Margaret ThomasDr Margaret Thomas is an historian with current research interests in eighteenth and nineteenth century Suffolk, in particular its landscape and society. Following graduation from the University of Wales, she taught for six years before research for n M.Phil. at the University of Bristol led to an interest in the interaction of agriculture and industry in the area around Nailsea, near Bristol. She is the author of a number of books on the development of Nailsea, its glassworks and coalfields. In 1993, she returned to Suffolk, the county of her birth. Her research at the University of East Anglia, on trees and woodland in the Suffolk landscape between 1660 and 1870, led to a PhD. She also became a history lecturer and, with Dr Nick Sign, was, for many years Course Leader for the pioneering History degree at Suffolk College, later University Campus Suffolk. During her career, both in Bristol and Suffolk, she has encouraged an interest in local history through extramural appointments at the Universities of Bristol and East Anglia, the WEA and Adult Education Centres. Since retiring, she has continued to give lectures to local history societies and has run courses at the Suffolk Record Office. She was Chairman of the Avon Local History Association and is currently Chairman of the Suffolk Local History Council and council member of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Read More Read Less