James Adam Fox

I began my PhD in September 2020 under the supervision of Dr Sarah Easterby-Smith, Dr Amy Blakeway and Dr Jacqueline Rose. My research explores the social history of numeracy in Scotland and England, c.1660–c.1800. I am interested in the ways in which people at all levels of society learned and used number skills in their daily lives, and how the meanings and uses of numeracy were transformed in this era of significant economic, social and cultural change.

My research aims to shed light on important developments in early modern history including the proliferation of written recordkeeping, the spread of education and literacy, and the rise of capitalism. More broadly I am interested in the social, cultural and intellectual history of the early modern world and particularly its intersections with the histories of the book and archive. I am grateful to the Scottish Graduate School of Arts and Humanities for fully funding my research.  

I arrived at St Andrews as an undergraduate in Modern History in 2015 and have previously worked on the visitor services team at the University’s Wardlaw Museum and as media intern at the Institute of Iranian Studies. In 2020 I completed an MPhil in Early Modern History at Jesus College, Cambridge, funded by the Cambridge Trust. During my PhD I am serving as teaching assistant on MO1007: The Early Modern West World.