Pat Thane

Patricia Thane, known as Pat, is a British historian.

Career

Thane studied history at the University of Oxford, and then completed her PhD under Brian Abel-Smith at the London School of Economics.

She was a lecturer then senior lecturer in the department of social policy at Goldsmiths College London from 1967 until 1994. She was professor of contemporary history at the University of Sussex 1994-2001, then Leverhulme professor of contemporary British history at the Institute of Historical Research 2001-10 and professor of contemporary history at King's College London to 2019 as well as a general historian. She has been a visiting professor at Nanjing University, China, and at universities in Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Chile, New York.

Since 2019, she has been a visiting professor in history at Birkbeck College, London University. She is Professor Emerita at the University of London. Thane was a co-founder of History & Policy, which publishes historical research freely online.

Thane has a particular interest in the history of gender, old age, pensions, and the welfare state.

Alongside Alastair Reid (Girton College), Simon Szreter, (St John’s College, Cambridge), and Virginia Berridge (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), Thane is a founder of History & Policy, which publishes historical research freely online.

Awards and honours

Thane was elected as a fellow of the British Academy in 2006. She was elected honorary president of the Social History Society in 2016, after the death of Asa Briggs, who was a member for forty years.