Sir Keith Grahame Feiling (7 September 1884 – 16 September 1977) was a British historian, biographer and academic. He was Chichele Professor of Modern History 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 ...

, 1946–1950. He was noted for his conservative interpretation of the past, showing an empire-oriented ideology in defence of hierarchical authority, paternalism, deference, the monarchy, Church, family, nation, status, and place.

Early life and education

He was born at Elms House,

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leathe ...

, the son of stockbroker Ernest Feiling and Joan Barbara (''née'' Hawkins). His mother was the sister of novelist Sir

Anthony Hope Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope (9 February 1863 – 8 July 1933), was a British novelist and playwright. He was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels but he is remembered predominantly for only two books: '' T ...

and a first cousin of

Kenneth Grahame Kenneth Grahame ( ; 8 March 1859 – 6 July 1932) was a British writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is most famous for ''The Wind in the Willows'' (1908), a classic of children's literature, as well as '' The Reluctant Dragon''. Both books w ...

, who wrote the classic ''

The Wind in the Willows ''The Wind in the Willows'' is a children's novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It details the story of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and get ...

''. Keith was educated at Marlborough College,

Marlborough, Wiltshire Marlborough ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire on the Old Bath Road, the old main road from London to Bath. The town is on the River Kennet, 24 miles (39 km) north of Salisbury and 10 miles (16& ...

, and Balliol College, Oxford. He graduated with first-class honours in Modern History in 1906. In 1907, he was appointed lecturer in history at the University of Toronto under Professor

George MacKinnon Wrong George MacKinnon Wrong (June 25, 1860 – June 29, 1948) was a Canadian clergyman and historian. Life and career Born at Grovesend in Elgin County, Canada West (now Ontario), he was ordained in the Anglican priesthood in 1883 after attendin ...

. Two years later, he returned to Christ Church, Oxford to lecture and resume his studies toward a doctorate. When the First World War began, he was commissioned into the

Royal Highlanders The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment ...

. In 1916, he was posted to India and served in

Jhansi Jhansi (; Hindi: झांसी, Urdu: ) is a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme south of Uttar Pradesh. Jhansi is the administrative head ...

and Dalhousie. From 1917 to 1919, he worked as secretary to the Central Recruiting Board of India.

Academic career

Following the war, Feiling returned to Oxford to teach and research. He was chairman of the Board of Modern History during 1922 to 1924, lecturer in Modern History from 1928 until 1936, and

Ford's Lecturer The Ford Lectures, technically the James Ford Lectures in British History, are an annual series of public lectures held at the University of Oxford on the subject of English or British history. They are usually devoted to a particular historical ...

in English History, 1931 to 1932. He also founded the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1924. He was Chichele Professor of Modern History at All Souls College, Oxford between 1946 and 1950, after which he retired and became Professor Emeritus. During this time, he also published a number of works. A Tory Democrat, he felt that conservatives possessed more character than other people, as he tried to demonstrate in his books on the history of the Conservative Party. He acknowledged the necessity of reform—as long as it was gradual, top-down, and grounded not in abstract theory but in an appreciation of English history. Thus he celebrated the reforms of the 1830s. English historian

A.J.P. Taylor Alan John Percivale Taylor (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was a British historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his televi ...

in 1950 praised Feiling's historiography, calling it "Toryism" in contrast to the more common "

Whig history Whig history (or Whig historiography) is an approach to historiography that presents history as a journey from an oppressive and benighted past to a "glorious present". The present described is generally one with modern forms of liberal democracy ...

", or liberal historiography, written to show the inevitable progress of mankind. Taylor explains, "Toryism rests on doubt in human nature; it distrusts improvement, clings to traditional institutions, prefers the past to the future. It is a sentiment rather than a principle."

Honours

He was appointed an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1919 New Year Honours The 1919 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Jan ...

for his work during the First World War. He was awarded the

James Tait Black Award The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...

for his biography of ''

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first Governor-General ...

'' in 1954 and was knighted in the 1958 Birthday Honours. For Feiling's 80th birthday in 1964,

Hugh Trevor-Roper Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton (15 January 1914 – 26 January 2003) was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford. Trevor-Roper was a polemicist and essayist on a range of ...

edited a festschrift, ''Essays in British history presented to Sir Keith Feiling'' with a foreword by Lord David Cecil.

Personal life

In December 1912, he married Caroline (''née'' Janson), with whom he had two daughters and one son. He died in a nursing home in

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

, London, aged 93.

Published works

* ''Italian policy since 1870'' (1914) * ''A history of the Tory party, 1640-1714'' (1924) * ''England under the Tudors and Stuarts'' (1927) * ''British foreign policy, 1660-1672'' (1930) * ''What is conservatism?'' (1930) * ''The second Tory party, 1714-1832'' (1938) * ''The life of Neville Chamberlain'' (1946) * ''The study of the modern history of Great Britain, 1862–1946; an inaugural lecture delivered before the University of Oxford on 1 February 1947'' (1947) * ''A history of England, from the coming of the English to 1918'' (1950) * ''

'' (1954)

Early life and education

Academic career

Honours

Personal life

Published works

See also

References

Further reading