Matthew Kilburn – Editor

Wrote and researched history of parliamentary representation and local government of the borough of Chippenham, Wiltshire, using sources at Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, Chippenham. My work is incorporated into one of the draft texts found at the Wiltshire Victoria County History website.

Freelance editor, researcher and writer

Principally for Oxford English Dictionary as library research associate, compiling reports on words as found in published historical sources from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries, working to in-house editors

Continued association with Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, working especially on amendments to existing articles including new text for published entries

Writer for Doctor Who Magazine and associated titles published by Panini UK Ltd. Image of one article ('Classic Rock') in gallery.

Wrote, revised and researched sections of The House of Lords 1660-1715 (5 vols, Cambridge UP/History of Parliament Trust, 2016), including biographies and historical surveys, taking over workload of departed research fellow.

Writing three chapters for The History of Oxford University Press, volume one, to 1780, ed. Ian Gadd (Oxford, 2013); writing and editing appendices, checking facts, correcting picture identifications and undertaking documentary research for The History of Oxford University Press volume one, to 1780, edited by Ian Gadd, and volume two, 1780-1900, edited by Simon Eliot, both published by Oxford University Press in November 2013

Ongoing role as consultant editor working on amendments to existing articles, often where the original author was deceased, as well as editing new entries supporting the remaining in-house staff.

Development aspects included revising texts in collaboration or consultation with authors, across all historical periods.

I also wrote new entries for the dictionary including on Sir Charles Monck (1779-1867), the Northumberland landowner, architect and MP who owned Belsay Castle, pictured in my background image above.

Independent research editor on several academic projects including two titles listed below under books - Abigail Williams's edition of Jonathan Swift's Journal to Stella (where I drafted the biographical appendices and part of the political commentary) and Wilfrid Prest's biography of William Blackstone (where I checked several items of correspondence and legal texts in Oxford and London for Professor Prest, who was based in Australia).

I've also worked with several postgraduate students on tidying up their writing as they complete their theses, both in terms of language and research questions. Potential non sequiturs and gaps in knowledge as well as misleading content can be highlighted and addressed.

Commissioned, edited and wrote articles designed for print and online publication, principally in the eighteenth century but also in periods from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries
Liaised with external advisers recruited from senior academics from universities worldwide
Advised and reassured contributors throughout the research process
Acted as intermediary between contributors and external peer reviewers
First point of contact for publishing staff of project with queries about content of articles in my area of responsibility, before passing them to the contributor if necessary
Retained as part of the research team at two ‘downsizing’ points, October 2002 and October 2003, to become part of the publication team responsible for launching the dictionary in print and online in September 2004
Wrote marketing copy in the run-up to publication in 2004
Co-ordinated the corrections process following publication, and corresponded with members of the public who queried entries in the 2004 edition
Represented the dictionary to the media and the public in interviews and events during the launch programme, around the British Isles at and immediately after publication