Henry Mathison Pelling (27 August 1920 – 14 October 1997) was a British historian best known for his works on the history of the

British Labour Party The Labour Party is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of Social democracy, social democrats, Democratic socialism, democratic socialists and trade u ...

Life

Pelling was born in

Prenton Prenton is a suburb of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. Administratively, it is also a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, within ...

, Wirral, the son of a wealthy stockbroker. He was educated at

Birkenhead School Birkenhead School is an independent, academically-selective, co-educational day school located in Oxton, Wirral, in North West England. The school offers educational opportunities for girls and boys from three months to eighteen years of age. ...

and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

, where he gained firsts in Part I of the Classical tripos and Part II of the Historical tripos prior to completing a PhD in 1950. He began his career as a fellow at

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

, where he remained until his return to St John's in 1966. He was Reader in British History at

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 bec ...

from 1976 to 1980, at which point he decided to retire from university teaching. Doing so, however, led St John's to terminate his college fellowship as well, much to his chagrin, and it was only after a great deal of protest that he was reinstated (an interregnum he referred to thereafter as ''socius ejectus'', in imitation of Thomas Baker).'Thomas Baker (1656-1740)'
''St John's College, Cambridge''. Retrieved 4 January 2023. He was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

(FBA) in 1992. Pelling's collection of British left-wing political pamphlets is held at

Senate House Library Senate House is the administrative centre of the University of London, situated in the heart of Bloomsbury, London, immediately to the north of the British Museum. The Art Deco building was constructed between 1932 and 1937 as the first phase ...

, while his papers are lodged with St John's College.

Publications

Pelling's main contributions to the study of the Labour Party were as follows: *''The Origins of the Labour Party'' (1954) and *''A Short History of the Labour Party'' (1961) (later editions co-written with Alastair J. Reid) He was also a pioneer of the serious study of twentieth-century electoral and party politics, and wrote such other works as: *''Modern Britain 1885-1955'' *''Social Geography of British Elections: 1885-1910'' *''Winston Churchill'' *''Britain and the Marshall Plan'' *''American Labor'' *''A History of British Trade Unionism, London, 1963'' *''America and the British left: from Bright to Bevan'' *''The British Communist Party: a historical profile'' *''The 1945 General Election Reconsidered'' *''Popular Politics and Society in Late Victorian Britain'' *''Britain and the Second World War'' *''The Labour Governments 1945-51''

References

External links

Pelling's collection at Senate House LibraryPelling's papers at St John's CollegeCopac listing of his work
1920 births 1997 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge People educated at Birkenhead School 20th-century British historians Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge {{UK-historian-stub