Edward Murray Wrong (14 April 1889 – 15 February 1928) was a Canadian-born historian, vice-president of Magdalen College, Oxford (1924–25).

Biography

Known as Murray, he was the son of Canadian historian

George MacKinnon Wrong George MacKinnon Wrong (June 25, 1860 – June 29, 1948) was a Canadian clergyman and historian. Life and career Born at Grovesend in Elgin County, Canada West (now Ontario), he was ordained in the Anglican priesthood in 1883 after attendi ...

, and of Sophia Hume Wrong, daughter of the politician

Edward Blake Dominick Edward Blake (October 13, 1833 – March 1, 1912), known as Edward Blake, was the second premier of Ontario, from 1871 to 1872 and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1880 to 1887. He is one of only three federal permanent Libe ...

. He was the brother of diplomat Humphrey Hume Wrong. He was educated at St Andrew's College, Toronto. Like all his siblings and his father, Wrong studied at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institu ...

. He then proceeded to

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...

as a commoner, where he was tutored by

A. L. Smith Sir Archibald Levin Smith (26 August 1836 – 20 October 1901) was a British judge and a rower who competed at Henley and in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Biography Smith was the son of Francis Smith, J.P. of Salt Hill, Chiche ...

, and obtained

first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

in modern history in 1913. In 1914, he was elected to a fellowship by examination at Magdalen College, Oxford, becoming the college's first Canadian fellow. In 1915, he was elected to the Beit Prize in Colonial History. Having been turned down for military service for health reasons, Wrong served as vice-principal of the

Manchester School of Technology The Manchester School of Technology (MST) is a school located at 100 Gerald Connors Circle, in Manchester, New Hampshire, United States. A part of the Manchester School District Manchester School District is a school district headquartered in ...

between 1916 and 1919. There, he was a successful administrator and teacher. He also served as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 1 ...

in the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry i ...

, attached to the School's

Officer Training Corps The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst ...

, from 22 January 1918 to 20 September 1918; he relinquished his commission on account of ill health. Following the end of the war, Wrong returned to Magdalen College, Oxford as an official fellow and

tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in c ...

in modern history in 1919. He was additionally Biet lecturer in

colonial history Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

from 1919 to 1924. He served as vice-president of Magdalen College from 1924 to 1925, and as the university's

junior proctor Proctor (a variant of ''wikt:procurator, procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts: * In law, a proctor is a historic ...

from 1927 to 1928. Wrong died on 15 February 1928, aged 38. He had suffered

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

brought on by pneumonia.

Family

In December 1915, Wrong married Rosalind Grace Smith, sixth daughter of

(his old tutor and Master of

), at Holywell Church, Oxford. They had two sons and four daughters. Among his children were the historian

Rosalind Mitchison Rosalind Mary Mitchison FRSE (11 April 1919 – 19 September 2002) was a 20th-century English historian and academic who specialised in Scottish social history. She was affectionately known as "Rowy" Mitchison. Life Rosalind Mary Wrong was ...

and medical scientist

Oliver Wrong Professor Oliver Murray Wrong (7 February 1925 – 24 February 2012) was an eminent academic nephrologist (kidney specialist) and one of the founders of the speciality in the United Kingdom. From a background as a "salt and water" physician, he ma ...

. His daughter Dr Elizabeth Catherine Wrong married the Labour politician

Peter Shore Peter David Shore, Baron Shore of Stepney, (20 May 1924 – 24 September 2001) was a British Labour Party politician and former Cabinet Minister, noted in part for his opposition to the United Kingdom's entry into the European Economic Commun ...

. The British journalist

Michela Wrong Michela Wrong (born 1961) is a British journalist and author who has spent more than two decades writing about Africa. Her postings as a journalist began in Europe and then West, Central and East Africa. She has worked for Reuters, the BBC, an ...

is his granddaughter.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wrong, Edward Murray 1889 births 1928 deaths 20th-century British historians 20th-century Canadian historians Canadian expatriate academics in the United Kingdom University of Toronto alumni Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford Territorial Force officers