For generations this sage saying could have been an unofficial motto for a region which has long taken pride in a reputation for being stubborn and hard-headed.

It was even printed on a series of early twentieth century postcards published by Scarborough firm ETW Dennis and Sons to celebrate and advertise the county.

Now a research student from the University of Huddersfield is to investigate just why and how such phrases and attitudes have become so ingrained in our sense of "Yorkshireness".

William Marshall, a former journalist who currently lives in Huddersfield, has undertaken the three year project after being given a postgraduate grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

He said: "It's interesting to discover the ways in which Yorkshire people have come to define themselves like this.

"One area of source material I've been looking at is picture postcards from the early 1900s. There's a series of "Yorkshire Sayings" which depict pot-bellied farmers dispensing such advice as a mother telling her daughter to only marry for money or a father telling his son never to do anything for 'nowt'.

"The thing is, these stereotypes actually seem to have been taken up by Yorkshire people themselves.

"They seemed to relish this idea of being quite stubborn and selfish – many of these postcards were bought by Yorkshire-folk and sent to other people within the county, so this negative self-image was not only acceptable to them but perpetuated by them."

The research – provisionally entitled The Invention of Yorkshireness: Yorkshire cultural identities 1850-1914 – will explore how the identity of the region was constructed during the Victorian period.

The middle of the nineteenth century marked a period of great cultural centralisation with the advent of the railway age and national newspapers.

"But at the same time there were opposing forces of regional identities which were being constructed and reinforced, and I want to find out how that process happened in Yorkshire," said Mr Marshall, who already has a Bachelor's degree in History from Huddersfield and a Master's in Historical Research from the University of Sheffield.

Novels, newspapers and texts written in the area, as well as postcards, will all be studied as part of the research.

He will undertake the research on a full time basis after receiving confirmation of the funding this week. He is one of only 500 students in the country who will receive the postgraduate award.

A spokesperson for the Arts and Humanities Research Council said: "This year we received over 1,600 applications for doctoral awards.

"Of these, we made offers of awards to just 500 candidates, meaning the success rate was only 32 per cent.

"This year, as ever, the quality of the applications was very high, and only the most outstanding candidates could be supported."