Ralph is a historian of nineteenth-century architecture and society. A social historian by training, he views art as evidence for historical life – both individual and communal. His doctoral project, a monograph on David Bryce (1803–76), was thematically interested in the relationship between architecture and national identity. His thesis (2022) was praised by one examiner as ‘an outstanding piece of work and a genuine contribution to knowledge … a tour de force’.
Ralph holds a PhD (2022) from St John’s College, Cambridge, where he was both a Foundation and Graduate Scholar. He was concurrently an award holder at the Paul Mellon Centre, an adjunct of Yale University. He holds an MPhil degree (2018), with Distinction, from Cambridge University. For this degree he received the highest mark in the University and was awarded a College Prize. Ralph also holds a BA degree in History, with ‘double’ first-class honours. He is a past winner of the Harvard Book Prize (2013).
In the public sphere, Ralph has worked at the World Heritage Centre, UNESCO, and lectured at the National Gallery, the Wallace Collection, and at the Royal Institute of British Architects. He has given papers at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Columbia University, New York; and for the Society of Antiquaries, Edinburgh.
Ralph is an elected fellow of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries, in recognition of his contributions to Scottish history. He has advised on the recent revision of The Buildings of Scotland (‘Pevsner’) and is published by the field’s leading journal, Architectural History. He has written and recorded content for Bloomberg Connects and is a sporadic contributor to Private Eye magazine.
