John Prest (18 September 1928 – 3 July 2018) was a British historian. He was born in

Tadworth Tadworth is a large suburban village in Surrey, England in the south-east of the Epsom Downs, part of the North Downs. It forms part of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. At the 2021 census, Tadworth (and Walton-on-the-Hill) had a population ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, to Dorothy Martin (a watercolourist) and Thomas Prest (a civil servant). He was educated at

Bradfield College Bradfield College is a coeducational public school (independent boarding and day school) for pupils aged 13–18, in the village of Bradfield, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It is noted for its open-air Greek theatre and its trien ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

.Jeremy Burchardt,
John Prest obituary
, ''The Guardian'' (5 August 2018), retrieved 17 August 2019. He performed his national service in 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 ...

before attending

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

in 1949. He gained a First and was made a Fellow of

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

in 1954, which he held until 1996.Tom Williams,
OBITUARY: Balliol College, Oxford, modern historian John Prest
, ''Oxford Mail'' (13 September 2018), retrieved 17 August 2019. Whilst at Balliol, Prest campaigned for the admittance of women into the College and also for more state-educated pupils to be educated there. After marrying Susan Davis in 1961, Prest moved to Walled Cottage in Wheatley,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. His 1981 book, ''The Garden of Eden'', was the result of his interest in

horticulture Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

and it led to him being awarded a trusteeship of the

Oxford Botanic Garden The University of Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest Botanical garden, botanic garden in Great Britain and one of the oldest scientific gardens in the world. The garden was founded in 1621 as a physic garden growing plants for medicinal resear ...

and becoming a founding member of the

National Botanic Garden of Wales The National Botanic Garden of Wales () is a botanical garden located in Llanarthney in the River Tywi valley, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The garden is both a visitor attraction and a centre for botanical research and conservation, and features t ...

. His last book, ''The Lucky Martins'', was published in 2015 and was an account of his uncles' service in 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 ...

. After his death, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' said Prest would be "admired by future historians for his scholarship, humanity and intellectual independence".

Works

*''The Industrial Revolution in Coventry'' (1960). *''Lord John Russell'' (1972). *''Politics in the Age of Cobden'' (1977). *''The Garden of Eden: The Botanic Garden and the Re-creation of Paradise'' (1981). *''Liberty and Locality: Parliament, Permissive Legislation, and Ratepayers' Democracies in the Nineteenth Century'' (1990). *''The Illustrated History of Oxford University'' (1993). *''The Lucky Martins'' (2015).

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prest, John 1929 births 2018 deaths 20th-century English historians 21st-century English historians 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers People educated at Bradfield College Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford People from Surrey (before 1965) Historians of the University of Oxford