William J. Sheils , known as Bill Sheils, is

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

in history at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

and a fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

. Sheils is a specialist in the early modern religious and social history of Britain.

Education

Sheils was educated at the

William Ellis School William Ellis School is a voluntary aided secondary school and sixth form for boys located in Gospel Oak, London, England. Admissions The School is located near Hampstead Heath in north London. It is situated just east of Parliament Hill an ...

, North London (1957–64), and earned his BA at York (1964–67), and his PhD at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

.Bill Sheils.
University of York. Retrieved 15 June 2015.

Career

Sheils first worked on the

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History (VCH), is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of Englan ...

in Gloucestershire before joining the University of York as an archivist at the

Borthwick Institute The Borthwick Institute for Archives is the specialist archive service of the University of York, York, England. It is one of the biggest archive repositories outside London. The Borthwick was founded in 1953 as The Borthwick Institute of Histori ...

in 1973 where he worked on the post-medieval collections until 1988. He then taught nineteenth- and twentieth-century social and economic history, and subsequently early modern religious and social history with a specialism in Britain. Sheils retired from teaching in 2011 to become a full-time researcher.Bill Sheils.
LinkedIn. Retrieved 16 June 2015. Sheils has written extensively for the ''

Journal of Ecclesiastical History ''The Journal of Ecclesiastical History'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Cambridge University Press. It was established in 1950 and covers all aspects of the history of the Christian Church. It deals with the church bo ...

'', as well as contributing to the ''

Economic History Review ''The Economic History Review'' is a Peer review, peer-reviewed history journal published quarterly by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Economic History Society. It was established in 1927 by Eileen Power and is currently Editor-in-chief, edited by ...

'', ''

The Sixteenth Century Journal ''The Sixteenth Century Journal: The Journal of Early Modern Studies'' (SCJ) is a quarterly journal of early modern studies. The senior editors are Merry Wiesner-Hanks and Patricia Phillippy. Until 2022 it was published by Sixteenth Century Publis ...

'', and '' Northern History''. In 2012, Sheils was the recipient of a ''

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'', ''Getting Along? Religious Identities and Confessional Relations in Early Modern England - Essays in Honour of Professor W. J. Sheils'' (St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History, Ashgate, 2012), edited by Adam Morton and Nadine Lewycky. His work focuses on the religious and social history of Great Britain and Ireland in the post-Reformation period, with particular emphasis on local context and inter-demonitional relations. He has also written extensively on the history of York and Yorkshire since 1500. He was Provost of Goodricke College from 1983 to 1995, and was Head of Department of History from 2008 to 2011 prior to his retirement

Memberships

Sheils is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a former president of the

Ecclesiastical History Society The Ecclesiastical History Society (EHS) is a British learned historical society founded in 1961 to foster interest in, and to advance the study of, all areas of the history of the Christian Church through twice yearly conferences and publication ...

.Past Presidents - Ecclesiastical History Society
/ref> He has served as Chair of the editorial board of the Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 2015-2019, and as Chair of Council of The Catholic Record Society 2018-2021

Personal life

Bill is married to Sarah, née Maidlow-Davis, and they have four children; Lucy, Eleanor, Thomas and Richard. Sheils is a parishioner of St Aelred's in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough.

Selected publications

*''The Puritans in the Diocese of Peterborough, 1558–1610''. Northamptonshire Record Society, 1979. *''The English Reformation 1530–1570''. Longman, 1989. (

Seminar Studies in History Seminar Studies in History is a book series for undergraduate and younger students that aims to bridge the gap between the monograph and the full size university textbook. The series was established in 1968 by history teacher Patrick Richardson, a ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheils, Bill Living people Alumni of King's College London Alumni of the University of York British historians of religion Contributors to the Victoria County History English Roman Catholics Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Historians of Christianity Historians of the University of York People educated at William Ellis School Presidents of the Ecclesiastical History Society Roman Catholic scholars Year of birth missing (living people)