Charles Firth (historian)

(Redirected from C. H. Firth) British historian

Sir Charles Harding FirthFBA
Born	(1857-03-16)16 March 1857 Broom Spring House, Wilkinson Street, Ecclesall, Sheffield, England
Died	19 February 1936(1936-02-19) (aged 78) Acland Hospital, Oxford, England
Resting place	Wolvercote, Oxford
Nationality	British
Education	Clifton College
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Occupation	Historian
Known for	Works on the English Civil War and the Commonwealth
Title	Regius Professor of Modern History
Term	1904–1925
Predecessor	Frederick York Powell
Successor	Henry William Carless Davis

Sir Charles Harding Firth FBA (16 March 1857 – 19 February 1936) was a British historian. He was one of the founders of the Historical Association in 1906. Esmond de Beer wrote that Firth "knew the men and women of the seventeenth century much as a man knows his friends and acquaintances, not only as characters but also in the whole moral and intellectual world in which they lived."

Career

Born in Sheffield, Firth was educated at Clifton College and at Balliol College, Oxford. At university he received the Stanhope prize for an essay on Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley in 1877 and was a member of the exclusive Stubbs Society for high-achieving historians. He became lecturer at Pembroke College in 1887, and fellow of All Souls College in 1901. He was Ford's lecturer in English history in 1900, was elected FBA in 1903 and became Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford in succession to Frederick York Powell in 1904. Firth's historical work was almost entirely confined to English history during the time of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth; and although he is somewhat overshadowed by S. R. Gardiner, who wrote about the same period, his books were highly regarded.

Teaching vs scholarship

Firth was a great friend and ally of T. F. Tout, who was professionalising the History undergraduate programme at Manchester University, especially by introducing a key element of individual study of original sources and production of a thesis. Firth's attempts to do likewise at Oxford brought him into bitter conflict with the college fellows, who had little research expertise of their own and saw no reason why their undergraduates should be made to acquire such arcane, even artisan, skills, given their likely careers. They saw Firth as a power-seeker for the university professoriate as against the role of the colleges as proven finishing-schools for the country and empire's future establishment. Firth failed but the twentieth century saw universities go his and Tout's way.

He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1892.

He served as president of the Royal Historical Society from 1913 to 1917.

His letters to Tout are in the latter's collection in the John Rylands Library, Manchester University.

Major works

Life of the Duke of Newcastle (1886)
Scotland and the Commonwealth (1895)
Scotland and the Protectorate (1899)
Narrative of General Venables (1900)
Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England (1900)
Cromwell's Army: A History of the English Soldier during the Civil Wars, the Commonwealth and the Protectorate (1902) (publication of Firth's Ford Lectures given at Oxford, 1900–1901)
The standard edition of Ludlow's Memoirs (1894).

He also edited the Clarke Papers (1891–1901), and Mrs Hutchinson's Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson (1885), and wrote an introduction to the Stuart Tracts, 1603–1693 (1903), besides contributions to the Dictionary of National Biography. In 1909 he published The Last Years of the Protectorate.

Godfrey Davies, who had been Firth's student and then his research assistant at Oxford between 1910 and 1925, edited and published Firth's posthumously published works.

References

Herbert Butterfield, "The History of the Historical Association" History Today (Jan 1956) 6#1 pp. 63–67.
E. S. de Beer, ed, The Diary of John Evelyn (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955), vol. 1., p. viii
"Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p28: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948
"FIRTH, Charles Harding". Who's Who. Vol. 59. 1907. p. 598.
Soffer, Reba (1987). "Nation, duty, character and confidence: history at Oxford, 1850–1914". Historical Journal. 30 (1): 77–104. doi:10.1017/S0018246X00021920. S2CID 159647938.
American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
"List of Presidents". The Royal Historical Society. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 20 December 2010.

External links

Works by or about Charles Harding Firth at Wikisource
Works by Charles Firth at Project Gutenberg
Works by Charles H. Firth at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Academic offices
Preceded byWilliam Cunningham	President of the Royal Historical Society 1913–1917	Succeeded byCharles Oman

v t e Presidents of the Royal Historical Society
1871–1872 George Grote 1873–1878 John Russell, 1st Earl Russell 1878–1891 Henry Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare 1891–1899 Sir M. E. Grant Duff 1899–1901 Sir Adolphus Ward 1901–1905 Sir George Prothero 1905–1909 William Hunt 1909–1913 William Cunningham 1913–1917 Sir Charles Firth 1917–1921 Sir Charles Oman 1921–1925 Sir John Fortescue 1925–1929 Frederick Tout 1929–1933 Sir Richard Lodge 1933–1937 Sir F. M. Powicke 1937–1945 Sir Frank Stenton 1946–1949 Robert William Seton-Watson 1949–1953 Theodore Plucknett 1953–1957 Hale Bellot 1957–1961 David Knowles 1961–1965 Sir Goronwy Edwards 1965–1969 Robin Humphreys 1969–1973 Sir R. W. Southern 1973–1977 Sir Geoffrey Elton 1977–1981 Sir John Habakkuk 1981–1985 Sir J. C. Holt 1985–1989 Gerald Aylmer 1989–1993 Michael Thompson 1993–1997 Sir Rees Davies 1997–2001 Sir P. J. Marshall 2001–2005 Dame Janet Nelson 2005–2008 Martin Daunton 2009–2012 Colin Jones 2012–2016 Peter Mandler 2016–2020 Margot Finn 2020-present Emma Griffin

Presidents of the Royal Historical Society

1871–1872 George Grote
1873–1878 John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
1878–1891 Henry Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare
1891–1899 Sir M. E. Grant Duff
1899–1901 Sir Adolphus Ward
1901–1905 Sir George Prothero
1905–1909 William Hunt
1909–1913 William Cunningham
1913–1917 Sir Charles Firth
1917–1921 Sir Charles Oman
1921–1925 Sir John Fortescue
1925–1929 Frederick Tout
1929–1933 Sir Richard Lodge
1933–1937 Sir F. M. Powicke
1937–1945 Sir Frank Stenton
1946–1949 Robert William Seton-Watson
1949–1953 Theodore Plucknett
1953–1957 Hale Bellot
1957–1961 David Knowles
1961–1965 Sir Goronwy Edwards
1965–1969 Robin Humphreys
1969–1973 Sir R. W. Southern
1973–1977 Sir Geoffrey Elton
1977–1981 Sir John Habakkuk
1981–1985 Sir J. C. Holt
1985–1989 Gerald Aylmer
1989–1993 Michael Thompson
1993–1997 Sir Rees Davies
1997–2001 Sir P. J. Marshall
2001–2005 Dame Janet Nelson
2005–2008 Martin Daunton
2009–2012 Colin Jones
2012–2016 Peter Mandler
2016–2020 Margot Finn
2020-present Emma Griffin

Categories:

Misplaced Pages

Career

Teaching vs scholarship

Major works

See also

References

Further reading

External links