James Headlam-Morley Explained

Sir James Wycliffe Headlam-Morley, CBE (24 December 1863 – 6 September 1929) was a British academic historian^[1] and classicist. He became a civil servant and government advisor on current foreign policy. He was known as James Wycliffe Headlam until 1918, when he changed his surname to Headlam-Morley by royal licence. He was knighted in 1929 for public service.

Family

He was the second son of Arthur William Headlam (1826–1908), vicar of Whorlton, County Durham,^[2] and was the younger brother of Arthur Cayley Headlam (1862–1947), Bishop of Gloucester.^[3]

In 1893, he married Elisabeth Charlotta Henrietta Ernestina Sonntag (1866–1950), a German musician and composer who was also known as Else Headlam-Morley.^[4] The historian Agnes Headlam-Morley (1902–1986) was their daughter.

Education and career

He was educated at Eton, King's College, Cambridge, and in Germany where he studied with Treitschke and Hans Delbrück. From 1894–1900 he was Professor of Greek and Ancient History at Queen's College, London.^[5]

An influential figure, he worked on propaganda in World War I, and when the war was over, he was involved in the drafting of the Versailles Treaty, especially regarding Danzig.^[6] He effectively sponsored Arnold J. Toynbee for appointment in 1924 to Chatham House. He also gathered materials on the diplomatic history of the origins of the war as an official production of the British government and contributed to it though the main editor was Harold Temperley. The historian Anna Cienciala attributes to Headlam and Sidney Edward Mezes, an academic and advisor to Woodrow Wilson and Executive Director of the Inquiry group, the 1919 proposal to make Danzig a free city.^[7]

He wrote numerous historical articles for the Encyclopædia Britannica editions of 1902 and 1911, signing them "J.W.He."

Works

• On Election by Lot at Athens (1891);^[8] Book: pbk reprint of 1933 2nd edition. 2014. 978-1-107-65865-3.

  revision by D. C. MacGregor

  . Headlam . James Wycliffe . MacGregor . D. C. .
• Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire (1899) (available online)
• A Short History of Germany and Her Colonies (1914) with Walter Alison Phillips and Arthur William Holland
• The history of twelve days, July 24 to August 4, 1914 (1915)
• The Dead Lands of Europe (1917)
• The German Chancellor and the Outbreak of War (1917)
• The Issue (1917)
• The Peace Terms of the Allies (1917)
• The Starvation of Germany (1917)
• British Documents on the Origins of the War 1898–1914 Volume XI The Outbreak of War Foreign Documents June 28 – August 4, 1914 (1926) editor
• Studies in Diplomatic History (1930)
• A Memoir of the Paris Peace Conference 1919 (1972) edited by Agnes Headlam-Morley, Russell Bryant and Anna Cienciala

External links

• • • • The Papers of Sir James Headlam-Morley held at Churchill Archives Centre
• From lecture notes of Anna M. Cienciala, University of Kansas, referring several times to Headlam in relation to post-World War I views of Europe
• Online article on the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact, mentioning Headlam's views in the 1920s

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2018-02-15. Historians and Policymaking: A New Chorus Singing an Old Ballad. 2021-06-11. War on the Rocks. en-US.
2. 10.1080/09592299808406102 . 9 . James Headlam‐Morley: Creating international history . 1998 . Diplomacy & Statecraft . 266–283 . Sharp . Alan. 3 .
3. http://www.rascal.ac.uk/collection/?ff=no&CollectionID=508&ff=no&results_per_page=10&browse_title=H Research and Special Collections Available Locally
4. http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/genesis/search/$-search-results.cfm?CCODE=572 Profile
5. 10.1080/09592299808406102 . 9 . James Headlam‐Morley: Creating international history . Diplomacy & Statecraft . 266–283 . 1998 . Sharp . Alan. 3 .
6. D.B. Kaufman, "'A House of Cards Which Would Not Stand': James Headlam-Morley, the Role of Experts, and the Danzig Question at the Paris Peace Conference." Diplomacy & Statecraft 30.2 (2019): 228-252.
7. http://www.conflicts.rem33.com/images/Poland/rebirth.htm THE REBIRTH OF POLAND
8. Underhill, G. E.. Review of On Election by Lot at Athens by J. W. Headlam. The English Historical Review. 7. XXV. 122–123. January 1892.