William Mitford facts for kids

Quick facts for kids William Mitford
Exbury House today
Member of Parliament for Newport, Cornwall
In office 1785–1790
Member of Parliament for Bere Alston
In office 1796–1806
Member of Parliament for New Romney
In office 1812–1818
Personal details
Born	(1744-02-10)10 February 1744 Exbury, Hampshire
Died	10 February 1827(1827-02-10) (aged 83) Exbury, Hampshire
Resting place	The Church of St. Katherine, Exbury
Nationality	British
Political party	Tory
Spouse	Fanny Molloy (1766–1776, her death)
Alma mater	The Queen's College, Oxford
Occupation	Author Historian
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	British Army
Rank	Colonel
Unit	South Hampshire Militia

William Mitford (born February 10, 1744 – died February 10, 1827) was an English politician and historian. He is most famous for his large work, The History of Greece, published between 1784 and 1810.

Early Life and Family

William Mitford was born in Exbury, Hampshire, England, on February 10, 1744. His family belonged to the rural gentry, which meant they were wealthy landowners. The Mitford family name comes from an old English word for a "river crossing."

William's father was a successful lawyer in London. His mother, Philadelphia Reveley, came from a powerful family in Northumberland. Her family's wealth helped the Mitfords become even richer. She was also related to Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland, a very important person who helped William and his brother get elected to Parliament.

In 1766, William married Frances (Fanny) Molloy, whose father was a rich Irish merchant. William's younger brother, John Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale, also became a famous lawyer and politician. He was even the Speaker of the House of Commons. William inherited a lot of money from his father. Even though he didn't have a noble title, he was connected to the most important people in British politics and law. He lived with his family at Exbury House in Hampshire.

Education and Military Service

William Mitford went to Cheam School, a boarding school for wealthy children. There, he developed a strong interest in history, especially Greek history. He loved reading ancient Greek writers like Plutarch and Xenophon.

In 1756, a sad event happened: his mother's younger brother tragically died in India. This deeply affected William, and he became very ill. He left school and returned home. In 1761, he went to the Queen's College, Oxford University. However, he left Oxford in 1763 without finishing his degree. He preferred fun over studying, even though he did attend lectures by the famous lawyer William Blackstone.

In 1774, his wife Fanny died. This made him ill again. To recover, he traveled to Nice, France, in 1776. There, he met French scholars who studied ancient Greece. They encouraged him to focus on Greek history.

William also became a lieutenant colonel in the South Hampshire militia. He served during the Napoleonic Wars, but because he was part of a local militia and nearly 60 years old, he likely did not fight in battles. During this time, he became good friends with Edward Gibbon, another famous historian. Gibbon encouraged William to write his history book and helped him plan its structure.

Historian and Politician

The first part of William Mitford's most famous work, The History of Greece, was published in 1784. It was very popular, so he decided to write nine more parts. He changed the book's structure over time, partly because of political changes happening in the world.

Besides his Greek history, Mitford wrote other books. These included studies on language, laws about farming, and even a history of Arabs. He also wrote about architecture. However, none of these other works became as famous as his history of Greece.

William Mitford was a Member of Parliament (MP) for several years.

• From 1785 to 1790, he represented Newport, a small area in Cornwall.
• From 1796 to 1806, he represented Bere Alston.
• From 1812 to 1818, he represented New Romney in Kent.

His family connections, especially to the Duke of Northumberland, helped him get elected. William supported William Pitt the Younger, a leading politician of the time. It's hard to know exactly what William Mitford did in Parliament because records often just say "Mr. Mitford," which could also refer to his more active brother. William mostly supported his brother's ideas. He gave a few speeches about laws for local militias.

Even though his brother had a more successful political career, William Mitford became more famous as the author of The History of Greece. It was one of the most important books of its time.

Historian of Ancient Greece

After 1776, William Mitford started writing his huge history of Greece. He spent the rest of his life at Exbury, studying the Greek language and history.

His friend Edward Gibbon helped him decide how to organize his book. The first part came out in 1784. The fifth and last part of the original series was published in 1810. By then, Mitford's eyesight and health were failing, and he had trouble remembering things. He couldn't continue writing new parts, but he did revise earlier editions.

The first volume of his history covered Greek times from Homer to the Persian invasion. The second volume, published in 1790, focused on the Peloponnesian War (around 431-404 BC). Mitford believed the historian Thucydides was very reliable. He said he used Thucydides as his "lodestar" or guiding star.

The second volume also included many references to the French Revolution, which was happening at the time. When the book was published, the Revolution was still changing. British society first thought it might lead to a constitutional monarchy, like Britain's. But as the Revolution became more extreme, British attitudes changed.

By the time the third volume was published in 1797, the French King had been executed. This volume showed Mitford's strong anti-democratic views. It often connected events in ancient Greece to the political situation in France. The later volumes, especially Volume V (1810), were written during the Napoleonic Wars. They focused on the time of Alexander the Great and his father Philip II of Macedon.

Mitford's work was first five volumes, but he later expanded it to ten. This shows how he changed the book as political events unfolded. The book was published by Thomas Cadell, a very important publisher. Cadell also published Edward Gibbon's famous The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Mitford's book was found in university libraries for many years.

Mitford knew a lot about ancient Greek and Latin writings. He often quoted them directly in his book. He tried to seem fair and objective, but his work was criticized by some groups, especially after he died. For example, George Grote wrote a strong criticism of Mitford's history in 1826. The last edition of Mitford's The History of Greece was published in 1938.

Mitford's writing style was common for his time. He tried to tell a complete story in a clear order. However, he sometimes changed the timeline to connect events in Greece to his own time, especially in Volume III. His language was sometimes fancy, using words that weren't common. He also used many footnotes, some in Greek, to show his knowledge. He often used quotes to share his opinions or praise people who agreed with him. He was criticized for his unusual spelling.

Later Life and Legacy

For many years, Mitford was a local magistrate and a colonel in the Hampshire Militia. He was also a member of the Court of Verderers for the New Forest, which managed the forest.

After a long illness, William Mitford died at Exbury on February 10, 1827, his 83rd birthday. He was a Tory politician and historian, but he never visited Greece.

Mitford was strongly against the Jacobins, a radical political group during the French Revolution. He preferred monarchy, which sometimes made him unfair when writing about Athenian democracy. For a long time, his History of Greece was the best book on the topic in Europe. However, when George Grote published his own history, Mitford's work became less popular.

Some historians, like Henry Fynes Clinton, criticized Mitford for not being precise with dates. But Clinton also said Mitford was "far superior to any former writer" in his ideas about Greek history. Even Lord Byron, who found faults in Mitford's work, called him "perhaps the best of all modern historians altogether."

Records suggest Mitford suffered from an illness for much of his life, possibly depression. He died at 83 in his home. There isn't a detailed biography of him. His brother, Lord Redesdale, wrote a short biography for the 1829 edition of The History of Greece. This biography mostly defended William's work and ideas. His brother explained that William's views on ancient Greek republics were shaped by the events of his time, like the American and French Revolutions.

Family

On May 18, 1766, William Mitford married Fanny Molloy. She died on April 27, 1827. Fanny's family had connections to important people, including Anthony James Pye Molloy and Admiral Sir Thomas Pye.

William and Fanny had three sons:

• Henry Reveley Mitford (born 1769) became a Captain in the Royal Navy. He tragically died in 1804 when his ship, HMS York, sank. This disaster led to the building of the famous Bell Rock Lighthouse.
• John Mitford (1772–1851) became a lawyer.
• Bertram Mitford (1774–1844) also became a lawyer.

William Mitford's younger brother, John Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale, was a lawyer and politician. He became the Speaker of the House of Commons and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. William was also distantly related to the novelist Mary Russell Mitford. He was the great-great-great-grandfather of the famous Mitford sisters of the 1920s.

The Exbury House estate, where William lived, was passed down to his eldest son, Henry Reveley Mitford.

Works

• Inquiry into the Principles of Harmony in Languages, 1774
• Considerations on the Corn Laws, 1791
• Treatise on the Military Force of this Kingdom

• The History of Greece:
  • Vol. 1 at Google Books
  • Vols. 2-3 at the Internet Archive
  • Vol. 4 at Google Books
  • Vol. 5 at the Internet Archive