Brian Harrison (historian)

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Sir Brian Harrison
FBA FRHistS
Born (1937-07-09) 9 July 1937 (age 87)
Occupation(s)Historian and academic
TitleProfessor of Modern History
Spouse
Vicky Greggain
​
(m. 1967)​
Academic background
Education Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Alma mater St John's College, Oxford
Thesis The temperance question in England, 1829-1869 (1966)
Doctoral advisor Peter Mathias
Institutions

Sir Brian Howard Harrison (born 9 July 1937) is a British historian and academic. From 1996 to 2004, he was Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford. From 2000 to 2004, he was also the editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .

Contents

Early life and education

Harrison was born on 9 July 1937. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, an independent school in London. [1] From 1956 to 1958, between school and university, he undertook his national service with the Malta Signal Squadron. [1] On 6 October 1956, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Signals, British Army. [2] On 19 June 1958, he transferred to the Territorial Army, thereby ending his active military service, and was promoted to lieutenant. [3] He was transferred to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers on 1 September 1961, which fully ended his military service but signaled that he was a trained soldier who could be called up in an emergency. [4]

He studied modern history at St John's College, Oxford, graduating with a first class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1961: as per tradition, his BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Oxon) degree. [1] [5] He remained at St John's College to undertake a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree, which he completed in 1966 with a doctoral thesis titled The temperance question in England, 1829-1869. [1] [6] The thesis was supervised by Peter Mathias. [7]

Academic career

Harrison was Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford from 1996 to 2004. He was additionally the editor of Oxford Dictionary of National Biography from January 2000 to September 2004. [8] Since 2004, he has been an emeritus fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. [9]

Harrison has published extensively on British social and political history from the 1790s to the present. His first book was Drink and the Victorians. The Temperance Question England 1815–1872, based on his doctoral thesis. [6] His most recent publications are two volumes in the New Oxford History of England series covering British history from 1951.

National Life Stories conducted an oral history interview (C1149/24) with Harrison in 2012 for its Oral History of Oral History collection held by the British Library. [10] Harrison also did a video interview with the Cambridge historian and social anthropologist Alan Macfarlane in 2012, [11] [12] which was also published in prose format. [13]

Between 1974 and 1981 Harrison conducted a series of oral history interviews with surviving suffrage campaigners, their relatives and employees, known as The Suffrage Interviews, or Oral evidence on the suffragette and suffragist movements: the Brian Harrison interviews. [14] The recordings were deposited with The Women's Library in 1981, and are now available online via The British Library of Political and Economic Science. The Library is working on a Wikidata project, WikiProject LSESuffrageInterviewsProject, which seeks to explore connections between individuals and organizations mentioned within the collection, and make the resource accessible to researchers in new ways.

Personal life

In 1967, Harrison married Vicky Greggain. [1] She is a retired administrator who worked in the public and charitable sectors, including as executive secretary/chief executive) of the Wolfson Foundation (1997–2006). [15] [16]

Honours

Harrison was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 2005 New Year Honours for "services to scholarship". He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) on 30 July 2005. [9] He is also an elected fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS). [17]

A book of essays was published in his honour in 2022 titled Reform and its Complexities in Modern Britain: Essays Inspired by Sir Brian Harrison. [18]

Selected works

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Harrison, Sir Brian (Howard), (born 9 July 1937), Emeritus Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, since 2004; Titular Professor of Modern History, University of Oxford, 1996–2004". Who's Who 2020 . Oxford University Press. 1 December 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  2. ↑ "Supplement". The London Gazette . 40920: 6317. 6 November 1956 – via United Kingdom.
  3. ↑ "Supplement". The London Gazette . 41424: 3912. 17 June 1958 – via United Kingdom.
  4. ↑ "Supplement". The London Gazette . 42450: 6403. 29 August 1961 – via United Kingdom.
  5. ↑ "Sir Brian Harrison". St John's College. University of Oxford. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  6. 1 2 Sir Harrison, Brian Howard (July 1965). "The temperance question in England, 1829-1869". DPhil thesis. Archived from the original on 26 June 2024. Retrieved 16 June 2024– via University of Oxford.
  7. ↑ Harrison, Brian (1994). Drink and the Victorians: The Temperance Question in England, 1815-1872 (Second ed.). Keele: Keele University Press. p. 19. ISBN   1853310468.
  8. ↑ Sir Harrison, Brian Howard (2017). "The editor: Brian Harrison, 2000–2004". Oxford University Press . Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  9. 1 2 Sir Harrison, Brian Howard (30 July 2005). "Fellows of the British Academy. UK Learned Society for Humanities and the social sciences". British Academy . Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  10. ↑ Sir Harrison, Brian Howard (29 September 2017). "Harrison, Brian (1 of 25). Oral History of Oral History". British Library . Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  11. ↑ Macfarlane, Alan (24 August 2012). "Brian Harrison's Indexing System". University of Cambridge . Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  12. ↑ Macfarlane, Alan (5 February 2013). "Brian Harrison". University of Cambridge . Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  13. ↑ Macfarlane, Alan (31 August 2021). "II. Brian Harrison – In conversation with Alan Macfarlane". In Béteille, Radha (ed.). Creative Lives and Works: From Antiquity to Ethnography – Keith Thomas, Brian Harrison and Peter Burke (1st ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 60–121. doi:10.4324/9781003246152. ISBN   978-1-003-24615-2.
  14. ↑ Murphy, Gillian. "The Suffrage Interviews". London School of Economics . Archived from the original on 25 October 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  15. ↑ "Vicky Harrison". www.hearingdogs.org.uk. Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  16. ↑ "Harrison, (Anne) Victoria, (Lady Harrison), Executive Secretary (Chief Executive), Wolfson Foundation, 1997–2006". Who's Who 2024 . Oxford University Press. 1 December 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  17. ↑ "Fellows – H" (PDF). Royal Historical Society . October 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  18. ↑ Kinzer, Bruce; Baer Kramer, Molly; Trainor, Richard, eds. (2022). Reform and its complexities in modern Britain: essays inspired by Sir Brian Harrison. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0192863423.
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