Peter Mathias Explained

Peter Mathias
Birth Name:Peter Mathias
Birth Date:1928 1, df=yes
Nationality:British
Occupation:Historian
Known For:Master of Downing College, Cambridge, Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford and fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
Awards:Commander of the British Empire (CBE), Fellow, The British Academy
Education:Jesus College, Cambridge
Doctoral Advisor:Charles Henry Wilson
Doctoral Students:David Cannadine, Brian Harrison, Heita Kawakatsu, Emperor Naruhito, Edmund Newell, Patrick K. O'Brien, John Cunningham Wood
Main Interests:Economic history, business history, history of technology, British history
Notable Works:The First Industrial Nation: an Economic History of Britain 1700–1914 (1969)

Peter Mathias, (10 January 1928 – 1 March 2016) was a British economic historian and the former Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford.[1] [2] His research focused on the history of industry, business, and technology, both in Britain and Europe. He is most well known for his publication of The First Industrial Nation: an Economic History of Britain 1700–1914 (1969), which discussed not only the multiple factors that made industrialisation possible, but also how it was sustained.[3]

Early life and education

Mathias was born in Freshford, Somerset to Jack Mathias (from Plymouth) and Marion (née) Love (from Wingfield).

He attended Colston's School and Bristol Grammar School where he became interested in history.[4] In December 1945, he applied for a scholarship at King's College, Cambridge; instead he won an Exhibition at Jesus College, Cambridge, during summer 1946. However the college demanded that those coming up from school should have done military service before they arrived so he spent two years in the army as a conscript.[5] At Cambridge, his tutor was the medievalist, Vivian Fisher, and the English economic historian, Charles Wilson. Mathias also spent the 1952–3 academic year at Harvard University, participating in the Research Center for Entrepreneurial History.[6]

Academic career

He was elected a Research Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge, when he published his first book on the brewing industry in England. The manuscript described the importance of the technical aspects of brewing and manufacturing to the developing of the industry as a whole. Mathias then went out to complete a textbook on the history of industrialisation in Britain, The First Industrial Nation (1969).

He was fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge, from 1955 to 1968, and later an Honorary Fellow from 1987.[7] He was Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford and fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. There, he was editor of the Cambridge Economic History of Europe and co-founded of The Journal of European Economic History.[8] He left Oxford to become master of Downing College, Cambridge, from 1987 to 1995.

Outside of research and teaching, Mathias contributed to the academic community with his positions at the Economic History Society (EHS) and the International Economic History Association (IEHA). He joined the former in his final year of undergraduate work at Cambridge. He continued to work for the EHS as Reviews Editor, Assistant Editor (1955–), Treasurer (1968–88), and President (1989–92). Meanwhile, the IEHA emerged from conferences at the University of Stockholm, but expanded in the 1960s. Mathias also became a member of the Datini Institute in Prato, Italy in 1967, under the direction of Fernand Braudel and Federigo Melis.[9]

Later life

After retiring in 1995, he continued on advising and researching. He was the international advisor to Keio University, Japan, and President of the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. For this work, he was granted the Order of the Rising Sun with Gold Rays in 2003.[10]

In 1998, Mathias' Festschrift, From Family Firms to Corporate Capitalism: Essays in Business and Industrial History in Honour of Peter Mathias was published by his former students, Kristine Bruland and Patrick O'Brien. Another Festschrift was published in 2018 entitled Asia and the history of the international economy : essays in memory of Peter Mathias, edited by A. J. H. Latham and Heita Kawakatsu. Professor Mathias is also mentioned extensively in The Thames and I, a memoir by the Prince (now Emperor) of Japan Naruhito, since he was the prince's supervisor while Naruhito was at Merton College in Oxford (1983-1985).

Honours

Commonwealth honours

Commonwealth honours

Foreign honours

Foreign honours

Scholastic

Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector and fellowships
LocationDateSchoolPosition
19551968 Fellow
19871 March 2016 Honorary Fellow
19871 March 2016 Honorary Fellow
19951 March 2016 Honorary Fellow
Honorary degrees
LocationDateSchoolDegreeGave Commencement Address
1984 Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)
1985 Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)[12]
1987 Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)
1988 Doctorate
1992 Doctorate
1995 Doctorate
1995 Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)[13]
1999 Doctorate
2003 Doctorate
2006 Doctorate
7 November 2008 Doctor of Economics[14]

Memberships and Fellowships

LocationDateOrganisationPosition
19681972 Chairman
19721 March 2016 Fellow (FRHistS)
19741978 President
Honorary President
19771 March 2016 Fellow (FBA)
19791989 Honorary Treasurer
19821 March 2016 Foreign Member
19841995 President
19871999 International Economic History Institute 'Datini' Prato, Italy Vice President
19881 March 2016 Foreign Member
19891 March 2016 Member (MAE)
Vice President
19891992 President

Works

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article5484753.ece The Times
  2. Web site: Death of Dr Peter Mathias. Eyeons. Keith. dow.cam.ac.uk. 2016-05-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20160511213753/http://www.dow.cam.ac.uk/index.php/about/news/487-mathias. 11 May 2016. dead.
  3. Temin . Peter . Review . The Economic Journal . 1969 . 79 . 316.
  4. News: Oxford Professor for 20 years Dr. Peter Mathias. 23 March 2016. Oxford Mail. 18 March 2016.
  5. Web site: Peter Mathias interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 4th September 2008 . University of Cambridge . 2009-06-09.
  6. Web site: Berg . Maxine . Peter Mathias . British Academy.
  7. Web site: Honorary Fellows Queens' College. queens.cam.ac.uk. 2016-05-27.
  8. Web site: Berg . Maxine . Peter Mathias . British Academy.
  9. Web site: Berg . Maxine . Peter Mathias . British Academy.
  10. Web site: Archer . Megan . OBITUARY: Oxford professor for 20 years Dr Peter Mathias . Oxford Mail.
  11. Web site: Embassy of Japan in the UK.
  12. Web site: Honorary Graduates 1978 – 2000.
  13. Web site: List of all Honorary Graduates and Chancellor's Medallists.
  14. Web site: ニュース:[慶應義塾].