Keith Laybourn FRHistS FHEA (born 13 March 1946) is Diamond Jubilee Professor of the University of Huddersfield and Professor of History.^[1] He is a British historian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century specialising in labour history and the working class in Britain. He has published extensively, and has authored over 51 books^[2] on subjects including women's history, social policy and administration, and policing.^[3] In 2012 he took over presidency of the Society for the Study of Labour History following the death of the previous president, Eric Hobsbawm.^[4] He has also appeared on television, including Who Do You Think You Are?^[5] In 2016 he signed a public letter along with many other academic historians opposing Brexit.^[6]

Laybourn was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire on the 13th March 1946 and is married with three children (Rosie, Peter and Lizzie). He lives in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

Select bibliography

• The Rise of Socialism in Britain (Sutton Publishing Ltd 1997)
• Britain on the Breadline: A Social and Political History of Britain, 1918-39 (Sutton Publishing Ltd; New edition 1998)
• Under the Red Flag: The History of Communism in Britain. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1999.
• Marxism in Britain: Dissent, Decline and Re-emergence 1945-c.2000. Oxon: Routledge, 2006.
• The Battle for the Roads of Britain: Police, Motorists and the Law, c. 1890 to 1970 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).
• Going to the Dogs: A History of Greyhound Racing in Britain, 1926-2017 (Manchester University Press, 2019)