Don MacRaild, a distinguished historian of Irish migration and labour history, has died suddenly aged 60 after a short illness. Over a three-decade career, he held academic posts at the universities of Sunderland, Northumbria, Ulster, Roehampton, Victoria University of Wellington, and London Metropolitan University, where he served as pro-vice-chancellor for research and innovation before his retirement in 2025. He also held honorary fellowships at Edinburgh and Ulster.
Peripatetic career and social inclusion
MacRaild was, like many of the people he studied, peripatetic. In each institution, he built circles of collaborators, reinvigorated history and humanities departments, and left lasting marks on all who worked alongside him. Advancing social inclusion was the hallmark of everything he did, according to colleagues.
Groundbreaking research
His research on Irish Catholic and Protestant immigration yielded books on the Irish in Britain, the Orange Order in Victorian and Edwardian England, and the English diaspora in North America. He also had a deep passion for labour history, shaped by admiration for historian E.P. Thompson. With David Martin, he produced Labour in British Society, 1830–1914 (2000), and with Kyle Hughes, a study of secret agrarian Ribbon societies in 19th-century Ireland, which he considered his finest work. His last two books, on the Great Irish Famine and Irish pauperism in 19th-century Britain, appeared in 2023 and 2024.
Widely read works
His most widely read work remains Studying History (2000), co-written with Jeremy Black, which has run to numerous editions and become a staple of undergraduate skills courses, showcasing his ability to explain historical theory and method.
Early life and education
Born in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, to Wendy and Neil MacRaild, a pharmaceutical worker, he attended Barrow Grammar and Parkview schools before graduating with a history degree from Liverpool Polytechnic (now Liverpool John Moores) in 1989. He earned a PhD from Sheffield University in 1993, focusing on Irish migrants in North Lancashire and Cumberland, becoming part of the “Sheffield school” of academics concentrating on British immigration and ethnic history.
Prolific output and mentorship
His thesis grew into his first book, and he went on to author or edit 18 books and nearly 50 articles and chapters. During his early career at Sunderland and Northumbria, he was also a part-time tutor at the Open University. He was an exceptional PhD supervisor, skilled at forging research collaborations, winning grants, and mentoring colleagues at every stage of their careers. He was celebrated for his kindness, candour, and convivial company.
Survivors
On his retirement, MacRaild returned to his native Cumbria with his second wife, Connie (née Haag), a journalist, whom he married in 2020. She survives him, as do his children, Michael, Katie, and Andrew, from his first marriage to Lisa Bowler, which ended in divorce; his sister, Margaret; and his mother, Wendy.
