Sir Charles Alexander Petrie, 3rd Baronet (28 September 1895 – 13 December 1977) was a British historian.
Early life
Born in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, he was the younger son of
Sir Charles Petrie, 1st Baronet
Sir Charles Petrie, 1st Baronet DL (1853 – 8 July 1920) was a Scottish businessman and local politician, Lord Mayor of Liverpool in 1901–2.
Life
Petrie was born near Newburgh, Fife, the son of Alexander Petrie of Carrowcarden, and went int ...
and his wife, Hannah. He was educated 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 ...
, and in 1927 succeeded to the family
baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...
cy.
Career
Petrie was known for his interest in
royalism
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of govern ...
and
Jacobitism
, war =
, image = Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Louis Gabriel Blanchet.jpg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766
, active ...
, particularly for his 1926 essay in
counterfactual history
Counterfactual history (also virtual history) is a form of historiography that attempts to answer the '' What if?'' questions that arise from counterfactual conditions. As a method of intellectual enquiry, counterfactual history explores histor ...
, ''If: A Jacobite Fantasy''. It has
Bonnie Prince Charlie
Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...
go on from Derby to Oxford (albeit to a cool reception), but just as all seems lost, the Duke of Newcastle appears in haste to tell him that George II, the head of the
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover (german: Haus Hannover), whose members are known as Hanoverians, is a European royal house of German origin that ruled Hanover, Great Britain, and Ireland at various times during the 17th to 20th centuries. The house or ...
dynasty, has fled back to Hanover, and belatedly declares his loyalty. (It has been speculated by some historians that Newcastle, known to have flirted with Jacobitism, was actually contemplating a judicious "conversion" to the Stuart cause when the Prince's army reached Derby.) As a result, large elements of the people and army came over to the Stuart side, and there was never the disastrous retreat and thus, there was never a
Battle of Culloden in 1746, all leading to a Jacobite restoration and to the successive reigns of James III (
The Old Pretender), Charles III, Henry IX and the continued tenure of the
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart, originally spelt Stewart, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland, which had been held by the family progenitor Walter fi ...
until the 20th century. It also depicts the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
as not taking place because of the judicious intervention of Charles Edward,
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
going on to become a great British general, and other flights of fantasy. He was a member of the Jacobite
Royal Stuart Society
The Royal Stuart Society, founded in 1926, is the senior royalist-monarchist organisation and the foremost Jacobite body in the United Kingdom. Its full name is The Royal Stuart Society and Royalist League although it is best known simply as the ...
.
Several of Petrie's books deal with
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
's government towards which he was broadly sympathetic. He published biographies of
Lord Bolingbroke
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (; 16 September 1678 – 12 December 1751) was an English politician, government official and political philosopher. He was a leader of the Tories, and supported the Church of England politically des ...
, of the early-20th-century British cabinet minister
Walter Long, and of three Spanish kings:
Philip II Philip II may refer to:
* Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC)
* Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor
* Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374)
* Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404)
* Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497)
* Philip ...
,
Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person t ...
, and
Alfonso XIII
Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also known as El Africano or the African, was King of Spain from 17 May 1886 to 14 April 1931, when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed. He was a monarch from birth as his father, Alf ...
. Another biography of his dealt with a fourth notable Spaniard, Philip II's half-brother
Don John of Austria
John of Austria ( es, Juan, link=no, german: Johann; 24 February 1547 – 1 October 1578) was the natural son born to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V late in life when he was a widower. Charles V met his son only once, recognizing him in a secret ...
.
During the 1930s Petrie flirted with the far right. Impressed at first by
Benito Mussolini on whom he produced a short and respectful book in 1931, he attended the 1932
Volta Conference
The Volta Conference was the name given to each of the international conferences held in Italy by the Royal Academy of Science in Rome, and funded by the Alessandro Volta Foundation. In the interwar period, they covered a number of topics in sci ...
of fascists and sympathisers. Disposed initially to favour Sir
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...
, he joined in 1934 the broadly pro-Mosley
January Club
The January Club was a discussion group founded in 1934 by Oswald Mosley to attract Establishment support for the movement known as the British Union of Fascists.
The Club was under the effective control of Robert Forgan, working on behalf of ...
. At the same time, he remained publicly hostile towards
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...
, and his later view of Mosley, as expressed in his 1972 memoir ''A Historian Looks at his World'', was thoroughly unflattering.
Among Petrie's journalistic posts was that of literary editor for the generally-conservative ''New English Review''. He supported, with reservations, Spanish dictator General
Francisco Franco and was a friend of a leading pro-Franco diplomat, the
17th Duke of Alba. Along with ''NER'' editor
Douglas Francis Jerrold
Douglas Francis Jerrold (Scarborough 3 August 1893 – 1964) was a British journalist and publisher. As editor of ''The English Review'' from 1931 to 1935, he was a vocal supporter of fascism in Italy and of Francoist Spain. He was personally in ...
, Petrie formed in 1937 a group concerned to put the Nationalist case on the fighting in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
.
[Stove, R. J]
"In Search of Sir Charles Petrie,"
''National Observer'', No. 83, June/August 2010. After 1945 he edited the ''
Household Brigade Magazine'', as well as writing regularly for the ''
Illustrated London News
''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication i ...
'' and ''
Catholic Herald
The ''Catholic Herald'' is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly newspaper and starting December 2014 a magazine, published in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and, formerly, the United States. It reports a total circulation of abo ...
'', in addition to being co-editor (with Jerrold) of the ''New English Reviews short-lived successor, ''English Review Magazine''.
During the late 1930s, Petrie championed
Neville Chamberlain but subsequently was an adherent, again with reservations, of
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
. In 1941, he attempted unsuccessfully to be adopted as Conservative Party candidate for Dorset South. He was rejected, according to
Andrew Roberts in ''Eminent Churchillians'', because he was too closely identified with
appeasement.
He was appointed CBE in 1957.
Works
''Two Essays in Spanish History,''Hugh Egerton & Co., 1922.
* ''The White Rose: A Historical Drama in Three Acts,'' Hugh Egerton & Co., 1923.
''The History of Government,''Little, Brown, and Company, 1929.
* ''Mussolini,'' Holme Press, 1931.
* ''The Jacobite Movement,'' Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1932.
* ''Monarchy,'' Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1933.
''The Stuart Pretenders – A History of The Jacobite Movement, 1688–1807,''Houghton Mifflin Company, 1933.
''The History of Spain,''Eyre And Spottiswoode, 1934
ith Louis Bertrand
* ''Spain,'' Arrowsmith, 1934.
* ''The Letters Speeches and Proclamations of King Charles I,'' Cassell, 1935.
''The Four Georges A Revaluation of the Period From 1714 to 1830,''Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1935.
* ''William Pitt,'' Duckworth, 1935.
* ''Walter Long and his Times,'' Hutchinson & Co., ltd. 1936.
* ''Lords of the Inland Sea: A Study of the Mediterranean Powers,'' L. Dickson Limited, 1937.
* ''Bolingbroke,'' Collins, 1937.
* ''The Stuarts,'' Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1937.
* ''The Chamberlain Tradition,'' L. Dickson, Limited, 1938.
* ''The Chamberlain Tradition,'' Frederick A. Stokes, 1938. Revised from the earlier English edition to incorporate current events.
* ''Louis XIV,'' T. Butterworth, ltd., 1938.
* ''The Life and Letters of The Right Hon. Sir Austen Chamberlain K.G., P.C., M.P,'' Cassel, 1939/1940
volumes
* ''Joseph Chamberlain,'' Duckworth, 1940.
* ''Twenty Years' Armistice – and After: British Foreign Policy Since 1918,'' Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1940.
* ''When Britain Saved Europe, the Tale and the Moral,'' Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1941.
* ''George Canning,'', Eyre & Spottiswoode, 2nd ed., 1946.
* ''Diplomatic History, 1713–1933,'' Hollis and Carter, 1946
online* ''The Private Diaries (March 1940 to January 1941) of Paul Baudouin,'' 1948
ranslator
''Earlier Diplomatic History, 1492–1713,''Macmillan Company, 1949.
* ''The Jacobite Movement. The First Phase 1688–1716,'' Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1948.
* '' Earlier Diplomatic History, 1492–1713'' (1949
online* ''Diplomatic History 1713–1932'' (1946
online* ''The Jacobite Movement. The Last Phase, 1716–1807,'' Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1950.
* ''Chapters of Life,'' Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1950.
* ''The Duke of Berwick and His Son; Some Unpublished Letters and Papers,'' Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1951.
* ''Monarchy in the Twentieth Century,'' A. Dakers, 1952.
* ''Spain in the Modern World,'' University of Nottingham: Montague Burton International Relations Lectures, 1952.
* ''The Marshal Duke of Berwick; The Picture of an Age,'' Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1953.
* ''Lord Liverpool and his Times,'' J. Barrie, 1954.
* ''The Carlton Club,'' Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1955.
* ''Wellington: A Reassessment,'' J. Barrie, 1956.
* ''The Powers Behind the Prime Ministers,'' MacGibbon & Kee, 1958.
* ''The Jacobite Movement,'' 1958
evision
* ''Daniel O'Conor Sligo: His Family and His Times,'' National University of Ireland, 1958.
* ''The Spanish Royal House,'' G. Bles, 1958.
* ''The Victorians,'' Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1960.
* ''The Modern British Monarchy,'' Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1961.
* ''King Alfonso XIII and His Age,'' Chapman & Hall, 1963.
* ''Philip II of Spain,'' Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1963.
* ''Scenes of Edwardian Life,'' Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1965.
* ''Don John of Austria,'' Eyre & Spottiswoode 1967.
* ''Great Beginnings In The Age Of Queen Victoria,'' Macmillan & Company, 1967.
* ''The Letters of King Charles I,'' Funk & Wagnalls, 1968.
* ''The Drift to World War, 1900–1914,'' Benn, 1968.
* ''King Charles III of Spain: An Enlightened Despot,'' Constable 1971.
* ''A Historian Looks at His World,'' Sidgwick and Jackson, 1972.
* ''The Great Tyrconnel: A Chapter in Anglo-Irish Relations,'' Mercier Press, 1972.
* ''King Charles, Prince Rupert, and the Civil War: from Original Letters'' Routledge & Kegan Paul 1974
Articles
* "Madrid and Its Life To-day," ''The Living Age'', 3 July 1926.
* "The Jacobite Activities in South and West England in the Summer of 1715," ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'', vol. XVIII, 1935.
* "The Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II", ''The Contemporary Review'', vol. 230, 1336 (1 May 1977): 242–247.
Arms
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
External links
* Portrait o
Charles Petrieat the
National Portrait Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrie, Charles Alexander
English Roman Catholics
Petrie, Charles Alexander, 3rd Baronet
British people of the Spanish Civil War
English Jacobites
1895 births
1977 deaths
Academics from Liverpool