Pam Cox

{{Short description|English politician and social history professor}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Pam Cox

| image = Official portrait of Pam Cox MP crop 2.jpg

| caption = Official portrait, 2024

| office = Member of Parliament
for Colchester

| predecessor = Will Quince

| party = Labour

| term_start = 4 July 2024

| honorific_suffix = MP

| majority = 8,250 (18.4%)

| alma_mater = University of Cambridge (BA) and (Ph.D.)

| module = {{Infobox academic

| child = yes

| thesis_title = Rescue and reform Girls, delinquency and industrial schools 1908-1933

| thesis_url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/35476104_Rescue_and_reform_Girls_delinquency_and_industrial_schools_1908-1933

| thesis_year = 1997

}}

Pamela Margaret Cox is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Colchester since 2024.

Biography

Pamela Cox was brought up in Southend. Her mother was a midwife before becoming a nurse. Her father left school at the age of 15 and was apprenticed as a joiner before joining the church and becoming a minister. She has two sisters, both of whom became nurses in south Essex.{{cite web|url=https://www.pamcox.co.uk/|title=MY STORY|accessdate=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326185948/https://www.pamcox.co.uk/|archive-date=26 March 2024|url-status=live}}

Cox studied history at Robinson College, Cambridge,"Cambridge University Tripos examination results", The Times, 7 July 1992, p. 45. and in 1997 was awarded a PhD for a thesis on the history of girls' delinquency in Britain. Prior to her election as an MP, she was a professor of social history and criminology at the University of Essex, and has been a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts since 2017. She presented the BBC documentary series, Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter and Servants: The True Story of Life Below Stairs, and has contributed to historical and cultural programmes for Channel 4 and Channel 5 including Edwardian Britain in Colour.{{cite web |title=Professor Pamela Cox |url=https://www.essex.ac.uk/people/COXPA93003/Pamela-Cox |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312015407/https://www.essex.ac.uk/people/COXPA93003/Pamela-Cox |archive-date=12 March 2024 |accessdate=12 March 2024 |publisher=University of Essex}}

Politics

In 1994, Cox joined the Labour Party.{{cite web|url=https://clactonlabour.org.uk/news/press-release/pam-cox-visits-clacton|title=Pam Cox Visits Clacton|author=Martin Suker|date=12 September 2023|work=Clacton Labour|accessdate=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326190027/https://clactonlabour.org.uk/news/press-release/pam-cox-visits-clacton/|archive-date=26 March 2024|url-status=live}} She has been a New Town and Christ Church councillor since May 2021, and on 5 November 2022 she became the Labour Party prospective parliamentary candidate in the 2024 general election for Colchester.{{cite web |author=Lewis Adams |date=5 November 2022 |title=Pam Cox is Labour's Parliamentary choice for Colchester |url=https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/23103697.pam-cox-labours-parliamentary-choice-colchester/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326190030/https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/23103697.pam-cox-labours-parliamentary-choice-colchester/ |archive-date=26 March 2024 |accessdate=12 March 2024 |work=Gazette Standard}}{{cite web |author1=Ben Fryer |author2=Orla Moore |date=26 September 2023 |title=Olympic rower James Cracknell vows to earn Colchester seat |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-66922694 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20231001214023/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-66922694 |archivedate=1 October 2023 |accessdate=12 March 2024 |publisher=BBC News}}{{cite web |author=Lewis Adams |date=5 May 2023 |title=Colchester Labour's Pam Cox confident in Parliament bid |url=https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/23502200.colchester-labours-pam-cox-confident-parliament-bid/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326190115/https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/23502200.colchester-labours-pam-cox-confident-parliament-bid/ |archive-date=26 March 2024 |accessdate=12 March 2024 |work=Gazette Standard}} Upon her election to parliament, she became the first female MP to represent the constituency.{{cite web | last=Adams | first=Lewis | last2=Knights | first2=Richard | title='My absolute honour being Colchester's first female MP' | website=BBC News | date=9 July 2024 | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cxr25k136qvo | access-date=9 July 2024}}

In November 2024, Cox voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which proposes to legalise assisted suicide.{{cite web |title=Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Second Reading |url=https://votes.parliament.uk/votes/commons/division/1877 |website=Votes in Parliament |date=29 November 2024}}

Works

Becoming Delinquent: British and European Youth, 1650-1950 (2002) (co-authored with Heather Shore){{cite web|url=https://www.routledge.com/Becoming-Delinquent-British-and-European-Youth-1650-1950/Cox-Shore/p/book/9781138740426|title=Becoming Delinquent: British and European Youth, 1650–1950|publisher=Routledge|accessdate=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326190122/https://www.routledge.com/Becoming-Delinquent-British-and-European-Youth-1650-1950/Cox-Shore/p/book/9781138740426|archive-date=26 March 2024|url-status=live}}
Gender, Justice and Welfare: Bad Girls in Britain, 1900-1950 (2003){{cite web|url=https://www.waterstones.com/book/gender-justice-and-welfare-in-britain-1900-1950/jo-campling/p-cox/9780333744345|title=Gender, Justice and Welfare in Britain,1900-1950: Bad Girls in Britain, 1900-1950 (Hardback)|publisher=Waterstones|accessdate=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326190147/https://www.waterstones.com/book/gender-justice-and-welfare-in-britain-1900-1950/jo-campling/p-cox/9780333744345|archive-date=26 March 2024|url-status=live}}
Young Criminal Lives: Life Courses and Life Chances from 1850 (2017) (co-authored with Barry Godfrey, Heather Shore and Zoe Alker){{cite web|url=https://academic.oup.com/book/7795|title=Young Criminal Lives: Life Courses and Life Chances from 1850|date=2017 |publisher=Oxford Academic|doi=10.1093/oso/9780198788492.001.0001 |accessdate=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326190231/https://academic.oup.com/book/7795|archive-date=26 March 2024|url-status=live |last1=Godfrey |first1=Barry |last2=Cox |first2=Pamela |last3=Shore |first3=Heather |last4=Alker |first4=Zoe |isbn=978-0-19-878849-2 }}
Shopgirls: the True Story of Life Behind the Counter (2014) (co-authored with Annabel Hobley){{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/03/shopgirls-true-story-behind-counter-cox-hobley-review-rich-insights|title=Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter review – 'rich in surprising insights'|author=Lucy Lethbridge|date=3 August 2014|work=The Guardian|accessdate=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326190239/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/03/shopgirls-true-story-behind-counter-cox-hobley-review-rich-insights|archive-date=26 March 2024|url-status=live}}
Criminology: A Sociological Introduction (2014) (co-authored by Eamonn Carrabine, Pete Fussey, Dick Hobbs, Nigel South, Darren Thiel, Jackie Turton){{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348861924|title=Criminology: A Sociological Introduction|publisher=Research Gate|accessdate=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326190248/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348861924_Criminology_A_Sociological_Introduction|archive-date=26 March 2024|url-status=live}}