, Diane’s thesis “Some Porphyrin Reactions,” which was her Chemistry PhD from 1965. I glanced through it. I was full of strange diagrams of molecules. A random selection reads “Mesomerism. …it has been assumed that the dominating factor influencing the position of the signals in the spectrum is the large ring current…” I closed her volume and picked up mine and blew the dust off 465 single pages of double space type. Its topic was “The effects of the American Civil war on the Linen, Woollen and Worsted Industries of the United Kingdom.” I glanced through a few chapters feeling as if I was visiting a far off country which I once knew but and had forgotten in the passage of time.

A Family Link to the War Linen Trade

The thesis was, as they say, “evidence based” which is often an excuse for pages of boring statistics and theory. True to form mine had pages of data about the movements of prices as the war began and progressed during which the UK cotton industry was strangled by the naval blockade preventing cotton from being shipped to Liverpool.  That opened the door room for these substitute industries to prosper. I should add here that my great grandfather and his brother, both Quakers, and working in the Linen Trade, took full advantage of the opportunity afforded, borrowed money from their Quaker uncles in Liverpool and were soon building factories in the middle of Belfast. By chance I was in Belfast last year with my brother and among other places we visited was the family grave of the patriarch and the site of his huge factory - destroyed in the early days of the “Civil war”  which is referred to euphemistically as  “The Troubles.”

I was struck nevertheless by the amount of work and the depth of my research. It reminded me of my travels to Ireland and to Yorkshire and the times I spent in rooms filled with the archives of the trade. I also remember reading old newspapers to get the day-to-day information I wanted. The library was located to the north of London and when I wasn’t in the British Museum Reading room that was where I was – along with other companionable researchers.

Reality Spoils the Dream

The problem was that I had limited research funding. I had already spent a year in Canada studying History and research techniques. In consequence my sponsor back in Bristol said that he saw no reason why I should not complete my thesis in two years. There were drawbacks built into this generous offer. It meant that I had only limited time and had to work hard to develop my evidence and then write day and night to get it done by the deadline. I remember my oral defence. I had a severe case of flu, and the external examiner asked me a question about the Battle of Vicksburg which I found difficult to answer because there was no time to read about the battles.

Afterwards, when I had been awarded my degree, I returned my ceremonial mortarboard and gown and began to look for a job. Diane told me “You can work at any University you like as long as it’s in London.” That gave me little scope because that was everyone’s ambition and so, despite a promising lead at University College, when I was offered a job at Chase Manhattan Bank with promises to work overseas, I jumped at the opportunity. The thesis sat in the Library at Bristol with two copies on my shelf at home and only one person ever wrote to me over the years and that was a rather sarcastic letter which implied I had stretched my “evidence” too far. (In academic speak that meant he had a different argument to make, and my research stood in his way). So, nothing more until last week when the email arrived.

The truth is that completing all the work in a short space of time led to burn out. Perhaps it was a good thing but perhaps, if I had stuck with it would I have been another Niall Fergusson  -who started life as an economic historian and is now an advisor to presidents. Maybe!

Knowledge is Never Wasted

When I began writing my trilogy about Nelson and his family, the thesis writing experience came in handy. I had the work ethic and the research techniques I learned all those years ago. Supplemented by classes and workshops in creative writing at the New School of Social Science in New York, I had enough writing experience and fortitude to get it done. As I near the completion of my third Novel, “The Nelson Inheritance” I believe I have drawn more from those early experiences than I ever expected.

My knowledge of American history has also given me a passion to investigate the early years of that great Republic. My current novel, which is nearing completion, is set in America and so the accumulation of experience of living in that country, studying its history and completing my thesis those years ago have all contributed. It will be a rattling good yarn – a lot more readable than my thesis. The thesis is back on the top shelf next to a first edition copy of Polidori Vergil’s History of the Kings of England (1567) – another book I rarely read, especially as it is written in Medieval Latin!

So through my experience as an historian, author and banker, I endorse heartily Benjamin Franklin’s reflection that: "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."

Benjamin Franklin

To find out more about my novels and sign up to ‘stay in touch’, visit my author home page. Remember that my first novel in the trilogy, Nelson's Folly, is also available as an audiobook.