Christopher Hill (historian)
English Marxist historian of 17th-century England and Master of Balliol College, Oxford.
John Edward Christopher Hill was an English Marxist historian and academic, born on 6 February 1912 in York to a solicitor father and a devout Methodist family. The Methodist preacher Theophilus Stevens Gregory had a significant influence on him. He attended St Peter's School, York, and at age 16 sat the entrance exam for Balliol College, Oxford, where the history tutors offered him a place to prevent him from going to Cambridge. After matriculating in 1931, he won the Lothian Prize and graduated with a first-class degree in modern history in 1934.
During his time at Balliol, he became a committed Marxist and joined the Communist Party of Great Britain upon graduating. A holiday in Freiburg, Germany, in 1931, where he witnessed the rise of the Nazi Party, contributed to his political radicalisation. After graduating, he became a Fellow of All Souls College and undertook a ten-month trip to Moscow in 1935, where he learned Russian and studied Soviet historical scholarship. He has been accused of being a Soviet spy, but declassified MI5 documents reportedly found no evidence of this, and several academics defended him.
Returning to England in 1936, he taught at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, attempted but was rejected from joining the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War, and instead helped Basque refugees. In 1938 he returned to Balliol as a Fellow and tutor. During the Second World War, he served in the British Army, initially as a private, then as a commissioned officer in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, and later in the Intelligence Corps, seconded to the Foreign Office from 1943.
After the war, he helped form the Communist Party Historians Group in 1946 and co-founded the journal Past and Present in 1952. He left the Communist Party in spring 1957 after his reports to the party congress were rejected, having grown discontented with its lack of democracy. His academic career rose after 1956, with his first book, Economic Problems of the Church, appearing that year. In 1965 he was elected Master of Balliol College, a post he held until 1978.
He retired from Balliol and then taught for two years at the Open University. His notable works include Puritanism and Revolution, Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution, The Century of Revolution, and The World Turned Upside Down.
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- John Edward Christopher Hill
- Born
- 6 February 1912
- Birthplace
- York, Yorkshire, England
- Died
- 23 February 2003
- Place of death
- Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England
- Spouse
- Inez Waugh (née Bartlett); Bridget Irene Mason (née Sutton)
- Children
- Four
- Discipline
- Historian
Facts from the source article.
Background
Christopher Hill was born on 6 February 1912, Bishopthorpe Road, York, to Edward Harold Hill and Janet Augusta (née Dickinson). His father was a solicitor and the family were devout Methodists; Hill was particularly influenced by the Methodist preacher Theophilus Stevens Gregory, to whom he later dedicated his Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution (1965). He attended St Peter's School, York. At the age of 16, he sat his entrance examination at Balliol College, Oxford.
The two history tutors who marked his papers recognised his ability and offered him a place in order to forestall any chance he might go to the University of Cambridge. In 1931 Hill took a prolonged holiday in Freiburg, Germany, where he witnessed the rise of the Nazi Party, later saying that it contributed significantly to the radicalisation of his politics. He matriculated at Balliol College in 1931. In the following year he won the Lothian Prize, and he graduated with a first-class Bachelor of Arts degree in modern history in 1934.
Whilst at Balliol, Hill became a committed Marxist and joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in the year he graduated. After graduating he became a Fellow of All Souls College. In 1935 he undertook a ten-month trip to Moscow, Soviet Union. There he became fluent in the Russian language and studied Soviet historical scholarship, particularly that relating to Britain.
Hill has been accused of being a spy for the Soviet Union, particularly via speculation originating with Anthony Glees in his Secrets of the Service (1987). Several academics, including Eric Hobsbawm and John Saville, defended Hill. Further, declassified MI5 documents are reported to have found no evidence of him being a spy. After returning to England from Russia in 1936, Hill accepted a teaching position as an assistant lecturer at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire in Cardiff.
During his time there he attempted to join the International Brigade and fight in the Spanish Civil War, but was rejected. Instead, he helped Basque refugees displaced by the war. After two years in Cardiff, he returned to Balliol College in 1938 as a Fellow and tutor in history. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the British Army, initially as a private in the Field Security Police.
Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)
"Only very slowly and late have men come to realize that unless freedom is universal it is only extended privilege." — Christopher Hill (historian)
"Most men and women of the seventeenth century Britain still lived in a world of magic, in which God and the devil intervened daily, a world of witches, fairies, and charms. If they failed, the royal touch would cure scrofula." — Christopher Hill (historian)
"Just as Oliver Cromwell aimed to bring about the kingdom of God on earth and founded the British Empire, so Bunyan wanted the millennium and got the novel." — Christopher Hill (historian)
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