Christopher Hibbert,
MCThe Military Cross is the third level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
, FRSL, FRGS (5 March 1924 - 21 December 2008) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
writer,
historianAn historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time...
and biographer. He has been called "a pearl of biographers" (
New StatesmanThe New Statesman is a British left-wing political magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
), was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the author of many highly acclaimed books, including
Disraeli,
Edward VII,
George VI,
The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, and
Cavaliers and Roundheads.
Born Arthur Raymond Hibbert in
Enderby, LeicestershireEnderby is a village in the Blaby local government district, in Leicestershire, England. It is situated on the south western outskirts of the city of Leicester and has a population of 5,648 at the time of the 2001 census. According to the Enderby Heritage group, the definitive origin of the name...
to
CanonA canon is a priest who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
H.
Christopher Hibbert,
MCThe Military Cross is the third level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
, FRSL, FRGS (5 March 1924 - 21 December 2008) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
writer,
historianAn historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time...
and biographer. He has been called "a pearl of biographers" (
New StatesmanThe New Statesman is a British left-wing political magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
), was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the author of many highly acclaimed books, including
Disraeli,
Edward VII,
George VI,
The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, and
Cavaliers and Roundheads.
Biography
Born Arthur Raymond Hibbert in
Enderby, LeicestershireEnderby is a village in the Blaby local government district, in Leicestershire, England. It is situated on the south western outskirts of the city of Leicester and has a population of 5,648 at the time of the 2001 census. According to the Enderby Heritage group, the definitive origin of the name...
to
CanonA canon is a priest who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
H. V. Hibbert (d. 1980), Christopher Hibbert was educated at
Radley CollegeRadley College is a English public school situated on the edge of the village of Radley near Abingdon in Oxfordshire...
, before going up to Oriel College at the
University of OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
(MA). He left Oriel College to join the Army, where a sneering sergeant major called him Christopher Robin. The “Christopher” stuck. He served as an infantry officer in the
London Irish RiflesThe London Irish Rifles is now known more formally known as "D Company, London Regiment" and is a volunteer Rifle Regiment with a distinguished history...
regiment in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, reaching the rank of captain. He was wounded twice and awarded the
Military CrossThe Military Cross is the third level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
in 1945.
From 1945 to 1959 he was a partner in a firm of land agents and auctioneers, and commenced his writing career in 1959.
He was awarded the
HeinemannHeinemann may refer to:* Heinemann , a publishing company* Heinemann Park, aka. Pelican Stadium in New Orleans-People:* Barbara Heinemann Landmann , Alsatian pietist* Ed Heinemann , American aircraft designer...
Award for Literature in 1962, and the McColvin Medal in 1989.
Christopher Hibbert was a Fellow of the
Royal Society of LiteratureThe Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by King George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
and the
Royal Geographical SocietyThe Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 with the name Geographical Society of London for the advancement of geographical sciences, under the patronage of King William IV...
, and was awarded an Honorary
DoctorateA doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries represents the highest level of formal study or research in a given field. In some countries it also refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to practice in a specific profession . The best-known example...
in Literature by the
University of LeicesterThe University of Leicester is a research led university based in Leicester, England, with approximately 20,000 registered students - about 13,000 of them full-time students and 7,000 part-time and/or distance learning...
.
Hibbert was a member of the
Army and Navy ClubThe Army and Navy Club in London is a gentlemen's club founded in 1837, also known informally as The Rag.-Foundation and membership:...
and the
Garrick ClubThe Garrick Club is a gentlemen's club in London.-History:Founded in 1831, it moved to its present home at 13 and 15 Garrick Street in 1864, close to the theatre and legal districts. Membership to the club is by invitation to those applicants considered qualified...
. He lived at
Henley-on-ThamesHenley-on-Thames is a town on the north side of the River Thames in south Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...
,
OxfordshireOxfordshire is a county in the South East England region, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire....
. He was married with three children, including music journalist Tom Hibbert.
He died in
Henley-on-ThamesHenley-on-Thames is a town on the north side of the River Thames in south Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...
from bronchial pneumonia at the age of 84.
Publications
include:
- King Mob
King Mob was a radical group endeavouring to contribute to worldwide proletarian social revolution, based in London during the 1970s.It was a cultural mutation of the Situationists and the Motherfuckers street gang. They sought to emphasize the cultural anarchy and disorder being ignored in Britain...
(Longmans, 1958)
- Wolfe at Quebec (Longmans, 1959)
- The Destruction of Lord Raglan
The Destruction of Lord Raglan: A tragedy of the Crimean War, 1854–55 is a non-fiction historical work by Christopher Hibbert, originally published by Longman in 1961. The work is a portrait of Lord Raglan, commander-in-chief of British forces during the Crimean War...
(Longmans, 1961)
- Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
(Longmans, 1962)
- The Roots of Evil: A Social History of Crime and Punishment (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1963)
- Agincourt
Agincourt can refer to:* Azincourt, a commune of the Pas-de-Calais département in northern France** Battle of Agincourt, 1415, part of the Hundred Years War.** The Agincourt Carol, an English folk song composed not long after the battle....
(Batsford, 1964)
- The Court at Windsor (Longmans, 1964)
- Garibaldi and his enemies (Longmans, 1965)
- The Making of Charles Dickens (Harper & Row, 1967)
- Waterloo (New English library Ltd, 1967)
- Charles I
Charles I may refer to:* Kings:** Charlemagne, Charles I, Holy Roman Emperor ** Charles I of Naples ** Charles I of Hungary ** Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, also known as Charles I of Bohemia,...
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1968)
- The Search for King Arthur (American Heritage, 1969)
- The Dragon Wakes (Harper & Row, 1970)
- The personal history of Samuel Johnson (Longmans, 1971)
- George IV (Vol 1 Longman, 1972, Vol 2 Allen Lane
- The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall (Morrow, 1975)
- Edward VII: A Portrait (Allen Lane, 1976)
- The Great Mutiny: India, 1857 (Allen Lane, 1978)
- The Days of the French Revolution (Allen Lane, 1980)
- Africa Explored (Allen Lane, 1982)
- The London Encyclopaedia
The London Encyclopaedia, first published in 1983 and revised in 1993, 1995 and 2008, is a 1101 page historical reference work on the United Kingdom's capital city, London, with some 5,000 articles supported by two indices - one general and one listing people, each of about 10,000 entries...
with Ben Weinreb (Macmillan, 1983)
- Rome, the Biography of a City (Norton, 1985)
- The English: A Social History (Grafton, 1987)
- Encyclopaedia of Oxford (Macmillan, 1988)
- Redcoats and Rebels
Redcoats and Rebels is historian Christopher Hibbert's history of the American Revolutionary War from the British perspective.First published in 1990 by Grafton Books as a Hardcover, 375-page publication.Following editions include:...
(Grafton, 1990)
- The Virgin Queen: Elizabeth I, Genius of the Golden Age (Addison-Wesley, 1991)
- Florence: Biography of a City (Norton, 1993)
- Cavaliers & Roundheads: The English Civil War, 1642-1649 (HarperCollins, 1993)
- Wellington: A Personal History (Da Capo, 1997)
- George III: A Personal History (1998)
- Queen Victoria: a personal history (HarperCollins, 2000)
- The Marlboroughs (Viking, 2001)
- Napoleon: His wives and women (HarperCollins, 2002)
- Disraeli: a personal history (HarperCollins, 2004)