Victor Bonham-Carter (13 December 1913 – 13 March 2007) was an English author, farmer and publisher.
Early life
He was the son of General Sir
Charles Bonham-Carter
General Sir Charles Bonham-Carter, (25 February 1876 – 21 October 1955) was a British Army officer and later Governor of Malta.
Early life
Bonham-Carter was born on 25 February 1876 in Kensington, London, the ninth of eleven children of Henr ...
, who was Governor of
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
(1936–1940), and he was educated at
Winchester College
Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...
and
Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he studied modern languages and
rural economics
Rural economics is the study of rural economies. Rural economies include both agricultural and non-agricultural industries, so rural economics has broader concerns than agricultural economics which focus more on food systems. Rural development ...
. After graduating, he worked for ''The Countryman'' and from 1937 he was a director of School Prints Ltd. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, Bonham-Carter joined the
Royal Berkshire Regiment
The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1959. The regiment was created in 1881, as the Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment), b ...
and was seconded to the Intelligence Corps, which was based in the
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
. He returned to School Prints after the war, where he remained until 1960.
[Obituary: Victor Bonham-Carter]
, ''The Daily Telegraph'' (20 March 2007), retrieved 12 January 2020.
Career
He was appointed the historian of
Dartington Hall
Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "on ...
,
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
and his findings were published in ''Dartington Hall'' (1958), which he co-authored with W. B. Curry. Bonham-Carter managed a farm in
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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and he wrote extensively on rural affairs. His 1952 work, ''The English Village'', explored the history of the
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...
. He also composed a textbook for secondary school pupils, ''Farming the Land'' (1959). ''The Survival of the Countryside'' demonstrated how changes in the use of land damaged the countryside.
During 1963–64 he was a scriptwriter for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
''.
He also wrote on military history, including biographies of Field-Marshal Sir
.
.
Bonham-Carter married Audrey Stogdon in 1938 and they had two sons. They divorced in 1979 and in 1980 he married Cynthia Sanford. He died on 13 March 2007, aged 93.
*''The English Village'' (1952)
*''Exploring Parish Churches'' (1959)
*''Farming the Land'' (1959)
*''In a Liberal Tradition'' (1960)
*''Soldier True: the life and times of Field-Marshal Sir William Robertson'' (1965), published in America as ''The Strategy of Victory 1914-1918''
*''Surgeon in the Crimea'' (1969; collection of letters by
)
*''The Survival of the English Countryside'' (1971)
*''Authors by Profession: Volume One'' (1978)
*''Authors by Profession: Volume Two'' (1984)
*''Exmoor Writers'' (1987)
*''The Essence of Exmoor'' (1991)
*''What Countryman, Sir? '' (1996; autobiography)
*''A Filthy Barren Ground'' (1998; edited letters of Rev