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William Arthur Speck (11 January 1938,
Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 201 ...
– 15 February 2017,
Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the Cit ...
) was a British historian who specialised in late 17th and 18th-century British and American history. He was born in Bradford and was the son of a bookbinder. He was educated at
Bradford Grammar School Bradford Grammar School (BGS) is a co-educational independent day school located in Frizinghall, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Entrance is by examination, except for the sixth form, where admission is based on GCSE results. The school g ...
before winning a scholarship to
The Queen's College The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...
,
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, where he gained a BA in 1960 and a D.Phil. in 1966.Michael Broers, 'William Arthur Speck, 1938–2017', ''Northern History'', XX:XX, July 2017, pp. 1–2.Robin Smith, 'Obituary: William Arthur Speck, 1938–2017', ''The Historian'', Issue 133, Spring 2017, p. 31. He began his career in 1962, with a tutorial fellowship at the
University of Exeter , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...
, before he moved to a lectureship in history at
Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick unive ...
the following year. In 1974 he was promoted to a readership. He was appointed to the G. F. Grant Professorship of History at the
University of Hull , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 million ...
in 1981 and in 1984 he became the Chair in Modern History at the
University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , t ...
, retiring in 1997 to become
Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
of
History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as we ...
. Speck moved to Carlisle in order to be closer to the source material for his biography of
Robert Southey Robert Southey ( or ; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a r ...
, which was published by Yale University Press in 2006. The book was well reviewed and resulted in Speck being appointed Honorary Professor in the School of English Studies at the
University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...
, which he held from 2006 until 2012. Here, he co-convened an Interdisciplinary Eighteenth-Century Research Seminar. He was president of the Historical Association from 1999 to 2002. Speck was also chairman of the Carlisle branch of the
RSPCA The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity operating in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. The RSPCA is funded primarily by voluntary donations. Founded in 1824, it is the oldest and largest an ...
.


Works

*(co-authored with Geoffrey Holmes), ''Divided Society: Parties and Politics in England, 1694-1716'' (1967). *''Tory and Whig: The Struggle in the Constituencies 1701-1715'' (Macmillan, 1970). *''Stability and Strife: England, 1714-60'' (Edward Arnold, 1977). *''The Butcher: The Duke of Cumberland and the Suppression of the 45'' (Blackwell, 1981; second edition, 2013). *‘Whigs and Tories dim their glories: English political parties under the first two Georges’, in John Cannon (ed.), ''The Whig Ascendancy: Colloquies on Hanoverian Britain'' (Edward Arnold, 1981), pp. 51–70. *''The Reluctant Revolutionaries: Englishmen and the Revolution of 1688'' (Oxford University Press, 1988). *''The Birth of Britain: A New Nation, 1700-1715'' (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994) *''Literature and Society in Eighteenth-Century England, 1680-1820: Ideology, Politics and Culture'' (Longman, 1998). *''Cassell's Companion to Eighteenth-Century Britain'' (Cassell, 2002). *''James II'' (Longman, 2002). *''Colonial America: From Jamestown to Yorktown'' (Palgrave, 2002). *''A Concise History of Britain: 1707-1975'' (1993). *''Robert Southey. Entire Man of Letters'' (2006). *''Dictionary of British America, 1584-1783'' (Palgrave, 2007). *''A Political Biography of Thomas Paine'' (Routledge, 2016).


Notes

1938 births 2017 deaths British historians Writers from Bradford Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Academics of the University of Leeds Academics of the University of Nottingham {{UK-historian-stub