Hugh trevor roper biography of mahatma

He developed a lucid prose style which he used to deadly effect. He was notorious for his acerbic attacks on other historians, but ultimately tainted his own reputation with a catastrophic error when he authenticated the forged 'Hitler Diaries'. Adam Sisman sheds new light on this fascinating and dramatic episode, but also shows that there was much more to Hugh Trevor-Roper's career than the fiasco of the Hitler Diaries hoax that became his epitaph.

From wartime code-breaking to grilling Nazis while the trail was still fresh in and finding Hitler's will buried inside a bottleto his wide-ranging interests, his snobbery and his malice, his formidable post-war feuds with Evelyn Waugh, Tawney, Toynbee, Taylor and many others, and his secret and passionate affair with an older, married woman.

A study in both success and failure, Adam Sisman's biography is a revealing and personal story of a remarkable life. Hugh Trevor-Roper : The Biography. Trevor-Roper established that while Backhouse raised money for the Wilde defence fund, he spent it all on buying expensive jewellery, especially pearl necklaces, which were a special passion of Backhouse's.

It was this embezzlement of the money Backhouse had raised for the Wilde defence fund that led to him fleeing Britain in The discrediting of Backhouse as a hugh trevor roper biography of mahatma led to much of China's history being re-written in the West. Backhouse had portrayed Prince Ronglu as a friend of the West and an enemy of the Boxers when the opposite was true.

Trevor-Roper noted that in the "diary" of Ching-Shan, which Backhouse claimed to have looted from Ching's house just before it was burned down by Indian troops in the Boxer Rebellionit has Prince Ronglu saying in French about the government's support of the Boxers: "It was worse than a crime; it was a blunder. Backhouse was fluent in Mandarin and Cantoneselived most of his life in Beijing and after moving to China had declined to wear western clothes, preferring instead the gown of a Chinese mandarin, which led most Westerners to assume that Backhouse "knew" China.

Trevor-Roper noted that despite his superficial appearance of affection for the Chinese, much of what Backhouse wrote about on China worked subtly to confirm Western " Yellow Peril " stereotypes, as Backhouse variously depicted the Chinese as pathologically dishonest, sexually perverted, morally corrupt and generally devious and treacherous — in short, Chinese civilization for Backhouse was a deeply sick civilization.

Derek Sandhaus, however, notes that Trevor-Roper did not consult specialists in Chinese affairs, and seems to have read only enough of the text to have been disgusted by its homosexuality. InTrevor-Roper waged a successful campaign against the candidacy of Sir Oliver Franks who was backed by the heads of houses marshalled by Maurice Bowrafor the Chancellorship of the University of Oxfordhelping the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan to be elected instead.

Inhe was the author of The Letters of Mercuriusa satirical work on the student revolts and university politics of the late s, originally published as letters in The Spectator. Another aspect of Trevor-Roper's outlook on history and on scholarly research that has inspired controversy is his statement about the historical experiences of pre-literate societies.

Following Voltaire's remarks on the fall of the Roman Empire at the hands of barbarian tribes, he asserted that Africa had no history prior to European exploration and colonisation. Trevor-Roper said "there is only the history of Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness", its past "the unedifying gyrations of barbarous tribes in picturesque but irrelevant corners of the globe".

These comments, recapitulated in a later article which called Africa "unhistoric", spurred intense debate between historians, anthropologistssociologistsin the emerging fields of postcolonial and cultural studies about the definition of "history". Many historians now argue, against Trevor-Roper, that historical evidence should also include oral traditions as well as any type of written historya former criterion for a society having left " prehistory ".

Despite controversies over historical accuracy in oral records, as in Alex Haley 's book Roots: The Saga of an American Family and the popular TV mini-series based on itmany historians believe that African griotsor oral memoirists, provide an historical oral record. The nadir of his career came inwhen as a director of The TimesTrevor-Roper by now Baron Dacre of Glanton made statements that authenticated the so-called Hitler Diaries.

Within two weeks, forensic scientist Julius Grant demonstrated that the diaries were forgeries. The ensuing fiasco gave Trevor-Roper's enemies the opportunity to criticise him openly, while Trevor-Roper's initial endorsement of the diaries raised questions about his integrity: The Sunday Timesa newspaper to which he regularly contributed book reviews and of which he was an independent director, had already paid a considerable sum for the right to serialise the diaries if and only if they were genuine.

Trevor-Roper explained that he had been given assurances that turned out to be false about how the diaries had come into the possession of their "discoverer" [ who? Despite the shadow this cast over his later career, he continued to write and publish and his work remained well received.

Hugh trevor roper biography of mahatma: Hugh Trevor-Roper would face a

In at the age of 67, he became Master of Peterhousethe oldest and smallest college in the University of Cambridge. His election, which surprised his friends, was engineered by a group of fellows led by Maurice Cowlingthen the leading Peterhouse historian. The fellows chose him because Cowling's reactionary clique thought he would be an arch-conservative who would oppose the admission of women.

In the event, Trevor-Roper feuded constantly with Cowling and his allies, while launching a series of administrative reforms. Women were admitted in at his urging. Lord Dacre, far from being a romantic Tory ultra, turned out to be an anti-clerical Whig with a preference for free speech over superstition. For the next seven years, Trevor-Roper battled to suppress the insurgency of the Cowling clique "a strong mind trapped in its own glutinous frustrations"and to bring the college back to a condition in which students might actually want to go there.

Neither side won this struggle, which soon became a campaign to drive Trevor-Roper out of the college by grotesque rudeness and insubordination. In a review of Adam Sisman's biography of Trevor-Roper, the Economist wrote that the picture of Peterhouse in the s was "startling", stating the college had become under Cowling's influence a sort of right-wing "lunatic asylum", who were determined to sabotage Trevor-Roper's reforms.

LopezMichael HowardDavid S. KatzDimitri ObolenskyJ. Dorothy Maud Vivian. Lady Alexandra was a goddaughter of Queen Alexandra and had previously been married to Rear-Admiral Clarence Dinsmore Howard-Johnstonby whom she had had three children. There were no children by his marriage with her. She had her cousin, the 6th Viscount Hampden"as titular head of the Brand family", inform Trevor-Roper that the Dacre title belonged to the Brand family "and no-one else should breach their monopoly", on the grounds of the title's antiquity of over six centuries.

This high-handed treatment strengthened Trevor-Roper's resolve in the face of his initial ambivalence. He observed "why should the Brands be so 'proud', or so jealous, of a mere title They only acquired this pretty toy, inbecause a Mr Brandof whom nothing whatever is known, had married into the Trevor-Ropers, who had themselves acquired it by marrying into the Lennards.

Now they behave as if they had owned it for six centuries and had a monopoly of it for ever. A fig for their stuffiness! In his last years he had suffered from failing eyesight, which made it difficult for him to read and write.

Hugh trevor roper biography of mahatma: Hugh Trevor-Roper's historical essays, published over

He underwent cataract surgery and obtained a magnifying machine, which allowed him to continue writing. Inat the age of 88, Trevor-Roper submitted a sizable article on Thomas Suttonthe founder of Charterhouse Schoolto the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography in part with notes he had written decades earlier, which editor Brian Harrison praised as "the work of a master".

Trevor-Roper suffered several other minor ailments related to his advanced age, but according to his stepson, "bore all his difficulties stoically and without complaint". Inhe was diagnosed with cancer. He died on 26 January in a hospice in Oxfordaged Five books by Trevor-Roper were published posthumously. The first was Letters from Oxforda collection of letters written by Trevor-Roper between and to his close friend the American art historian and collector Bernard Berenson.

The latter work was largely completed bybut for unknown reasons was not finished. The third book was The Invention of Scotland: Myth and Historya critique written in the mids of what Trevor-Roper regarded as the myths of Scottish nationalism. It was published in The fourth book collecting together some of his essays on History and the Enlightenment: Eighteenth Century Essays was published in Contents move to sidebar hide.

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It is recommended to use named references to consolidate citations that are used multiple times. January Learn how and when to remove this message. This article includes inline citationsbut they are not properly formatted. Please improve this article by correcting them. The Right Honourable. GlantonNorthumberlandEngland. OxfordOxfordshireEngland.

Alexandra Howard-Johnston. Early life and education [ edit ]. Military service and the Second World War [ edit ]. Investigating Hitler's last days [ edit ]. Anti-communism [ edit ]. Historical debates and controversies [ edit ]. English Civil War [ edit ]. World War II and Hitler [ edit ]. General crisis of the 17th century [ edit ]. Main article: The General Crisis.

First World War [ edit ]. JFK Assassination [ edit ]. Backhouse frauds [ edit ]. Oxford activities [ edit ]. Debates on African history [ edit ]. Election as Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge [ edit ]. Festschrift [ edit ]. Personal life [ edit ]. Posthumous books [ edit ]. Works [ edit ]. Primary sources [ edit ]. See also [ edit ].

Portals : England Biography History. Notes [ edit ]. Since his death in there have been five posthumous books by him:. Pause animated content. Skip to main content. Hugh Trevor-Roper. Contact the Trust. The Biography. David Wotton.

Hugh trevor roper biography of mahatma: As a British Intelligence Officer

Since his death in there have been five posthumous books by him: Letters from Oxford. The letters to Berenson cover the years to An appendix reproduces two letters on Oxford elections to Wallace Notestein. A study of the career of the Huguenot physician and of its political and intellectual context.