Norman Hampson (8 April 1922 – 8 July 2011) was an English historian, Professor of History at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

from 1974 to 1989. He was a leading authority on the history of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, known for challenging the orthodoxies of the dominant "French school" of revolutionary studies. He wrote an authoritative work on the social history of the Revolution.

Life

He was born in

Leyland, Lancashire Leyland () is a town in South Ribble, Lancashire, England, six miles (10 km) south of Preston. The population was 35,578 at the 2011 Census. The name of the town is Anglo-Saxon, meaning "untilled land". History English Leyland was an a ...

, the son of Frank Hampson, a clerk, and his wife Jane Fazackerley. He was educated at

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a Grammar school#free tuition, free grammar school next to Manchester C ...

, and matriculated at

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

in 1940, to read modern history. Hampson volunteered in 1941, and his service to 1945 in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

included two years as liaison officer with a corvette of the

Free French Navy The Free French Naval Forces (french: Forces Navales Françaises Libres, or FNFL) were the naval arm of the Free French Forces during the Second World War. They were commanded by Admiral Émile Muselier. History In the wake of the Armistice a ...

. After the war he returned as a history student to University College, graduating in 1947. He then submitted a doctorate at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, on the French navy in Year II. From 1948 until 1967 Hampson was on the staff in departments of the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. When his head of department urged him to drop the French Revolution and take up teaching of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

, he decided to leave and moved to the University of Newcastle. In 1974, he was persuaded by

Gerald Aylmer Gerald Edward Aylmer, (30 April 1926, Greete, Shropshire – 17 December 2000, Oxford) was an English historian of 17th century England. Gerald Aylmer was the only child of Edward Arthur Aylmer, from an Anglo-Irish naval family, and Phoebe ...

to take up a position in York, where he became head of department in 1978. Hampson was elected as 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 ...

in 1980. He was also made the first president of the

Society for the Study of French History The Society for the Study of French History (SSFH) is a society in the United Kingdom established to promote research in French history. The society was founded in 1968 by Richard Bonney and granted charitable status in 1992. It publishes the ...

in 1987. He officially retired in 1989 but continued to teach at the university into his 70s.

Works

Hampson's chief historical focus was upon the Enlightenment and the

. He was one of a group of British historians, with

Alfred Cobban Alfred Bert Carter Cobban (24 May 1901 – 1 April 1968) was an English historian and Professor of French History at University College, London, who along with prominent French historian François Furet advocated a classical liberal view of the F ...

and

Richard Cobb Richard Charles Cobb (20 May 1917 – 15 January 1996) was a British historian and essayist, and professor at the University of Oxford. He was the author of numerous influential works about the history of France, particularly the French R ...

, who challenged previous scholarship regarding the Revolution. * ''La marine de l’an II : mobilisation de la flotte de l’Ocean, 1793-1794'', Paris: Librairie Narcel Rivière, 1959 * ''A Social History of the French Revolution'', London: Routledge and Keegan, 1963 * ''The Enlightenment'', Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968 * ''The First European Revolution, 1776–1815'', London: Thames & Hudson, 1969 (Library of European Civilization series) * '' The Life and Opinions of Maximilien Robespierre'', London: Duckworth, 1974 * ''The French Revolution: A Concise History'', London: Thames & Hudson, 1975 * ''Danton'', London: Duckworth, 1978 * ''Will and Circumstance : Montesquieu, Rousseau and the French Revolution'', London: Duckworth, 1983 * ''Prelude to Terror: The Constituent Assembly and the Failure of Consensus, 1789–1791'', Oxford; New York, N.Y.: B. Blackwell, 1988 * ''Saint-Just'', Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Mass., USA : Blackwell, 1991 * ''The Perfidy of Albion : French Perceptions of England during the French Revolution'', Houndmills: Macmillan Press, 1998 * ''Not Really What You'd Call a War'', Whittles Publishing, 2001, a memoir of his wartime experiences. It describes dilemmas of a pacific undergraduate who felt it was his duty to serve in World War II. He wrote poems which featured in

war poetry A war poet is a poet who participates in a war and writes about their experiences, or a non-combatant who writes poems about war. While the term is applied especially to those who served during the First World War, the term can be applied to a p ...

anthologies Hampson wrote book reviews and articles for publications including the ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...

'' and ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

''.

Family

In 1948 Hampson married Jacqueline Gardin, the sister of one of his shipmates from his period with the Free French Navy. They were married until her death in 2007. They had two children together, Michèle and Françoise.

References

1922 births 2011 deaths 20th-century English historians Academics of the University of York People educated at Manchester Grammar School Alumni of University College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy {{UK-writer-stub