George Peabody Gooch

George Peabody Gooch OM CH FBA (21 October 1873 – 31 August 1968) was a British journalist, historian and Liberal Party politician. A follower of Lord Acton who was independently wealthy, he never held an academic position, but knew the work of historians of continental Europe.^[1]

Personal life

Gooch was born in London, and educated at Eton College, King's College London and Trinity College, Cambridge.^[2] His great grandson Ian is a philosopher at Balliol College, Oxford.

Member of Parliament

He was elected at the general election of 1906 as Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Bath, but lost the seat at the general election of January 1910.^[3] Whilst an MP he voted in favour of the 1908 Women's Enfranchisement Bill.^[4] He stood again in Bath at the general election in December 1910, but did not regain the seat,^[3] and was unsuccessful again when he stood at a by-election in Reading in November 1913.^[5] He was President of the Historical Association (1922-1925) and of National Peace Council (1933-1936)^[6] In June 1936 he was elected to serve on the Liberal Party Council.^[7]

Gooch edited the Contemporary Review from 1911 until 1960.^[8]

Work as a historian

After the First World War Gooch became an influential historian of Europe of the period, and was critical of British policy. He was active in the Union of Democratic Control.^[9]

For about ten years from the mid-1920s onwards he was involved, with Harold Temperley, in the publication of the official British diplomatic history.^[10] The selection of Gooch for this project selection was made over the reservations of Headlam-Morley and of Temperley himself, who believed that Gooch was too committed to a pro-German position and too critical of Sir Edward Grey.^[11]

Gooch has been noted as a significant revisionist historian of the Europe of the early twentieth century, in particular in relation to the causes of the First World War.^[12] He has been described as one of the "early revisionists", alongside Harry Elmer Barnes and Sidney Bradshaw Fay.^[13]

Awards and honours

Gooch became a Companion of Honour in 1939, and a member of the Order of Merit in 1963. He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1926 and honorary fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1935.

Works

• English Democratic Ideas in the Seventeenth Century (with Harold Joseph Lasky (1st ed. 1898, 2nd ed. 1927, 3rd ed. 1959)^[14]
• History of Our Time, 1885–1911 (1911)^[15]
• History and Historians in the Nineteenth Century (1913) Second rev. ed. (1952). New ed. with new historical survey and Preface. (1959)^[16]
• The Races of Austria–Hungary (1917)
• Germany and the French Revolution (1920)^[17]
• Life of Lord Courtney (1920)^[18]
• A History of Modern Europe, 1878–1919 (1923)^[19]
• Franco-German Relations 1871–1914: The Creighton Lecture for 1923 (1923)^[20]
• Germany (1926)^[21]
• British Documents on the Origins of the War, 1898-1914, with Harold Temperley (11 vols.) (1926-1938)
• Recent Revelations of European Diplomacy (1927)^[22]
• Frederick the Great: The Ruler, the Writer, the Man. (New York, 1947) (German edition Göttingen 1951)^[23]
• Studies in German History. (London 1948)^[24]
• Maria Theresa: And Other Studies (1951)^[25]
• Under Six Reigns (autobiography) (1958)^[26]
• Catherine the Great: And Other Studies (1966)^[27]

Notes

References

• Felix E. Hirsch, "George Peabody Gooch", Journal of Modern History, Vol. 26, no. 3 (September 1954), pp. 260–271
• A. O. Sarkissian, Studies in Diplomatic History and Historiography in Honour of G. P. Gooch, C. H. (1963)
• W. N. Medlicott, "G. P. Gooch", Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 4, no. 1, Colonialism and Decolonization (January 1969), pp. 201–203
• Frank Eyck (1982), G. P. Gooch: A Study in History and Politics

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by George Peabody Gooch