John Andrew Gallagher (1 April 1919 – 5 March 1980), known as Jack Gallagher, was an historian of the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

who between 1963 and 1970 held the Beit Professorship of Commonwealth History at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, 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 List of oldest un ...

and from 1971 until his death was the Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at the

University of Cambridge 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 ...

Early life and career

Gallagher was born in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

on 1 April 1919. His father was Irish. After schooling at the Birkenhead Institute, he proceeded to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, as a history scholar, and with the outbreak of 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 ...

he joined the

Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the World War I, First World War. Today, it is an Armoured warfare, armoured regiment equipped with Challenger 2 main battle tanks ...

, eventually serving in Italy, Greece, and North Africa. After the end of the war, Gallagher returned to Cambridge to complete his studies and was elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 1948.

Scholarship

Gallagher's influential work '' Africa and the Victorians: The Official Mind of Imperialism'', was co-authored with

Ronald Robinson Ronald "Robbie" Edward Robinson, CBE, DFC, FBA (3 September 1920 – 19 June 1999) was a distinguished historian of the British Empire who between 1971 and 1987 held the Beit Professorship of Commonwealth History at the University of Oxford. ...

(with the help of Alice Denny) and first published in 1961. This was preceded by a widely read article, also co-authored with Robinson, " The Imperialism of Free Trade". Published in 1953, the latter constitutes a groundbreaking essay among theorists of imperial expansion and "is reputedly the most cited historical article ever published". Robinson and Gallagher argued that the

New Imperialism In History, historical contexts, New Imperialism characterizes a period of Colonialism, colonial expansion by European powers, the American imperialism, United States, and Empire of Japan, Japan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ...

of the 1880s, especially the

Scramble for Africa The Scramble for Africa was the invasion, conquest, and colonialism, colonisation of most of Africa by seven Western European powers driven by the Second Industrial Revolution during the late 19th century and early 20th century in the era of ...

, was a continuation of a long-term policy in which informal empire, based on the principles of free trade, was favoured over formal imperial control. The article helped launch the Cambridge School of historiography. Reviewing the debate in the end of the 20th century, historian Martin Lynn argues that Gallagher and Robinson exaggerated the impact. He says that Britain achieved its goal of increasing its economic interests in many areas "but the broader goal of 'regenerating' societies and thereby creating regions tied as 'tributaries' to British economic interests was not attained." The reasons were In 1974, he delivered both the Ford Lectures at Oxford on the theme of the Decline, Revival and Fall of the British Empire) as well as the Wiles Lectures at

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

. In addition to being one of the most prominent theorists of imperial expansion, he also ensured a considerable legacy as a result of the large numbers of doctoral students at both Cambridge and Oxford whose work he either supervised or strongly influenced. Three of the more prominent ones include Christopher Bayly,

Paul Kennedy Paul Michael Kennedy (born 17 June 1945) is a British historian specialising in the history of international relations, economic power and grand strategy. He is on the editorial board of numerous scholarly journals and writes for ''The New Y ...

, and Wm. Roger Louis. When a team of students of Trinity College, Cambridge, won ''

University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...

'' in 1974 (Christopher Vane, Frederick "Wynn" Jolley,

Simon Schaffer Simon J. Schaffer (born 1 January 1955) is a historian of science, previously a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and was editor of '' The B ...

, and Paul Hopkins), Gallagher was part of a Trinity fellows team (with Sir James Lighthill, John Bradfield, Tony Weir), which defeated them in the annual televised contest between the series champions and a team of fellows from the same institution.

Personal life

Gallagher was strongly-left wing in his youth, and whilst an undergraduate at Cambridge he was a convenor of the 'colonial group' of the university's Communist Party. The historian

Eric Hobsbawm Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. His best-known works include his tetralogy about what he called the "long 19th century" (''Th ...

, a fellow student communist, described Gallagher as "brilliant, original and self-destructive", claiming that he never got out of bed before midday.Eric Hobsbawm, ''Interesting Times: a Twentieth-Century Life'' (New York: Pantheon Books, 2002), p. 292. Gallagher, who remained unmarried, died from

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

and

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

on 5 March 1980.

Works

* ''Africa and the Victorians: The Climax of Imperialism in the Dark Continent'' written with

and Alice Denny (London, Macmillan, 1961) and ''Africa and the Victorians: The Climax of Imperialism in the Dark Continent'' (New York, St Martin's Press, 1961) * ''The Decline, Revival and Fall of the British Empire. The Ford Lectures and Other Essays'' edited by Anil Seal (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982)

Early life and career

Scholarship

Personal life

Works

See also

References

Further reading