George Henry Bolsover
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

George Henry Bolsover
CBE 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 ...
(18 November 1910 – 15 April 1990) was the director of the
School of Slavonic and East European Studies The UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES ) is a school of University College London (UCL) specializing in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, Russia and Eurasia. It teaches a range of subjects, including the history, ...
at the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
from 1947–76. The school, now known as UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, is part of University College, London.George Henry (1910–1990)'' by Harold Shukman, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, May 2010, accessed 4 Oct 2014
/ref> Bolsover was born at 12 Powys Street,
Hindsford Hindsford is a suburb of Atherton in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated to the west of the Hindsford Brook, an ancient boundary between the townships of Atherton and Tyldesley cum Shakerley, and east of ...
, Atherton,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
, England, the son of a cotton worker and his wife. On 25 March 1939, at St Anne's Church, in
Hindsford Hindsford is a suburb of Atherton in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated to the west of the Hindsford Brook, an ancient boundary between the townships of Atherton and Tyldesley cum Shakerley, and east of ...
he married Stephanie Kállail who was four years his junior. They had a daughter, Anne, born 1953. He was appointed OBE in 1947 and CBE in 1970. He was an Anglican and died of a heart attack in his local church at Hatch End, London, on Easter Sunday 1990.


Education

He was educated at Leigh Grammar School in
Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...
, where he learned Russian. He graduated BA in Russian in 1931 and MA in 1932 from the
University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...
which had the first Russian
chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...
in the country. He wrote his
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
thesis at the School of Slavonic Studies on ''Great Britain, Russia and the Eastern question, 1832–1841'' in 1933.


Career

After gaining his PhD, from 1937-8 he was a tutor in adult education at the
Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...
base of Birmingham University. From 1938 to 1943 he lectured on European history at
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 ...
. From 1943-7 he was attaché and first secretary at the British Embassy in Moscow. After returning to Britain he was appointed director of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), London, from which he retired in 1976. He presided over a period of growth in interest in Russian and East European studies and SSEES' post war expansion. At the time he joined SSEES, the department was regarded as a bed of pro-Soviet sentiment influenced by Andrew Rothstein, a founding member of the
British Communist Party The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...
. Rothstein had spent several years in Moscow and returned to England in 1931 suspected of being involved with agent development. In 1949 Bolsover terminated his contract on the basis that he was not qualified for a post. His biography describes him as a shadowy figure to his students and regarded by his staff as intrusively unsupportive and heavy-handed. He is referred to as a tough and manipulative personality and "a useful bastard" but when entertaining at home, a genial and hospitable host.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolsover, George Henry Academics of the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies Alumni of the University of Liverpool Academics of the University of Birmingham Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester 1910 births 1990 deaths