English author, historian and Army Officer (1924–2008)
Arthur Raymond "Christopher " Hibbert ,
MC ,
FRSL ,
FRGS (5 March 1924 – 21 December 2008) was an
English author,
popular historian and biographer. He has been called "a pearl of biographers" (
New Statesman ) and "probably the most widely-read
popular historian of our time and undoubtedly one of the most prolific" (
The Times ).
[1]
Biography
Arthur Raymond Hibbert was born in
Enderby ,
Leicestershire in 1924, the son of
Canon H. V. Hibbert (died 1980) and his wife Maude. He was the second of three children, and christened Arthur Raymond.
[2] He was educated at Radley College in
Oxfordshire before he went up to
Oriel College at the
University of Oxford .
[1]
[3] He was awarded the degrees of BA and later
MA .[
citation needed ]
He left Oriel College to join the
Army , where a sergeant major referred to Hibbert as "
Christopher Robin " (of Winnie the Pooh books) based upon his youthful looks. The name "Christopher" subsequently stuck. During World War II, Hibbert served as an infantry officer in the
London Irish Rifles regiment in Italy, reaching the rank of captain. He was wounded twice and awarded the
Military Cross in 1945.
[3]
[4]
From 1945 to 1959, he was a partner in a firm of land agents and auctioneers,
[1] and began his writing career in 1957.
[4] Hibbert was awarded the
Heinemann Award for Literature in 1962 for
The Destruction of Lord Raglan .
[3] He was a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature .
Personal life
Hibbert lived at
Henley-on-Thames , Oxfordshire, and was a member of the
Army and Navy Club and the
Garrick Club . He was married to Susan Piggford and the couple had three children: his literary executor Kate Hibbert, television writer
Jimmy Hibbert and music journalist
Tom Hibbert .
[3]
He died on 21 December 2008, in Henley, from
bronchial pneumonia at the age of 84.
[1]
[3]
[4] He was cremated, after a
humanist ceremony in Oxford, on 2 January 2009.
[5]
Works
The Road to Tyburn: The Story of
Jack Sheppard and the Eighteenth Century Underworld (Longmans, 1957)
King Mob: The Story of
Lord George Gordon and the
Riots of 1780 (Longmans, 1958)
Wolfe at
Quebec (Longmans, 1959)
Corunna (B. T. Batsford, 1961)
ISBN
113571309X
The Destruction of
Lord Raglan (Longmans, 1961)
Benito Mussolini . A Biography (Longmans, 1962) reprinted as Mussolini: The Rise and Fall of Il Duce (St Martin's Griffin, 2008; Foreword by
Tobias Jones )
The
Battle of Arnhem (B. T. Batsford, 1962)
The Roots of Evil : A Social History of Crime and Punishment (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1963)
Agincourt (B. T. Batsford, 1964)
The Wheatley Diary: A Journal and Sketch-book kept during the
Peninsular War and the Waterloo Campaign (Longmans, 1964) editor
The Court at Windsor. A Domestic History (Longmans, 1964) later revised
Garibaldi and His Enemies (Longmans, 1965)
The Making of
Charles Dickens (HarperCollins, 1967)
Waterloo : Napoleon's Last Campaign (New English Library, 1967)
ISBN
978-1853266874
Highwaymen (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1967) "Pageant of History" series
Charles I (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968)
London: The Biography of a City (Longmans, Green & Co., 1969)
The
Grand Tour (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1969)
The Search for
King Arthur (Cassell, 1969) reprinted as King Arthur (Tempus, 2007)
The Dragon Wakes: China and the West, 1793-1911 (Longmans, 1970)
Recollections of Rifleman Harris (Leo Cooper, 1970) editor
ISBN
085052-005-3
The Personal History of
Samuel Johnson (Longmans, 1971)
Tower of London (Newsweek, 1971)
ISBN
978-0882250021 "Wonders of Man" series
Edward : The Uncrowned King (Macdonald, 1972)
Versailles (Newsweek, 1972) "Wonders of Man" series
George IV . Prince of Wales, 1762-1811 Vol 1: (Longman, 1972)
George IV. Regent and King, 1811-1830 Vol 2: (Allen Lane, 1974)
The Rise and Fall of the
House of Medici (Allen Lane, 1974) reprinted by the Folio Society, 1998
A Soldier of the
Seventy-First : The Journal of a Soldier in the Peninsular War (Leo Cooper, 1975) editor
The
Illustrated London News : Social History of Victorian Britain (Angus and Robertson, 1975)
Edward VII : A Portrait (Allen Lane, 1976)
Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of
Queen Caroline ; by
Joseph Nightingale (Folio Society, 1978) editor
Disraeli and his World (Thames and Hudson, 1978)
ISBN
0-500-13065-5
The
Great Mutiny : India, 1857 (Allen Lane, 1978), as Penguin Pocketbook: 1980,
ISBN
978-0-14-004752-3 .
The
Court of St James's : The Monarch at Work from Victoria to Elizabeth II (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1979)
ISBN
0-29777631-2
The
French Revolution (Penguin, 1980)
ISBN
978-0-14004945-9 .
Greville's England: Selections from the Diaries of
Charles Greville 1818-1860 (Folio Society, 1981) editor
Africa Explored:
Europeans in the Dark Continent , 1769-1889 (Allen Lane, 1982)
Chateaux of the Loire (Newsweek, 1983) "Wonders of Man" series
The London Encyclopaedia with
Ben Weinreb (Macmillan, 1983) later revised, with Julia and
John Keay (3rd ed. 2010)
Rome : The Biography of a City (Viking, 1985)
ISBN
0393019845
Cities and Civilisations (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1986)
ISBN
0-297-78934-1 reprinted by the Folio Society, 2003
The English: A Social History (Grafton, 1987)
ISBN
0246121815
Venice : The Biography of a City (Grafton, 1988)
The Encyclopaedia of Oxford (Macmillan, 1988)
London's Churches assisted by Tessa Street with photographs by Martin Black (Queen Anne Press, 1988)
ISBN
0-356-12762-1
Redcoats and Rebels (Grafton, 1990)
ISBN
978-0393322934
The Virgin Queen: The Personal History of
Elizabeth I (Viking, 1990)
Captain Gronow : His Reminiscences of Regency and Victorian Life, 1810-60 (Kyle Cathie, 1991) editor
Florence : The Biography of a City (Viking, 1993)
ISBN
0140166440
Cavaliers &
Roundheads : The English at
War , 1642–1649 (HarperCollins, 1993)
The Story of England (Phaidon Press, 1994)
Nelson : A Personal History (Penguin, 1994)
ISBN
978-0-14-016738-2
No Ordinary Place:
Radley College and the Public School System 1847–1997 . London: John Murray General Publishing Division. 1997.
ISBN
0-7195-5176-5 .
Wellington : A Personal History (HarperCollins, 1997)
George III : A Personal History (Penguin, 1998)
ISBN
978-0-14-025737-3
Queen Victoria : A Personal History (HarperCollins, 2000)
The Marlboroughs:
John and
Sarah Churchill 1650-1744 (Viking, 2001)
Napoleon : His Wives and Women (HarperCollins, 2002)
Great Battles: Agincourt (Phoenix new edition 2003)
ISBN
1842127187
Disraeli: A Personal History (HarperCollins, 2004)
The Borgias and Their Enemies: 1431–1519 (Mariner Books, 2009)
References
Further reading
Crookes, John; Green, Alison; Smith, Sarah (2001). Debrett's People of Today (14th Annual ed.). London. p. 906.
ISBN
1-870520-64-5 . {{
cite book }}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link )
External links
International National Academics People Other