Christopher Hibbert MC (born Arthur Raymond Hibbert; 5 March 1924 – 21 December 2008) was an English author,

popular historian Popular history is a broad genre of historiography that takes a popular approach, aims at a wide readership, and usually emphasizes narrative, Personality type, personality and vivid detail over scholarly analysis. The term is used in contradistin ...

and biographer. He has been called "a pearl of biographers" (''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'') and "probably the most widely-read

of our time and undoubtedly one of the most prolific" (''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''). Hibbert was the author of many books, including ''The Story of England'', ''Disraeli'', ''Edward VII'', ''George III'', ''George IV'', ''The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici'', and ''Cavaliers and Roundheads''. He was a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

Biography

Arthur Raymond Hibbert was born in Enderby,

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

in 1924, the son of

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

H. V. Hibbert (died 1980) and his wife Maude. He was the second of three children, and christened Arthur Raymond. He was educated at Radley College in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

before he went up to

Oriel College Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. He was awarded the degrees of BA and later MA. He left Oriel College to join the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, where a sergeant major referred to Hibbert as "

Christopher Robin Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney a ...

" (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 The London Irish Rifles (LIR) was a reserve infantry regiment and then company of the British Army. The unit's final incarnation was as D (London Irish Rifles) Company, the London Regiment. On 1 April 2022 soldiers in the company transferred to ...

regiment in Italy, reaching the rank of captain. He was wounded twice and awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

in 1945. From 1945 to 1959, he was a partner in a firm of land agents and auctioneers, and began his writing career in 1957. Hibbert was awarded the

Heinemann Award for Literature The W. H. Heinemann Award is an award established by William Heinemann who bequeathed funds to the Royal Society of Literature to establish a literary prize, given from 1945 to 2003.Directory of Grants in the Humanities The Heinemann Award is gi ...

in 1962 for ''The Destruction of Lord Raglan''.

Personal life

Hibbert lived at

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

, Oxfordshire, and was a member of the

Army and Navy Club The Army and Navy Club in London is a private members club founded in 1837, also known informally as The Rag.Garrick Club The Garrick Club is a gentlemen's club in the heart of London founded in 1831. It is one of the oldest members' clubs in the world and, since its inception, has catered to members such as Charles Kean, Henry Irving, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, A ...

. He was married to Susan Piggford and the couple had three children: his literary executor Kate Hibbert, television writer

Jimmy Hibbert James Christian Hibbert is an English actor and writer. He is best known for his voice work with the animation studio Cosgrove Hall Films. Early life James Christian Hibbert was born as the eldest of three children of author Christopher Hibbe ...

and music journalist

Tom Hibbert Tom Hibbert (28 May 1952 – 28 August 2011) was an English music journalist and film critic. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was a regular writer for music magazines such as ''Smash Hits'', '' Q'' and ''Mojo'', and reviewed films for ''Empire'' magaz ...

. He died on 21 December 2008, in Henley, from

bronchial pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity of ...

at the age of 84. He was cremated, after a

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

ceremony in Oxford, on 2 January 2009. Subscription needed.

Works

* ''The Road to Tyburn: The Story of

Jack Sheppard Jack Sheppard (4 March 1702 – 16 November 1724), or "Honest Jack", was a notorious English thief and prison escapee of early 18th-century London. Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in ...

and the Eighteenth Century Underworld'' (Longmans, 1957) * ''King Mob: The Story of

Lord George Gordon Lord George Gordon (26 December 1751 – 1 November 1793) was a British politician best known for lending his name to the Gordon Riots of 1780. An eccentric and flighty personality, he was born into the Scottish nobility and sat in the Hous ...

and the Riots of 1780'' (Longmans, 1958) * ''Wolfe at Quebec'' (Longmans, 1959) * ''Corunna'' (B. T. Batsford, 1961) * ''

The Destruction of Lord Raglan ''The Destruction of Lord Raglan: A tragedy of the Crimean War, 1854–55'' is a non-fiction historical work by Christopher Hibbert, originally published by Longman in 1961. The work is a portrait of Lord Raglan, commander-in-chief of British for ...

'' (Longmans, 1961) * ''Benito Mussolini. A Biography'' (Longmans, 1962) * ''The Battle of Arnhem'' (B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1962) * ''

The Roots of Evil ''The Roots of Evil'': ''A Social History of Crime and Punishment'' is a book written by Christopher Hibbert in 1963 which traces the development of the social justice system, mostly from an English perspective, though information about the con ...

: A Social History of Crime and Punishment'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1963) * ''Agincourt'' (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) * ''Highwaymen'' (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1967) * ''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) * ''The Dragon Wakes: China and the West, 1793-1911'' (Longmans, 1970) * ''The Personal History of Samuel Johnson'' (Longmans, 1971) * ''Tower of London'' (Newsweek eries: ''Wonders of Man'' 1971) * ''Edward: The Uncrowned King'' (Macdonald, 1972) * ''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 * ''Versailles'' (Series: ''Wonders of Man'', 1975) * ''The Illustrated London News: Social History of Victorian Britain'' (Angus and Robertson, 1975) * ''Edward VII: A Portrait'' (Allen Lane, 1976) * ''Disraeli and his World'' (Thames and Hudson, 1978) * ''The Great Mutiny: India, 1857'' (Allen Lane, 1978), as Penguin Pocketbook: 1980, . * ''The Court of St James's: The Monarch at Work from Victoria to Elizabeth II'' (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1979) * ''The French Revolution'' (Penguin, 1980) . * ''Africa Explored: Europeans in the Dark Continent, 1769-1889'' (Allen Lane, 1982) * ''Chateaux of the Loire'' (Series: ''Wonders of Man'', 1983) * ''

The London Encyclopaedia ''The London Encyclopaedia'', first published in 1983, is a 1100-page historical reference work on the United Kingdom's capital city, London. The encyclopaedia covers the Greater London area. Development The first edition of the encyclopaedia wa ...

'' with

Ben Weinreb Benjamin Weinreb (1912–1999) was a British bookseller and expert on the history of London who in 1968 sold his entire stock to the University of Texas.The Encyclopaedia of Oxford ''The Encyclopaedia of Oxford'' is an encyclopaedia covering the history of Oxford in England. The book was published by Macmillan in 1988 (). It was edited by the Oxford-educated historian Christopher Hibbert with the help of the associate edi ...

'' (Macmillan, 1988) * '' Redcoats and Rebels'' (Grafton, 1990) * ''The Virgin Queen: The Personal History of Elizabeth I'' (Viking, 1990) * ''Florence: The Biography of a City'' (Viking, 1993) * ''Cavaliers & Roundheads: The English Civil War, 1642–1649'' (HarperCollins, 1993) * ''The Story of England'' (Phaidon Press, 1994) * ''Nelson: A Personal History'' (Penguin, 1994) * * ''Wellington: A Personal History'' (HarperCollins, 1997) * ''George III: A Personal History'' (Penguin, 1998) * ''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) * ''Disraeli: A Personal History'' (HarperCollins, 2004) * ''Disraeli: The Victorian Dandy Who Became Prime Minister'' (Palgrave Macmillan, New York City 2006) . * ''The Borgias and Their Enemies: 1431–1519'' (Mariner Books, 2009)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hibbert, Christopher 1924 births 2008 deaths People from Enderby, Leicestershire People educated at Radley College Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford English humanists Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature British military historians Military personnel from Leicestershire British Army personnel of World War II Recipients of the Military Cross London Irish Rifles officers Deaths from pneumonia in England Historians of the American Revolution Historians of the French Revolution Historians of the Napoleonic Wars Historians of England English encyclopedists 20th-century English historians English biographers

Biography

Personal life

Works

References

Further reading

External links