Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth

Caroline is a historian, curator and broadcaster specialising in the arts of early modern Europe with a particular focus on decorative arts, women’s lives and the history of collecting. She holds a PhD from the University of Leeds and is currently Lecturer in French and British History of Art, c.1650-1900 at the University of Edinburgh.

Previously, Caroline was Curator of Ceramics and Glass 1600-1800 at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and Curator of The Chitra Collection, London. She is especially passionate about making art and its histories accessible to all and regularly collaborates with museums and schools on public engagement projects.

Caroline frequently contributes as a consultant and expert for exhibitions, radio and television, most recently for BBC Scotland, BBC Radio 4 (Melvyn Bragg’s In Our Time), and BBC History Extra. She has lectured at the Rijksmuseum, the Gardiner Museum, the Wallace Collection and the Scottish National Galleries. Her words have appeared in Apollo, Ceramic Review, BBC History Magazine and in numerous scholarly journals. She has authored two academic monographs; the first Lady Charlotte Schreiber, Extraordinary Art Collector with Lund Humphries (September, 2025), and the second entitled Sèvres-Mania: The Craft of Ceramics Connoisseurship with Bloomsbury Academic (Spring, 2026). She is currently working on her first trade book.

Photo courtesy of Susannah Alltimes