Dame Olwen Hufton, DBE, FBA, FRHistS (born 1938) is one of the foremost historians of early modern Europe and a pioneer of social history and of women's history. Hufton is an expert on Early Modern, western European comparative socio-cultural history with special emphasis on gender, poverty, social relations, religion and work. In 2006 she joined Royal Holloway as a part-time Professorial Research Fellow in the History Department.
Of her monographs, The Poor of Eighteenth Century France 1750-1789 (1974) examines the experiences of poverty, while The Prospect Before Her: A History of Women in Western Europe - Volume One, 1500-1800 is a rich, engaging and accessible study of the experience of early modern woman. Hufton is currently writing a study of fundraising for charitable and educational initiatives in the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation and finishing the second volume of her history of women, from 1800 to 2000.
Hufton is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2004.