David Cannadine
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Sir David Nicholas Cannadine (born 7 September 1950) is a British author and historian who specialises in modern history, Britain and the history of business and
philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
. He is currently the Dodge Professor of History at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...
, a visiting professor of history at Oxford University, and the editor of the ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
''. He has been the president of the
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
since 2017, the UK's national academy for the humanities and social sciences. He also serves as the chairman of the trustees of the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...
in London and vice-chair of the editorial board of '' Past & Present''.


Education and early career

David Nicholas Cannadine was born in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
on 7 September 1950 and attended King Edward VI Five Ways School. He was educated at
Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Iris ...
, where he took a double first in history, at St John's College, Oxford, where he completed his DPhil, and at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...
where he was a Jane Eliza Procter Visiting Fellow.Kelly Boyd, ''Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing'' (1999), p. 926. After completing his graduate work, he returned to
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...
, where he was a research fellow at St John's College, and was then elected a Fellow of Christ's College and appointed to a university lectureship in history.


Subsequent career

Cannadine was appointed to the professorial chair of history at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...
in 1988, returning to Britain ten years later as director of the Institute of Historical Research at the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...
and, subsequently, as Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Professor of British History. In 2008 he joined the History Department of Princeton University from which he has announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2022-2023 academic year. In 2014 he was appointed
Editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, ...
of the ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'' and also to a visiting professorship at the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...
. Cannadine has held many other visitorial appointments: at the
Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholar ...
at Princeton (twice), at Birkbeck College,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, at the Whitney Humanities Center, Yale, at ANU Canberra, at the NHC North Carolina, at the Huntington Library and at New York University Stern School of Business. He is the general editor of the Penguin History of Britain and
the Penguin History of Europe The ''Penguin History of Europe'' is a popular book series about the history of Europe, published by Penguin Books. The series includes: # ''The Birth of Classical Europe: A History from Troy to Augustine'' (2011) by Simon Price and Peter Thone ...
. He is currently completing a volume on the history of the Ford Foundation.


Works

Cannadine's books include ''The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy'' (1990); '' G. M. Trevelyan: A Life in History'' (1992); ''Class in Britain'' (1998); '' Ornamentalism: How the British Saw Their Empire'' (2001); '' Mellon: An American Life'' (2006); ''The Thirty Year Rule'' (jointly, 2009); ''The Right Kind of History'' (jointly, 2011); and ''The Undivided Past: Humanity Beyond our Differences'' (2013). His most recent publications are '' Victorious Century: The United Kingdom, 1800–1906'' (2018), published for the Penguin History of Britain series, as well as two edited volumes on
Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
and on Anthony Blunt. Cannadine has delivered many public lectures including the Raleigh Lecture at the British Academy (1997), the Carnochan Lecture at Stanford University (2001), the Linbury Lecture at the National Gallery (2002), the T. S. Eliot Lecture at Washington University in St. Louis (2003), the George Macaulay Trevelyan Lectures at the University of Cambridge (2007), the Inaugural Lecture for the Centre for British Studies at Humboldt University, Berlin (2010), the Crosby Kemper Lecture at Westminster College ( Fulton, Missouri), the Jon Sigurosson Lecture at the University of Iceland (2012), the Haaga Lecture at the Huntington Library (2012), the Creighton Lecture at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institu ...
(2013), the Robb Lectures at the University of Auckland, New Zealand (2015), the Wolfson Anniversary Lecture at the University of Glasgow (2015), the Oxford University Press Centenary Lecture (2017) and the Founder's Lecture at St John's College, Oxford (2019).


Public work

Cannadine has served as a vice-president of the Royal Historical Society (1998–2002) and as a member of the advisory council, Public Record Office, subsequently National Archives (1999–2004); as a trustee and vice-chairman of the Kennedy Memorial Trust (1999–2010); as a trustee, vice-chair and chair of the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...
(2000–12); as a commissioner of
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...
(2001–09) and as Chairman of its Blue Plaques Panel (2006–13); as a member of the Royal Mint Advisory Committee (2004–14); and as chair of Churchill 2015 (2013–15). Cannadine is also widely known as a commentator on current events, in newspapers, on the radio and on television; he has been a long-standing contributor to ''A Point of View'', broadcast on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...
, as the successor to
Alastair Cooke Alistair Cooke (born Alfred Cooke; 20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British-American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the United States.Letter from America''; and he has also written and presented a series of programmes on ''Churchill's Other Lives''. He has been active in attempts to reform and improve the history curriculum in the United Kingdom. He also often contributes to contemporary discussions on the present-day British monarchy. Currently, Cannadine serves as a member of the Bank of England Banknote Character Advisory Committee; he is a trustee of the Rothschild Archive, the Gordon Brown Archive and
Gladstone's Library Gladstone's Library, known until 2010 as St Deiniol's Library ( cy, Llyfrgell Deiniol Sant), is a residential library in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales. It is a Grade I listed building and a registered charity. Gladstone's Library is Britai ...
; and of the Library of Birmingham Development Trust, the Royal Academy Trust, Historic Royal Palaces and the Wolfson Foundation. He is also 168th president of The Birmingham & Midland Institute, a vice-president of the Victorian Society, vice-chairman of the Westminster Abbey Fabric Commission, and of the editorial board of '' Past & Present'' and president of the Friends of the Imperial War Museum.


Honours and distinctions

Cannadine has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (1981), a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...
(1998), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (1999), a Fellow of the
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
(1999), and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (2005). He has been awarded the Lionel Trilling Prize (1991) and the Dean's Distinguished Award in the Humanities (1996) by Columbia University, the Dickinson Medal by the Newcomen Society (2003), the Minerva Medal of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow (2013), the
Norton Medlicott Medal The Medlicott Medal for Service to History is awarded annually by the Historical Association. The award is named for William Norton Medlicott, and was first made in 1985. Twenty-seven men have won the award, and nine women. Winners *2020 Rana Mit ...
of the Historical Association (2013), and the Blenheim Award of the International Churchill Society (2016). Cannadine holds honorary degrees from the London South Bank University (2001), the University of East Anglia (2001), the University of Birmingham (2002), the University of Worcester (2011), Open University (2016), the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...
(2017), the University of Leicester (2019) and
Queen's University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...
(2020). He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research (2005), Christ's College, Cambridge (2005), the Historical Association (2011), and
Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Iris ...
(2012) and an Honorary Churchill Fellow of Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri (2012). He was knighted for "services to scholarship" in 2009. More recently, in April 2018 Cannadine was elected an international honorary member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He was elected a member of the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communi ...
in 2019.


Personal life

Cannadine is married to fellow historian Linda Colley.Even history holds no solace
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Publications

* ''Lords and Landlords: The Aristocracy and the Towns, 1774–1967'' (1980) * ''Patricians, Power and Politics in Nineteenth-century Towns'' (1982) (editor) * Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat': Winston Churchill's Famous Speeches'' (1989) (editor) * ''The Pleasures of the Past'' (1989) * ''The First Modern Society: Essays in English History in Honour of Lawrence Stone'' (1989) (editor) (with A.L. Beier and James Rosenheim) * ''The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy'' (1990) * ''
G.M. Trevelyan George Macaulay Trevelyan (16 February 1876 – 21 July 1962) was a British historian and academic. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1898 to 1903. He then spent more than twenty years as a full-time author. He returned to the ...
: A Life in History'' (1992) * ''Aspects of Aristocracy: Grandeur and Decline in Modern Britain'' (1994) * ''The Rise and Fall of Class in Britain'' (1998) * ''History in Our Time'' (1998) * '' Ornamentalism: How the British Saw Their Empire'' (2001) * ''In Churchill's Shadow: Confronting the Past in Modern Britain'' (2002) * ''What Is History Now?'' (2002) (editor) * ''History and the Media'' (2004) (editor) * ''Churchill in the Twenty-First Century'' (2004) (editor) (with Roland Quinault) * ''
Admiral Lord Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought abo ...
: Context and Legacy'' (2005) (editor) * ''Gunpowder Plots: A Celebration of 400 Years of Bonfire Night'' (jointly 2005) * '' Trafalgar: A Battle and its Afterlife'' (2006) (editor) * '' Mellon: An American Life'' (2006) * ''Empire, the Sea and Global History: Britain's Maritime World 1763–1833'' (2007) (editor) * ''
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...
: A Brief History'' (2007) * ''Empire, the Sea and Global History: Britain's Maritime World, c.1763–1840'' (2007) (editor) * ''Making History Now and Then: Discoveries, Controversies and Explorations'' (2008) * ''History and Philanthropy: Past, Present and Future'' (2008) (editor) (with Jill Pellew) * ''The Thirty Year Rule'' (jointly, 2009) * ''The Right Kind of History: Teaching the Past in Twentieth-Century England'' (2011) (with Jenny Keating and Nicola Sheldon) * ''The Undivided Past: History Beyond Our Differences'' (2013) * ''
George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Q ...
'' (Penguin Monarchs series) (2014) * ''Heroic Chancellor: Winston Churchill and Bristol University'' (2015) * ''
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
: A Life and Legacy'' (2017) * '' Victorious Century: The United Kingdom, 1800–1906'' ( Penguin History of Britain) (2018) * ''The Country House: Past, Present and Future'' (2018) (editor) (with Jeremy Musson) * ''Why Collect Now? A Report on the State of Museums and of Collecting'' (2019) * ''
Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
: A Church in History'' (2019) (editor) * ''A Question of Retribution?: The British Academy and the Matter of Anthony Blunt'' (2020) (editor)


Footnotes


External links


Official webpageDirectory
of Fellows of the
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

''Debrett's People of Today''"Embracing Complexity - A Conversation with David Cannadine"
''Ideas Roadshow'', 2015

''The Telegraph'', 2005 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cannadine, David 1950 births Living people People from Birmingham, West Midlands Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Alumni of St John's College, Oxford Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge Columbia University faculty Princeton University faculty Academics of the University of London Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Dictionary of National Biography Knights Bachelor People educated at King Edward VI Five Ways Members of the American Philosophical Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London