HMS Council

HMS council meets twice a year, in the Spring and Autumn, to discuss the business and general running of the society. We are keen to welcome new members to council from the full spectrum of interests that the society currently serves

Meet your council

Chair of HMS

Mike Charlton

Hon. Secretary of HMS and Chair, Archives and Collections Committee

Vanessa Cheel

Applies metallography, optical and electron microscopy to a variety of archaeological metals.

Vanessa studied Engineering and Materials Sciences at first degree level and has a doctorate in Metallurgy & the Science of Materials which involved using light, x-rays, gamma rays, neutrons and electrons to investigate copper. Since the techniques were mastered, they’ve been applied to a variety of archaeological metals. Metallography, optical and electron microscopy are current pursuits. Small scale experimental metal working takes place in the back garden.

Her academic interests in Materials Characterisation have been blended with education and public outreach; committee experience was gained on the local Parish Council.

President of HMS

Tim Young

Works as a consultant to supply specialist archaeometallurgical services and analyses in the UK and Ireland.

Treasurer and Website Officer

Jonathan Prus

His principal interests are the unresolved aspects of bloomery technology, especially relating to draught, furnace thermal properties and slag chemistry.

Born 1950. In teaching for 10 years. Subsequently ran a company providing learning disability services. First degrees in History and Politics, then Life Sciences. Then Ph.D. at Cranfield University. Then an MBA. (The last three by part-time study.)

A member of HMS Council since 2014 and Hon. Gen. Secretary since 2017. An active member of the Wealden Iron Research Group.

Principal interests: unresolved aspects of bloomery technology, especially relating to draught, furnace thermal properties and slag chemistry. A recently developing interest in the interrelated issues of skill, cognition and ideology among ancient ironworkers.

Governance Office & Chair, Outreach and Value Committee

Eddie Birch

He spent his working life first in steelmaking research and then in aluminium master alloy development before transferring to a role in quality assurance.

Eddie Birch has been a member of HMS since the early 1970s, and has served on Council since the 1990s in a range of capacities He spent his working life first in steelmaking research and then in aluminium master alloy development before transferring to a role in quality assurance. For the past 15 years he has consulted on laboratory quality assurance systems. His current project aims to help record and raise the profile of the history of the British foundry industry.
Chair, Grants Committee

Tom Birch

Tom Birch works as an archaeometrist for Moesgaard Museum in Denmark, specialising in archaeometallurgy, with research experience in provenancing iron, silver and copper-based metals. He is starting his journey with gold, glass and other materials, as well as detecting activity remains in-situ (soil blocks).

Joint Editor, HMS Journal (Technical)

Thomas Rose

Editor of The Crucible

Jack Cranfield

Jack is a current PhD student at the University of Exeter, studying the Medieval iron industry of the Weald in Southeast England. He joined the Crucible editorial team in Autumn 2018.

Joint Editor HMS Journal

Justine Bayley

Specialising in non-ferrous metal and glass working, and continues to lecture and research on various aspects of Roman and medieval metalworking.

Justine has been a member of HMS Council since the early 1980s, serving as Treasurer from 1986 to 1991 and as Joint Editor since 1990. For many years she was also a member (later chairman) of the Archaeology Committee. She led the Technology Team at the Ancient Monuments Laboratory, which became part of English Heritage/Historic England, specialising in non-ferrous metal and glass working, and ran many ‘slag days’ that offered field archaeologists hands-on training in identifying metalworking debris. She is now an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL and continues to lecture and research on various aspects of Roman and medieval metalworking.

William Hawkes

Is a professional conservator and trained jeweller, who has worked on very wide and varied projects, from Roman jewellery to napoleonic field carriage guns.

William Hawkes is a professional conservator and trained jeweller. His conservation practice has encompassed a wide array of work on very wide and varied projects ranging from Roman and Anglo Saxon stone-set jewellery in both precious and copper alloy metals to napoleonic field carriage guns and a D-20 howitzer from the first gulf war. Additionally, Bill regularly provides consultation services to various organisations in relation to researching historic objects and their metallurgy, providing reports for the purposes of preventative and remedial conservation.

Peter King

Peter King's main interest is in the history of the iron industry. He has recently published A Gazetteer of the British Iron industry 1490-1815 (BAR Publishing: BAR British Series 652, 2020, click here for link). His present area of research concerns river transport in the Severn valley.

Peter King's main interest is in the history of the iron industry. He has recently published A Gazetteer of the British Iron industry 1490-1815 (BAR Publishing: BAR British Series 652, 2020). His present area of research concerns river transport in the Sev

David Cranstone

Joint Editor HMS Journal (Managing)

Paul Rondelez

Gill Juleff

Her primary research interest is in the early ferrous metallurgy of Asia involving fieldwork in Sri Lanka, India and China.

Gill Juleff has been a member of HMS for many years. Gill first served on Council in the late 1990s and was Chair for a term. In recent years Gill returned to the Council and took over as joint editor of the Crucible in 2017. Gill’s primary research interest is in the early ferrous metallurgy of Asia involving fieldwork in Sri Lanka, India and China. Gill teaches at Exeter University and has supervised a wide range of archaeometallurgy PhD projects.

María Florencia Becerra

Therese Kearns

Raluca Lazarescu

Eric Nordgren

Rowan Taylor