Eamonn O'Keeffe

Research Topic

British Military Musicians during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815

Supervisors: Professor Bob Harris and Dr Erica Charters

About me

I completed my DPhil in 2022 and am now employed as the National Army Museum Junior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. This page is no longer updated; please visit my Cambridge webpage for more information.

Publications
E. O'Keeffe, ‘“A Natural Passion?” The 1810 Reflections of a Yorkshire Farmer on Homosexuality’, Historical Research (February 2021).
E. O'Keeffe, ‘Theatre on the Move in Times of Conflict, 1750-1850’ (conference report), Eighteenth-Century Music (September 2020).
E. O'Keeffe, "The Anatomy of a Drum Corps: Drummers and Musicians in the Canadian Regiment of Fencible Infantry, 1803-1816", Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research (Winter 2020).
E. O'Keeffe (ed), Narrative of the Eventful Life of Thomas Jackson: Militiaman and Coldstream Sergeant, 1803-1815 (Helion, 2018).
E. O'Keeffe, “The Old Halberdier: From the Pyrenees to Plattsburgh with a Welshman of the 39th”, Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research (Spring, Summer and Autumn 2017). Three-part series.
E. O'Keeffe, “Such Want of Gentlemanly Conduct: The Court Martial of Lieutenant John de Hertel”, Journal of Canadian Military History (Autumn-Winter 2016).
E. O'Keeffe, “Fops under Fire: British Drum-Majors in Action during the Napoleonic Wars”, The Napoleon Series (June 2016).

Conference and Seminar Presentations
E. O'Keeffe, "Diligence, Discipline, and Time: Training Military Musicians during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars", North American British Music Studies Association conference, Illinois State University and online, 21-24 July 2022.
E. O'Keeffe, "Germans, Choristers and Young Beginners: The Recruitment of Musical Warriors during the French Wars", British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies conference (online), 5-7 January 2022.
E. O'Keeffe, "No time [should] be lost in procuring the performers": The Recruitment and Training of Military Musicians, 1793-1815", Graduate Seminar in History, 1680-1850, University of Oxford, 23 November 2021.
E. O'Keeffe, "Regimental repertoires: the manuscript music books of Napoleonic-era British military musicians", Theatre on the Move in Times of Conflict (1750-1850), Magdalen College, University of Oxford, 18-19 September 2019.
E. O'Keeffe, "'An Evil of Long Standing': martial musicians, partisan performances and the militarization of British electoral spectacle", War and Peace in the Age of Napoleon (British Commission for Military History), King's College London, 13-14 September 2019.
E. O'Keeffe, "Regimental repertoires: the manuscript music books of Napoleonic-era British military musicians", 12th Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain Conference, Canterbury Christ Church University, 3-5 July 2019.
E. O'Keeffe, "Siblings or Subordinates? – Brotherhood, Hierarchy and Discipline among Napoleonic-era British Officers" (revised and expanded), Seventh Wellington Congress, University of Southampton, 12-13 April 2019.
E. O'Keeffe, "The Musical Armed Nation: Mass Mobilization, Music and Politics during and after the Napoleonic Wars", European Song and Political Protest workshop, University of Warwick, 24 November 2018.
E. O'Keeffe, "Siblings or Subordinates? – Brotherhood, Hierarchy and Discipline among Napoleonic-era British Officers", New Voices in the History of War, All Souls College, University of Oxford, 18 July 2018.
E. O'Keeffe, "Musicians against Napoleon: British Drummers and Bands in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars", Redcoats, Tommies, and Dusty Warriors: Britain's Soldiers c.1650 to the present, University of Leeds, 10-11 July 2018.
E. O'Keeffe, "Instruments of War: Military Music during the Napoleonic Wars", Instruments of the Eighteenth Century Seminar, Oxford University Music Faculty, 1 November 2017.

Prizes and Grants
Runner-up, Nicholas Temperley Student Paper Prize, North American British Music Studies Association (2022)
Michael Burden Award for best graduate paper on musicology, British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (2022)
First Prize in the Three Minute Military Thesis Competition, run by the British Commission for Military History (2020)
Conrad Russell Prize (Merton College, Oxford) for best thesis in History (2017)
Second Place, Society for Army Historical Research Essay Prize (2016)