Lucinda Gosling

Author, Speaker, Historian, Curator

Lucinda Gosling is a writer, historian, researcher, speaker and curator with a special interest in the social and cultural history of the early twentieth century.  Her published books span a range of subjects including debutantes, royal coronations, First World War cartoons, high society, holidays, Great War knitting, feminist art and, most recently, the history of an iconic theatrical landmark, the London Hippodrome. She has contributed to Tatler, History Today, Country Life, Majesty, World of Interiors, Illustration and The Simple Things, and has lectured or taken part in panel discussions at venues around the country including the London Transport Museum, Tate Britain, the Guildhall Library, Fashion & Textile Museum, the National Archives and the Western Front Association.

Published in the spring of 2021,  ‘John Hassall – The Life and Art of the Poster King’ with a foreword by Mike Leigh, was the first book on the celebrated poster artist and illustrator in more than forty years and accompanied an exhibition co-curated by Luci at the Heath Robinson Museum in Pinner. The book was long listed for the William MB Berger Prize and was described by Apollo magazine as a “valuable and important addition to the bookcase of anyone interested in the history of British poster design.”

As Head of Sales & Research at historical image source, Mary Evans Picture Library, Luci carries out the picture research for all her books and has contributed introductions to illustrated books based on the archive’s extraordinarily rich content, including titles in the Hoxton Mini Press ‘Vintage Britain’ series. Prior to that, she was manager of the Illustrated London News Picture Library, which is now housed at Mary Evans. Drawing on that archive's unrivalled collection of historic periodicals, Luci has contributed to bookazines on royal history and the First World War published by ILN Limited, was lead writer for illustratedfirstworldwar.com and has curated educational resources for schools. This year she has contributed articles to the ILN’s flagship King Charles III Coronation Edition bookazine, and their Royal Britain bookazine, which she edited alongside writing a selection of lead articles.

Originally from Co. Durham, Luci studied history at Liverpool University. She lives in east London with her husband in an Edwardian house they are permanently renovating, has three children - two grown up, one teen - a Glen of Imaal Terrier called Feargal (known locally as "a character") and a handsome cat called Cholmondeley.