Charles Edmund Carrington,
MC (21 April 1897 – 21 June 1990) was a scholar, Professor of History at
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
, Educational Secretary to
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
and a historian specializing in the British Empire and Commonwealth, a Professor of Commonwealth Relations at the
Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and the author of a number of books academic, learned and biographical. He was a decorated volunteer
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
officer, in
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and again in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
Early life
Carrington was born in
West Bromwich
West Bromwich ( ), commonly known as West Brom, is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is northwes ...
, then part of
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, in 1897. He moved to
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
with his family, where his father
C. W. Carrington, became Dean of Christchurch.
He was educated at
Christ's College, New Zealand and
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...
, graduating
BA in 1921, promoted by seniority to
MA in 1929.
His older brother
Philip Carrington became a Church of England priest and was later
Bishop of Quebec and
Metropolitan of Canada.
First World War
When the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
broke out in August 1914, Carrington was in England preparing for his university entrance examinations and enlisted in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
's
Royal Warwickshire Regiment, although he was under age. In February 1915, an uncle obtained for him a
commission
In-Commission or commissioning may refer to:
Business and contracting
* Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered
** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...
as a
second lieutenant into the 9th (Service) Battalion, the
York and Lancaster Regiment, a
Kitchener's Army unit, part of the
70th Brigade of the
23rd Division, where his job was to train his
platoon
A platoon is a Military organization, military unit typically composed of two to four squads, Section (military unit), sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the Military branch, branch, but a platoon can ...
. In August 1915 he was deemed too young to join the
battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...
in France.
Carrington desperately wanted to fight, after spending more than a year training in England. He managed to obtain a transfer to the
1/5th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, a
Territorial Force battalion assigned to the
143rd (1/1st Warwickshire) Brigade of the
48th (South Midland) Division, and sailed to France in December. He spent six months in the
trenches in a relatively quiet sector of the
Western Front at
Gommecourt before being transferred to the
Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...
in July 1916.
He was promoted to Captain 1917. He was awarded the
Military Cross
The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...
.
He can be heard recounting some of his First World War experiences in
Peter Jackson's film
They Shall Not Grow Old. He also features in the BBC film clip, ″The voices behind They Shall Not Grow Old″
Career
After being demobilised in 1919, he finished his education at
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...
, studying history. He became assistant master of the public school,
Haileybury (1921–24 and 1926–29). Lecturer at
Pembroke College, Oxford (1924–25). From 1929-1954 he was Educational Secretary to the
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
.
He rejoined the British Army in the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, serving as a liaison officer with the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
and as Lt. Col.
General Staff
A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...
(1941–45).
Carrington left Cambridge in 1954 to become Professor of Commonwealth Relations at the
Royal Institute of International Affairs (the RIIA - Chatham House), a post he held until 1962. During that time he was also the
Chatham House
The Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, is a British think tank based in London, England. Its stated mission is "to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous, and just world". It ...
organiser responsible for the Commonwealth Relations conferences in New Zealand in 1959 and in Nigeria in 1962
In 1955,
Macmillan published Carrington's life of
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...
, and
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century.
Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a re ...
praised it as "A very good biography - we are not left, as we so often are when we have closed an official life, with the thought "here is a quarry where other men in the future may dig more profitably". Mr Carrington has dug with effect. The quarry is closed".
Peter Quennell found the book "sound, scholarly, yet never for a moment dull".
Carrington sat on the
London County Council
The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...
Education Committee; the
Classical Association
The Classical Association (CA) is an educational organisation which aims to promote and widen access to the study of Classics, classical subjects in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1903, the Classical Association supports and advances classical ...
Council; the
Publishers' Association Educational Group; The
Royal Commonwealth Society Council; The Inter-University Council; The Overseas Migration Board; and the Islington Society, and was Chairman of Shoreditch Housing Association.
Memoirs
From his experiences in the First World War, Carrington wrote his memoirs of his time as an officer on the
Western Front, ''A Subaltern's War''. Written during and shortly after the war, the book was not published until 1929 and appeared under the pen-name of Charles Edmonds. In 1964, he recounted his experiences of the Great War to the BBC in a series of interviews for the project
''The Great War''. These were broadcast in 2014 and again in 2016 as part of the commemoration of the centenary of the war.
In ''A Subaltern's War'', Carrington sought to counter the widespread view that there was no other type of men who served in the war than "Prussian militarists" and "disillusioned pessimists": "No corrupt sergeant majors stole my rations or accepted my bribes. No incompetent colonels failed to give me food or lodging. No casual staff officers ordered me to certain death, indifferent to my fate".
He wrote of his Second World War experiences in ''Soldier at Bomber Command'', published in 1987.
In 1965, Carrington provided a wider picture of both the First World War and his role in it in ''Soldier from the Wars Returning''. Carrington argued that Britain's involvement in the First World War was just and that there was no alternative to persevering until victory was won. Britain had reason to be proud of the Army's achievement.
[ Brian Bond, ''Survivors of a Kind: Memoirs of the Western Front'' (London: Continuum, 2008, p. 13] He wrote positively of the effect of Army training on recruits
When the 1960s saw a more critical attitude of the War, expressed in
Alan Clark's book ''The Donkeys'' and
Joan Littlewood's play ''
Oh, What a Lovely War!'', Carrington praised the historian
John Terraine's defence of
Field Marshal
Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...
Sir Douglas Haig,
Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front, and the record of the British Army.
Personal life
In 1932, Carrington married firstly Cecil Grace MacGregor, and they had one daughter. The marriage was dissolved in 1954. In 1955, he married secondly Maysie Cuthbert Robertson.
["Carrington, Charles Edmund (21 April 1897–21 June 1990), writer and lecturer", in Who's Who (UK) 1975; published online 01 December 2007
MC]
Works
*''A Subaltern's War'', Charles Edmonds
.e. C. E. Carrington Peter Davies Ltd. (1929).
*''History of England Part II, 1485-1714'', C. E. Carrington and J. Hamden Jackson,
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
, (1932)
*''T. E. Lawrence'' by Charles Edmonds
.e. C. E. Carrington Peter Davies, London (1935)
*''An Exposition of Empire'', C.E. Carrington, Cambridge University Press (1947)
*''The British Overseas: exploits of a nation of shopkeepers'', C.E. Carrington, Cambridge University Press, (1950)
*''John Robert Godley of Canterbury'', C.E. Carrington, Cambridge University Press. (1951)
*''Rudyard Kipling: His Life and Work'', C.E. Carrington,
Macmillan, London (1955).
*''The Cambridge History of the British Empire; Vol 3,The Empire - Commonwealth'' with L.E.Benians,
Sir James Butler and C.E. Carrington (editors), Cambridge University Press (1959)
*''Chatham House and its Neighbours : A Historical Sketch'', C.E. Carrington, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1959. With additions republished as ''Chatham House; Its History and Inhabitants'', C.E. Carrington, Revised and updated by Mary Bone, Royal institute of International Affairs, 2004.
*''The Liquidation of the British Empire: The Reid Lectures of Acadia University 1959 '', C.E. Carrington, George G. Harrap & Co, London (1961).
*''Soldier from the Wars Returning'', C.E. Carrington, Hutchison (1965).
*''Soldier at Bomber Command'', C.E. Carrington, L. Cooper, London (1987).
* Contributor to An African Survey (1957) Surveys of international Affairs (1957–58 and 1959-60), published by
Chatham House
The Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, is a British think tank based in London, England. Its stated mission is "to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous, and just world". It ...
Who's Who
A Who's Who (or Who Is Who) is a reference work consisting of biographical entries of notable people in a particular field. The oldest and best-known is the annual publication ''Who's Who (UK), Who's Who'', a reference work on contemporary promin ...
and publishers
Notes
References
*
Brian Bond, ''Survivors of a Kind: Memoirs of the Western Front'' (London: Continuum, 2008).
External links
BBC Great War InterviewWe remember Charles Edward CarringtonImperial War Museums' Lives of the First World War
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrington, Charles
1897 births
1990 deaths
British Army personnel of World War I
Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers officers
York and Lancaster Regiment officers
Territorial Force officers
English biographers
People from West Bromwich
20th-century English historians
Chatham House people
People educated at Christ's College, Christchurch
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
Military personnel from the West Midlands (county)
British Army personnel of World War II
Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers soldiers