John Beaglehole facts for kids

John Cawte Beaglehole OM CMG (13 June 1901 – 10 October 1971) was a New Zealand historian whose greatest scholastic achievement was the editing of James Cook's three journals of exploration, together with the writing of an acclaimed biography of Cook, published posthumously. He had a lifelong association with Victoria University College, which became Victoria University of Wellington, and after his death it named the archival collections after him.

Early life and career

Beaglehole was born and grew up in Wellington, New Zealand, the second of the four sons of David Ernest Beaglehole, a clerk, and his wife, Jane Butler. His younger brother was Ernest Beaglehole, who became a psychologist and ethnologist. John was educated at Mount Cook School and Wellington College before being enrolled at Victoria University College, Wellington of the University of New Zealand, which later became an independent university, and where he subsequently spent most of his academic career. After his graduation, he was awarded a scholarship to study at the London School of Economics, and left for England in 1926.

After three years of post-graduate study Beaglehole obtained his PhD with a thesis on British colonial history. At this time he was much influenced by left-wing teachers, especially R. H. Tawney and Harold Laski, and on returning to New Zealand he found it difficult to obtain an academic post owing to his radical views. For a time he had various jobs including a spell as a Workers' Educational Association lecturer, and had time to develop other enthusiasms including civil rights issues, writing poetry, and music, an interest inherited from his mother. In 1932 he took a temporary position as a lecturer in history at Auckland University College, but within months the position was abolished in a retrenchment by the college council. Many believed the decision was due more to the college's reaction to Beaglehole's reputation (albeit exaggerated) for radicalism. His academic career finally took off in 1934 after the publication of his first major book, The Exploration of the Pacific, after which he developed his specialist interest in James Cook. He became lecturer, later professor, at the Victoria University College.

He married Elsie Mary Holmes in 1930, and they had three sons.

Honours and awards

In the 1958 Queen's Birthday Honours, Beaglehole was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, for services in the fields of historical research and literature. During his last decade, Beaglehole was showered with honorary degrees from universities at home and abroad and other distinctions. Perhaps the most prestigious was the award in 1970 of the British Order of Merit. He was only the second New Zealander ever to receive this award, the first being the nuclear physicist Ernest Rutherford.

Later life and death

Just before he died in 1971 Beaglehole was in the process of revising his detailed and authoritative biography of Cook, which was subsequently prepared for publication by his son Tim, who was Chancellor and Emeritus Professor at Victoria.

Archival collections at Victoria University

Beaglehole's alma mater, the Victoria University of Wellington, named its archival collections after him, in the reading room of which is displayed his portrait, by W.A. Sutton. The J.C. Beaglehole Room, as it is known, was moved into a completely new space in 2011.

Works

• The Exploration of the Pacific, London, A. & C. Black, 1934.
• ed., The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks 1768–1771, vol 1 & vol 2., Sydney, 1962.
• ed., The Journals of Captain James Cook: The Voyage of the Endeavour, 1768–1771, Cambridge, 1955, reprinted 1968.
• ed., The Journals of Captain James Cook: The Voyage of the Resolution and Adventure, 1772–1775, Cambridge, 1961, reprinted 1969.
• ed., The Journals of Captain James Cook: The Voyage of the Resolution and Discovery, 1776–1780, 2 vols., Cambridge, 1967.
• The Life of Captain James Cook, Stanford, California, 1974.
• The Death of Captain Cook. Wellington, NZ, Alexander Turnbull Library, 1979.

See also

• I Think I am becoming a New Zealander: Letters of J C Beaglehole edited by Tim Beaglehole (2013, Victoria University Press) ISBN: 978-0-86473-902-5
• Beaglehole Glacier in Graham Land, Antarctica is named after him.