Christopher Hill (historian) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Christopher Hill
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| Born |
John Edward Christopher Hill
6 February 1912 |
| Died | 23 February 2003 (aged 91) Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England
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| Nationality | British |
| Education | St Peter's School, York |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
| Spouse(s) | Inez Waugh (née Bartlett) Bridget Irene Mason (née Sutton) |
| Children | Four |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | All Souls College, Oxford University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire Balliol College, Oxford Open University |
| Notable students | Brian Manning Partha Sarathi Gupta |
| Influenced | Ervand Abrahamian |
John Edward Christopher Hill (born February 6, 1912 – died February 23, 2003) was an English historian. He was known for his studies on 17th-century English history. From 1965 to 1978, he was the Master of Balliol College, Oxford, a famous college at Oxford University.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Christopher Hill was born in York, England, on February 6, 1912. His father was a lawyer, and his family was very religious. He went to St Peter's School, York.
When he was just 16, he took an entrance exam for Balliol College, Oxford. His history teachers were so impressed that they offered him a spot right away. This was to make sure he didn't go to the University of Cambridge instead!
In 1931, Hill visited Freiburg, Germany. He saw the rise of the Nazi Party there, which made him think a lot about politics. He later said this trip helped shape his strong political views.
He started at Balliol College in 1931. He did very well, earning a top degree in modern history in 1934. While at Oxford, Hill became a Marxist, which is a way of thinking about society and economics. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain the same year he graduated.
Starting His Academic Career
After college, Christopher Hill became a Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. In 1935, he spent ten months in Moscow, Soviet Union. There, he learned to speak Russian fluently and studied how Soviet historians wrote about Britain.
In 1936, he returned to England and started teaching at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire in Cardiff. During this time, he tried to join the International Brigade to fight in the Spanish Civil War, but he was not accepted. Instead, he helped refugees from the war, especially those from the Basque region. After two years, he went back to Balliol College in 1938 as a Fellow and tutor in history.
Serving in World War II
When the Second World War began, Christopher Hill joined the British Army. He started as a private in the Field Security Police. Later, he became an officer. In 1941, he moved to the Intelligence Corps. From 1943 until the war ended, he worked for the Foreign Office. During the war, he also started publishing articles about 17th-century English history.
Later Academic Work and Politics
After the war, Hill returned to Oxford University to continue his history work. In 1946, he and other historians who shared his views formed the Communist Party Historians Group.
In 1949, he applied for a history professor job at a new university, Keele University. However, he was not chosen because of his ties to the Communist Party. In 1952, he helped start an important journal called Past and Present.
Hill became unhappy with the lack of democracy in the Communist Party. Even so, he stayed in the party after the Soviet Union invaded Hungary in 1956. He finally left the party in 1957.
After 1956, Hill's academic career really took off. His studies on 17th-century English history became very well-known. His first academic book, Economic Problems of the Church, came out in 1956. Many of his books were based on studying printed materials and other historians' work.
In 1965, Christopher Hill was chosen to be the Master of Balliol College. He held this important position until he retired in 1978. One of his students at Balliol was Brian Manning, who also became a famous historian of the English Revolution.
Many of Hill's most famous books focused on 17th-century English history. Some of his well-known works include Puritanism and Revolution (1958), The Century of Revolution (1961), and The World Turned Upside Down (1972). These books explored radical ideas and changes during that time.
After retiring from Balliol in 1978, he worked full-time for two years at the Open University. He continued to give lectures from his home.
In his later years, Christopher Hill lived with Alzheimer's disease. He passed away on February 23, 2003, in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.
Personal Life
Christopher Hill married Inez Waugh in 1944. They had one daughter, Fanny.
His second wife was Bridget Irene Mason, whom he married in 1956. They had three children: Kate, Andrew, and Dinah.
Selected Works
- The English Revolution, 1640 (1940)
- Lenin and the Russian Revolution (1947)
- Economic Problems of the Church: From Archbishop Whitgift to the Long Parliament (1956)
- Puritanism and Revolution: Studies in Interpretation of the English Revolution of the 17th Century (1958)
- The Century of Revolution, 1603–1714 (1961)
- Society and Puritanism in Pre-Revolutionary England (1964)
- Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution (1965)
- Reformation to Industrial Revolution: A Social and Economic History of Britain, 1530–1780 (1967)
- God's Englishman: Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution (1970)
- Antichrist in Seventeenth-Century England (1971)
- The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution (1972)
- Change and Continuity in Seventeenth-Century England (1974)
- Milton and the English Revolution (1977)
- The World of the Muggletonians (1983)
- The Experience of Defeat: Milton and Some Contemporaries (1984)
- The Collected Essays of Christopher Hill (3 vols.)
- Writing and Revolution in 17th Century England (1985)
- Religion and Politics in 17th Century England (1986)
- People and Ideas in 17th Century England (1986)
- A Turbulent, Seditious, and Factious People: John Bunyan and His Church, 1628–1688 (1988)
- A Nation of Change and Novelty: Radical Politics, Religion and Literature in Seventeenth-Century England (1990)
- The English Bible and the Seventeenth-Century Revolution (1992)
- Liberty Against The Law: Some Seventeenth-Century Controversies (1996)
